Richard wurde am 16. Juni 1917 zum Assistenten der Missionssektion gewählt und erhielt damit auch die Verantwortung für die bereits zum Militär eingezogenen Mitglieder. Er hielt regelmäßigen und lebhaften Kontakt zu den Soldaten-Sodalen, sorgte sich um den Zusammenhalt und gab religiöse Impulse.

Nach und nach wurden immer mehr Schüler zum Wehrdienst einberufen, bis von den insgesamt 84 Mitgliedern nur noch 14 Sodale im Studienheim lernten. Richard war einige Wochen von der Euphorie in Deutschland so angetan, dass er sich sogar freiwillig melden wollte.

Soldaten-Sodalen im Heimaturlaub

Am 23. März 1918 musste Richard zur Musterung nach Koblenz und wurde „kriegsverwendungsfähig Infanterie“ geschrieben. In Montabaur legte er am 21./22. Mai 1918 das staatliche Einjährigenexamen ab, das die Voraussetzung für eine Offizierslaufbahn ist. Am 21. Juni 1918 rückte Henkes in die Kaserne ein, zunächst in Griesheim, dann in Darmstadt.

Von der Jubel-Euphorie von 1914 war bald nichts mehr übrig. Sein Bruder Karl war schwer verwundet, sein bester Freund Hans Wormer gefallen und sein Blick auf Militär und Politik wurde Woche um Woche kritischer. In der Kaserne blieb Henkes bei der Reserve Infanterie Reg. 118, 2. Komp. 4 bis zum 26. November 1918. Zum befürchteten Fronteinsatz kam es nicht. Richard wollte kein „Kanonenfutter“ werden uns sehnte sich nach dem Ende des Krieges. Schließlich kehrte er nach seiner Entlassung am 26. November 1918 nach Schönstatt zurück und bereitete sich auf das Abitur vor.

Kavallerie-Kaserne in Darmstadt (1899)

In July, Richard took his written and oral Abitur examinations and received his school leaving certificate.

Pupils of the Pallottine boarding school (1919), Central Provincial Archives of the Pallottines, Limburg

A little later he began the two-year novitiate in Limburg with the retreat from 17 to 24 September 1919 and the initiation on 24 September together with 22 candidates for the priesthood and 10 candidates for the friars. Here is the Pallottine Mission House, which the community founded in 1892.

Over the years, the community spread from Limburg to Australia, South Africa, America and Poland. The mission house provided for the missionaries and took care of the new generation. Until the end of the Second World War, Pallottine students studied philosophy and theology in Limburg.

Walk with Relatives (1921)

The second academic year began on 1 October 1921. In addition to the scientific training, the religious training also continued. Richard took his second ordination on 24 September 1922, and his third ordination a year later.

Henkes at the ordination course; Richard Henkes Archive, Vallendar

The years from 1921 to 1925 were a time of crisis for Henkes and were marked by fundamental questions of faith and his ambivalent relationship with Father Kentenich.

Henkes expressed his inner distress in letters. The young man, so sure of his God until then, suffered more and more from inner emptiness. At times Richard no longer wanted to live. He sought help in letters to his spiritual director Father Kentenich. In Limburg, Richard confided in no one. But the help he longed for did not come. The reasons for this are not known and a distance between Henkes and Kentenich was to remain.

Richard struggled through, broke away from the authority of his spiritual director Kentenich and discovered a transformed image of God in which grace plays a strong role. He now knew: "I want to become a sacrificial priest in the main, a bearer of the cross for others."

On 6 June 1925, Richard Henkes was ordained a priest together with his course brothers by Bishop Augustinus Kilian. One day later, Henkes celebrated his First Mass in Ruppach.

Richard Henkes an seiner Primizfeier (1921); privat

In the year of his ordination, Thérèse of Lisieux was also canonised. The Carmelite nun was the saint of the youth of the 1920s and Richard also spoke to her interiority and search for God, which is illustrated by the first picture he chose: it shows Theresa of Lisieux floating on a cloud in front of Mary with the Child Jesus above St Peter's Basilica.

First Mass picture (1921); Richard Henkes Archive, Vallendar

Richard completed his studies in Limburg and began as a teacher in Schoenstatt. There he taught Latin, German and religion in the sexta and history in the upper third. Henkes knew how to inspire the pupils.

Richard Henkes as a teacher in Schoenstatt (1926), Archive of the Schoenstatt Fathers

Health problems began to affect Henkes in May 1927.

While this was initially attributed to overexertion, an examination at the St. Maria-Josef Hospital in Ahrweiler revealed that he was suffering from severe pulmonary tuberculosis. This was not uncommon at the time, but often meant long stays in hospital and convalescent homes; sometimes even death. However, Henkes found it difficult to adhere to the prescribed rest and recuperation. He took his illness too lightly, which is why the nurses criticised the negligent behaviour.

The doctors sent Richard to St. Blasien and Menzenschwand in the Black Forest for further treatment in July 1927. Henkes refused a transfer to the mission in South Africa because of the good climate there for lung patients.

Sanatorium St. Blasien, reclining hall in the fir forest (1914) from: Sanatorium St. Blasien sanatorium for lung patients, C.A. Wagner Freiburg

He finally recovered and returned to teaching in the first half of 1928.
However, Richard was transferred to Alpen on the Lower Rhine, where the community built a study home.

In addition to his teaching activities in Alpen, Richard also became 2nd house councilor. He carried out his duties with great zeal and drive. However, disagreements arose between Henkes and the rector, which first led to a dispute in 1929 due to correspondence between Richard Henkes and a "Fräulein aus Ahrweiler".

The Rector reported this and Henkes was asked to stop the correspondence "because of his moral conduct". The disputes dragged on and finally Richard was transferred to Schoenstatt, where he arrived again on 13 September 1929.

Back in Schoenstatt, Henkes now taught German and geography. His pupils were happy about the return of the teacher who showed much pedagogical skill and met the pupils openly and with humour.

However, his methods did not meet with everyone's approval. Unusual essay topics about empty cigarette packets or one's own trouser pocket caused discussion and colleagues rejected this as banal, inappropriate or hypermodern.

Henkes on a walk

What the pupils liked, the teachers turned up their noses at. The talk about the correspondence seemed to be quite convenient.

The rules of the Pallottine order at that time were very narrow in their dealings with women. Members were to "seriously avoid confidentiality with women and not speak to them alone either in the wrong place or at an inappropriate time".

f.l. Fr Andreas Schäfer. Fr Breunig, Fr Richard Henkes (1930); Archive of the Schoenstatt Fathers

Thus, on 2 July 1931, Provincial Father Johannes Baumann issued a canonical admonition for improper and illicit behaviour towards persons of the opposite sex.

A short-term consequence of the canonical exhortation was probably the transfer to Katscher in Upper Silesia.

In 1931, the political situation in the German Reich continued to be unstable, the world economic crisis increasingly worsened and unemployment rose rapidly.

It was during this time that Henkes arrived in Katscher, Upper Silesia. The Pallottine Fathers had opened the St. Vincent Pallotti College here on 7 April 1930, also a junior school for the lower classes. The school started with 48 pupils in three classes. Later there was an average of 50 to 60 pupils.

Although Richard was not immediately received with enthusiasm by all the confreres - perhaps because of the canonical admonition - the Rector, Fr Heinrich Grote, met him fairly and with understanding. And the following rector, Fr Peter Hahn, also appreciated the good work of the attentive and sensitive Richard Henkes. As a teacher, Henkes knew how to carry away and inspire his pupils.

Richard Henkes (1936)

On 30 January 1933, the National Socialists began their rule and Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor.

Richard Henkes confronted the politics of National Socialism and kept his distance. He gave the pupils a lot of freedom on excursions and field trips, but Henkes did not want to listen to Nazi songs. He was an opponent of the National Socialist view of the world and of humanity out of deep conviction and took a clear stand: "A lion in the pulpit, a lamb in the confessional.

Henkes was a gifted pastor and preacher. After a short time he was regarded as a recognised authority in Katscher and the surrounding area. What Richard Henkes said carried weight and so he soon preached in larger towns such as Ratibor, Hindenburg, Beuthen and Gleiwitz.

This is how Elisabeth Wolf from Katscher reports:

"His Lenten sermons were the talk of the town. Every time he preached, our church was packed, a mixture of believers and curious people. One felt that he dared to say what many of us no longer dared to say. It was also known that a gentleman from the Gestapo was sitting somewhere in the corner. He did not miss the opportunity to provoke the conscious gentleman: 'Save your shorthand! You can always pick up a copy in the sacristy'."

In 1934 Richard Henkes became vice-director of the Pallottine branch in Katscher. It was a time of permanent excessive demands and Henkes did not spare himself.

In the same year, a monitoring office for National Socialist written material was founded in Cologne, a defence office against National Socialist ideas. Henkes distributed these brochures and used the pulpit as a place of mediation. In his sermons and lectures, he addressed anti-Christian propaganda, the German religious movement, the proceedings against clergy, the morality trials, the ban on religious writings, the raid on church property and Nazi school policies.

Although Richard was not immediately received with enthusiasm by all the confreres - perhaps because of the canonical admonition - the Rector, Fr Heinrich Grote, met him fairly and with understanding. And the following rector, Fr Peter Hahn, also appreciated the good work of the attentive and sensitive Richard Henkes. As a teacher, Henkes knew how to carry away and inspire his pupils.

In September 1936, Henkes finally fell seriously ill. After several weeks in hospital, however, he broke off his cure when the rector in Katscher himself fell ill and Henkes had to take over his duties in addition.

During this time Richard Henkes was reported to the Gestapo for the first time. He attended the provincial chapter in Limburg as vice-rector of Katscher and then travelled to the nearby home parish of Ruppach. On the way from the station to his parents' house, a few men spoke to Henkes about the political situation. Henkes commented on this in the Sunday sermon with the theme "What is going on in the world?" on 7 March 1937. The sermon caused quite a stir and not everyone in town liked what Richard Henkes had to say.
A charge followed.

According to the Gestapo Frankfurt, Henkes "is said to have expressed himself in an anti-state sense in the church at Ruppach on 7 March 37. The district administrator in Westerburg was asked today to make further enquiries in the direction of the treachery law and § 30/a." He got off with an official warning, but his family advised caution.

Retreat in Branitz

Richard Henkes also participated in the reproduction and distribution of Pope Pius XI's encyclical "With Burning Concern" and is said to have read it from the pulpit three times on 21 March 1937: twice in Hindenburg and once in Ratibor.
Henkes used the encyclical as the basis for his lectures, retreats and sermons.

In the end, it was only a question of time when the Gestapo would get rid of the dissident priest. The so-called "pulpit paragraph" (§ 130a RStGB) enabled the Nazis to take action against insidious attacks on the state and the party and to protect party uniforms and to intimidate and punish critics of the regime.

But for Richard Henkes it was clear: "Someone has to be there to say it".

Ausschnitt Graphic Documentary; Drushba Pankow

The second criminal complaint was filed in Katscher.
Henkes quipped to a family after the crash of the airship Hindenburg: "It's a pity the airship was called 'Hindenburg' and not 'Hitler', then you could say he bounced."

Father Henkes' statement was reported to the police and interrogation followed. On 26 November 1937, the indictment accused Henkes of "a spiteful, inflammatory and malicious disparagement of the Führer" which was capable of "undermining the trust of the people in the political leadership".

Richard Henkes was threatened with conviction. But Richard was lucky, because he fell under the amnesty law after the incorporation of Austria into the German Reich, so that the chief public prosecutor dropped the case on 19 May 1938.

Retreat in Branitz

In 1937, Richard Henkes was transferred to Frankenstein in Silesia. However, after the trial of Father Henkes, the superiors of his communities considered it advisable to remove him from the school in 1938 and he gave up his beloved teaching profession.

Before the summer holidays began in 1938, it was the last day of school for Fr Henkes.
Georg Reitor, a pupil in Frankenstein at the time, reports that Henkes compared songs of the Christian youth with those of the Hitler Youth and warned against their contents and consequences.

Reitor writes:

"He went on to say: 'And every nation pays for it at some point. If only it would stay with the songs. But since songs are a dangerous narcotic - opium for the people - and we tend to take their contents sacredly seriously - that is, by word - I fear and warn against them. We should strive to understand our rightful pride otherwise than in marches and vigorous demonstrations, in uniforms, and arrogant slogans, secured in the blunt agglomeration of the masses.' He was silent; but then he said very quietly, 'Not a good conversation to part with. I have tried to prepare you for life. Whether my preparations also' - then he broke off, saying only: 'life is the real thing'. End of the school lesson."

Excerpt Graphic Documentary, Drushba Pankow

Afterwards Richard worked from Frankenstein as a youth pastor and retreat master, especially in Branitz. Henkes preached in the large churches of Upper Silesia and on Annaberg.

Johannes Schweer from Katscher remembers:

"He regularly gave sermons at the men's pilgrimages on St. Annaberg, (...) which not infrequently brought together up to 12,000 young men. (...) Father Richard Henkes was very soon known for his sermons critical of the state."

The Gestapo had had its sights on the "people's agitator" and "rabble-rouser" for some time. After his sermon on 12 March 1943 in the Branitz parish church, Richard Henkes was denounced.

The Stapo Office for Important State Police Events summarised the content of the sermon thus:

"Today, intelligent people are no longer needed, but the herdsman, the mutton. The best thing would be to have a uniform for him.

In the third century, people fought for their Christian faith, gave everything away, risked their existence, their children, their family, even their lives. That is how it will be again.

Today we have nothing more to say in the education of our children in the schools. We have nothing more to say outside, and we will soon have nothing more to say here.

When I go out in my homeland on the Rhine, you see churches named after Roman legionary leaders. The men were so faithful that the church was named after them. I want to see the Catholic officer today who is so faithful that you could build a church on his name."

On Palm Sunday 1943, his confreres Father Walter Schell, Father Home Hermann, Father August Urban and Brother Hermann Bauer sensed that Richard was not as usual.
It was the last gathering of friends Richard had invited to celebrate his name day. The mood was good, only Richard seemed serious and depressed. When the friends said goodbye in the evening, they learned the reason.

"Tomorrow I have to go to the Gestapo. I don't know if they'll let me go again; you can find out tomorrow. If I'm not there then, I won't come back."

On 8 April 1943 Richard was summoned to Ratibor and "because you have misused the pulpit to incite the people, the head of the Gestapo has ordered protective custody for you for the duration of the war", was the sentence. The Gestapo office based this on material they had had informers collect from his sermons.

Protective custody was one of the most powerful instruments used by the National Socialists to take action against disagreeable opponents of the regime. This allowed the Gestapo to act completely arbitrarily and without any rule of law. Like Richard Henkes, one was at the mercy of the Nazi regime.

Pulpit in the Branitz Parish Church, N. Hannappel

At first he was held in solitary confinement in the Gestapo prison in Ratibor, but Richard was allowed visitors.

His brother from Breslau visited him once and his housekeeper Paula Miketta from Strandorf visited him a few times. She had quickly gained his trust at that time. In the course of the two years as a pastor, Richard had gained the trust of all the people of Strandorf. They prayed daily for the arrested man in church, hoped for his return, sent him food parcels, urged the local mayor Peter Josefus to intercede for Father Henkes, which earned him a reprimand from the district administration office.
All efforts in favour of the popular priest were unsuccessful.

After six weeks in solitary confinement, Richard writes:

"To this day I am in solitary confinement, which is very hard on the nerves, but nevertheless I am mentally and physically healthy. ... But it still remains a way of the cross.
At the beginning I prayed for my freedom, now I've got my way, and if I have to go to the camp, I'll say Deo gratias just as I did when I was arrested. After all, I have to be able to practise what I preached to others in retreats.
Until today, the Lord God has visibly protected me; that is why I am not afraid of the future."

After more than seven weeks in solitary confinement, Richard Henkes was finally taken by prison train to Dachau.

Former Gestapo prison in Ratibor (today), Upper Silesia, N. Hannappel

Richard Henkes started his new job in August 1944 and was located in access block 17, which he went to in the morning and left again in the evening.

As kapo and clerk, Richard was a kind of caretaker for the men of Barrack 17. Usually the block was occupied by people of different nationalities.

There were prisoners from 30 countries in Dachau; since 1939 also from the Czech Republic. Here Richard probably found the opportunity to speak with Czech prisoners and learn their language in order to build up an exchange of partnership between Germans and Czechs.
Already in his own parlour, Richard had deepened the Czech language skills he had acquired in Chuchelna with the Prague Regens Josef Beran.

As a canteener, Richard had the task of distributing the goods in Block 17 and settling accounts with the canteen, the block staff and the staff. So he got food from the main canteen for money. Some prisoners were given money. But they were not allowed to administer it personally. That was done by the clerk.

Those who did not receive support from outside were poor. Henkes knew this from his time in the post office. He had a difficult and at the same time influential post and he could do a lot of good. As a function prisoner, Richard also had relatively great freedom of movement in the concentration camp.

Propaganda photo: Prisoners standing in punishment on the roll call square in Dachau concentration camp. Friedrich Franz Bauer (June 1938), Bundesarchiv, Image 152-23-35A / CC-BY-SA 3.0

In front of the house where Richard Henkes was born at Hauptstraße 10 in Ruppach-Goldhausen, a stumbling stone by the artist Gunter Demning commemorates the Pallottine priest and the injustice committed against him by the Nazis.

In the Czech partner community of Strahovice, almost 1000 kilometres away, there is an identical stumbling stone in memory of Richard Henkes.

Stumbling stone laying Strahovice, private