Denkmal Franz Boehm / Franz Boehm Memorial

ZOn the north-eastern grounds of the church of St. Gereon and Dionysius, a courtyard consisting of several components was designed in memory of the priest and resistance fighter Franz Boehm (1890-1945). The City of Monheim held a design competition and subsequently commissioned the artist Thomas Kesseler, who placed a bronze bust of the priest on a high pedestal at the centre of his composition. A replica of the floor plan of the original church apse was installed in the priest’s line of sight as a knee-high seating element made of brickwork. At the back, the bust is flanked by two high glass plates printed in shades of grey. One of these plates shows the church architecture, destroyed by bombs in World War Two, the other an abstract, monochrome painting that is reminiscent of waves and fire or the natural grain of a stone. This places the person of the resistance fighter into his historical context, referring both to the past of the church and to the political history of Nazi rule.
Franz Boehm had assumed the pastorate of this catholic community in 1938, which did not prevent him from continuing to resist National Socialism. He was fined in the same year and cautioned for holding masses in Polish in 1941. In 1942, he was sentenced to pay a security sum of 3,000 RM for a sermon at the Feast of Christ the King. On Easter 1942, he preached against the NS film industry, which resulted in his first arrest. In connection with the arrests after 20 July 1944, Boehm was arrested immediately after mass while still in the church. On 11 August 1944, he was transported to the Priest Barracks at Dachau Concentration Camp. Even a letter from the bishop did not change anything about the detention. He died at the concentration camp of the consequences of a prison-related illness on 13 February 1945.

https://www.monheim.de
https://de.wikipedia.org