# Robert Pruszkowski

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{{Infobox person
| name = Robert Pruszkowski
| image = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|2|1|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Wartenburg](/source/Barczewo), [East Prussia](/source/East_Prussia), [German Empire](/source/German_Empire) (Barczewo, Poland)
| death_date =  {{death date and age|1983|4|30|1907|2|1| df=y}}
| death_place = [Lübeck](/source/L%C3%BCbeck), [Germany](/source/Germany)  
| occupation = Roman Catholic priest
}}

'''Robert Pruszkowski''' (1 February 1907 – 30 April 1983) was a German [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic) priest. A Parish priest in several towns in [East Prussia](/source/East_Prussia), he was arrested in 1940 for hearing confessions in Polish and was held in captivity in the [Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp](/source/Priest_Barracks_of_Dachau_Concentration_Camp) until 1945. After [World War II](/source/World_War_II) he worked in West Germany.

Pruszkowski was born in [Wartenburg](/source/Barczewo), [East Prussia](/source/East_Prussia) (Barczewo, Poland), the son of Robert Pruszkowski, a prison guard in the Wartenburg prison, and Helene Pruszkowski.

He became chaplain at the St. Jakobus Church in [Allenstein](/source/Allenstein) (Olsztyn) in 1933, later on in [Stuhm](/source/Stuhm) (Sztum). In 1938 he became the parish priest of the Catholic Church in [Wengoyen](/source/W%C4%99g%C3%B3j) (Węgój). Here, he was denounced for having heard the confession of Polish workers in Polish. He was arrested and sent to [Dachau Concentration Camp](/source/Dachau_Concentration_Camp) in 1940. On 23 November 1940, shortly after his arrival, he mentioned his profession to a [SS](/source/SS) guard who immediately ordered him and another detainee to slay each other "with all their might".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5vODgAAQBAJ&q=robert+pruszkowski&pg=PT86|title=The Priest barracks – Dachau 1938 - 1945 |first1=Guillaume |last1=Zellert|page=| publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=978-1-68149-766-2 |year=2015 }}</ref> He remained in custody in the [Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp](/source/Priest_Barracks_of_Dachau_Concentration_Camp) until the liberation of the camp in April 1945.

After World War II he worked at the [Chiemsee](/source/Chiemsee) for a year and moved to [Preetz](/source/Preetz) in [Schleswig-Holstein](/source/Schleswig-Holstein) in April 1946 by request of bishop [Maximilian Kaller](/source/Maximilian_Kaller). On behalf of the [Roman Catholic Diocese of Osnabrück](/source/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Osnabr%C3%BCck) he was responsible for 46 villages in a radius of 30&nbsp;km. The region, traditionally Lutheran, had seen the significant growth of Catholic Christians from 25 in 1945 to about 2000 as a result of the [Flight and expulsion of Germans](/source/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944-1950)).

He remained in Preetz until 1960.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1r6u_JzGxgC&q=robert+pruszkowski&pg=PA134|title=Höhere Mächte haben entschieden |first1=Alfred |last1=Penkert|page=134| publisher=Lit Verlag|isbn=978-3-8258-1227-0 |year= 2008|language=German}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Otto Pies und Karl Leisner: Freundschaft in der Hölle des KZ Dachau |first1=Hans K. |last1=Seeger|first2= Gabriel| last2=Latzel| first3=Christa |last3=Bockholt|page=621| publisher=Eike Pies|isbn=978-3-9284-4166-7|year= 2007|language=German}}</ref> From 1960 to 1962 Pruszkowski served in [Bad Oldesloe](/source/Bad_Oldesloe) and from 1962 until his retirement in 1981 in [Schönberg](/source/Sch%C3%B6nberg%2C_Pl%C3%B6n) near [Kiel](/source/Kiel) at the [Baltic Sea](/source/Baltic_Sea). He died 30 April 1983 in [Lübeck](/source/L%C3%BCbeck).

In 2013 a street in Preetz was named in his honour.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kn-online.de/Lokales/Ploen/Wird-neue-Strasse-nach-Pfarrer-benannt| publisher=Kieler Nachrichten|title=Wird neue Strasse nach Pfarrer benannt|date= 8 April 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruszkowski, Robert}}
Category:1907 births
Category:1983 deaths
Category:People from Barczewo
Category:People from East Prussia
Category:20th-century German Roman Catholic priests
Category:Dachau concentration camp survivors

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Robert Pruszkowski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pruszkowski) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pruszkowski?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.