Fr. Richard Henkes, S.A.C., A Picture of His Life A Picture of His Life | Page 33

To pray like that in good days requires a high degree of faith in
God. And now? As his strength is increasingly dwindling, the fever
is rising? Does the question of why also arise? He wanted to be a
helper. He wanted to be a priest. But did he want to be a martyr?
After his experiences in the Hultschiner Ländchen, reinforced by the
meeting with Josef Beran, Henkes was concerned about the Czechs
and looked into a future with them. At block 26 he learned to speak
with the Czechs and understanding grew. And then, in December
1944, Dachau was suddenly overrun by an epidemic of typhus fever,
which took hold in block 17.There was an urgent need to bathe those
near death, to give them courage, to secretly give them Holy Commu-
nion, to be with them in their last hour—and, when there was need,
to remove the emaciated dead bodies. Shouldn’t he have rather gone
back to his usual work in block 17 in the morning and let himself be
detained in quarantine there?
Did Fr. Henkes regret this decision during the hours of his death?
He knew what he had done. He had been vaccinated. He knew the
danger. But he did not let his people down. He cared for them. Vol-
untarily. No one was forced to go to block 17.
His inner struggle, his self-conquest, and his doubts remain hid-
den. His attitude does not: the red thread of his life is woven out of
his sense of responsibility, charity, sacrifice, and faithfulness to God.
Fr. Henkes got infected, and the disease progressed rapidly. Two
days before his death, friends took him to block 11, which was part of
the sick bay. Fr. Henkes became a victim of the epidemic and died a
severe death 66 days before the camp was liberated. In their records,
the authorities deleted the number 49642. But they could not extin-
guish the memory of Fr. Richard Henkes.
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