Draft:Vinzenz Brauner

Vinzenz Brauner (18 November 1877, Salisfeld, Zuckmantel - 30 January 1943, Sommerfeld) was a German Roman-Catholic priest and martyr.

Background
Vinzenz Brauner, born on 18 November 1877 in Salisfeld (now Salisov, part of Zlaté Hory), was the son of a landowner. He attended the gymnasium in Weidenau, studied Catholic theology in Olmütz, and was ordained as a priest on 26 July 1900, in Weidenau. Vinzenz served as a chaplain in Hermannstadt and Jauernig before becoming the pastor in Zuckmantel in 1909. He later became the archpriest of the deanery, overseeing the Maria-Hilf pilgrimage site. From 1927 to 1938, he also held the position of mayor in the city.

Vinzenz Brauner was actively involved in the Catholic association movement, becoming the chairman of various associations and contributing to the construction of the Catholic Association House in Zuckmantel. Additionally, he played a role in local politics, serving as a city councillor, deputy mayor, and eventually mayor after the municipal elections in 1927.

In the 1930s, as the Nazis rose to power in Germany, Vinzenz Brauner warned against the demagogic distortion of the Christian foundation of society by Nazi neo-paganism. Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, he resigned from the position of mayor. When Adolf Hitler passed through Zuckmantel after the Sudetenland's occupation, Vinzenz Brauner refused to participate in his welcome.

In 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo, detained in Troppau, and expelled from the country on 7 June 1941. After a brief stay in the Neuzelle monastery, he became a chaplain in Schwiebus and later the parish administrator in Sommerfeld. Vinzenz Brauner passed away on 30 January 1943, at the age of almost 66 due to pneumonia. His body was transported to Zuckmantel, where the final farewell took place on 6 February 1943, and his remains were interred in the local cemetery.

Commemoration
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany recognizes Vinzenz Brauner as a martyr of the Nazi era, and he is included in the German Martyrology of the 20th century.

Literature

 * LARISCH, Jan. P. Vinzenz Brauner: Farář a starosta ve Zlatých Horách, světlo v temnotách zmatené doby. Ostrava: Biskupství ostravsko-opavské, 2019. ISBN 9788090717015.
 * Emil Valasek: Erzpriester G.R. Vinzenz Brauner. In: Zeugen für Christus. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. Helmut Moll im Auftrag der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. Bd. 1. Siebte, überarbeitete und aktualisierte Auflage. Schöningh, Paderborn 2019, S. 845–849.
 * Gabi Traurig: Zuckmantels Seelsorger und Bürgermeister. In: Der Ackermann. Zeitschrift der Ackermann-Gemeinde. 4(2021), S. 18.