Bischofshof, Herrenstraße 19
The baroque residence of the bishops of Linz, where in January 1933 Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner wrote the pastoral letter declaring that no one could be both a good Catholic and a true National Socialist. Five years later the Gestapo came for the men who worked inside.
À propos de ce lieu
Built between 1721 and 1726 to plans by Jakob Prandtauer for the abbey of Kremsmünster, the Bischofshof has housed the bishops of Linz since 1784 and is the finest secular baroque building in the city. In an upstairs study here, Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner composed 'On True and False Nationalism', read from every pulpit of the diocese on 22 January 1933 and printed in some 35,000 copies: it branded the Nazi racial standpoint as utterly incompatible with Christianity, yet it also carried antisemitic passages that cost Gföllner a Linz street name in 2022. After the Anschluss the house came into the sights of the Gau leadership. The bishop's secretary Franz Ohnmacht was arrested on 13 March 1938 and sent to Dachau and Buchenwald, and other ordinariate staff followed him into prison. The residence is still in use and cannot normally be visited, but the facade, the doorway and the story are all here on the street.
À retenir
- 1933 year — Gföllner's pastoral letter against National Socialism was read from every pulpit of the diocese on 22 January
- 35000 copies — Printed of the letter, which was reported as far away as the United States
- 1726 year — The baroque residence was completed for Kremsmünster Abbey to plans by Jakob Prandtauer
📍 Herrenstraße 19, 4020, Linz