Prison and Deportation

On 28 May 1944, the Gestapo arrested Bishop Gabriel Piguet as he was leaving the cathedral in Clermont- Ferrand. They claimed but could not prove that he had sheltered a priest who was involved with the French Resistance; what the Germans did not know was that Piguet had also arranged to hide Jewish children in his diocese. He revealed nothing during his interrogation, but he was still sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

In this account of his time in captivity, Msgr. Piguet describes life in the camp, his role in the ordination of Blessed Karl Leisner, and his experience as a hostage during the final days of the war:

“I denounce the way in which the Nazis trampled on the consciences of civilian detainees in Germany, the merciless way they refused religious succour to the dying, and the hardships that we priests faced while trying to provide spiritual support. We worked in secret and under dangerous circumstances that were just as difficult as the ones that the early Church faced in the Roman catacombs. The civilized world needs to be made aware of the moral tortures that were imposed on souls as well as the physical pain that was inflicted on bodies.”

In 1949, the Académie Française awarded this memoir the Prix Louis-Paul Miller. Msgr. Piguet died in 1952. He was recognized as one of the Righteous Among the Nations in 2001.

This is the first English translation of his memoir.