He was a devout Christian, praying daily while doing farm chores. Sexton of his parish church, he was married and had three children. But, on August 9, 1943 Franz Jägerstätter’s life became other than ordinary, when he was legally killed by the German Military for refusing to kill for the German Military. In 1943, Jägerstätter resisted not only the coercion of the Nazis, but the bland reassurances of an Austrian bishop and priests that service in the führer’s army was not a violation of the tenets of Christianity.
