August 9, 1942: The Execution of Edith Stein

August 9, 1942: The Nazis execute Edith Stein, a Jewish woman who had become a Catholic nun, is executed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. She was 50 years old.

A native of what was then Breslau, Germany -- now Wrocław, Poland -- she read about Teresa of Ávila, the Spanish nun who founded the Carmelite order, converted, and joined the order, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In 1934, living in the Carmelite monastery in Echt, the Netherlands, she published Finite and Eternal Being – An Ascent to the Meaning of Being. This book proposed a phenomenological doctrine of being (Seinslehre), which knows itself to be Christian, i.e. as taking Christian Revelation to contribute towards the view of the world in which it looks for and finds the meaning of being in being's unfolding.  

When the Nazis took over the Netherlands in 1940, she began to believe that, because she was born a Jew, she would be arrested and taken to a concentration camp. On July 20, 1942, the Dutch Bishops' Conference had a public statement read in all churches across the nation on 20 July 1942, condemning the Nazis' racism. Six days later, the arrest of all Jewish converts in the Netherlands was ordered. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa -- a biological sister, not a fellow nun with the title of "Sister" -- was arrested by the SS on August 2, and they were executed a week later.

She was officially declared a martyr of the Catholic Church, and is 1 of the 6 "Patron Saints of Europe." The others all long precede the modern era: Benedict of Nursia, in the 6th Century AD; Cyril and Methodius, Byzantines who ministered to the Slavic peoples of the 9th Century; Bridget of Sweden and Catherine of Siena, in the 14th Century.

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August 9, 1942 was a Sunday. Comedian, actor and TV director David Steinberg was born on this day. This was also the day the Nazis played a soccer game against Dynamo Kyiv that became known as "The Death Match." I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, 3-2 and 2-0. Mel Ott went 1-for-8 with an RBI over the 2 games, and won the 1st game with a suicide squeeze bunt, belying his status as the National League's all-time home run leader (until surpassed by Willie Mays in 1966). Bill McGee pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 2nd game.

* The St. Louis Cardinals swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 and 2-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rookie Stan Musial went 4-for-6 with 2 RBIs. The 2nd game was shortened to 8 innings, because of Pennsylvania's curfew for Sunday sports (long since repealed). 

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds in the opener, 10-8 -- in 18 innings. Stan Hack went 5-for-5 with and an RBI for the Cubs in this game, Phil Cavarretta went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and both of them drew 4 walks. For the Reds, Eddie Joost went 4-for-9 with 4 RBIs, and Bert Haas went 5-for-9 (but no RBIs). The Cubs led 4-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, and blew it. Both teams scored 2 runs in the 12th inning. Dom Dallessandro doubled home the winning run for the Cubs in the top of the 18th. The nightcap was shortened to 5 innings by a Sunday curfew. At that point, the Reds led, 2-1.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at Comiskey Park in Chicago, 11-1 and 3-2.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, 9-3 and 3-1.

* The New York Yankees were supposed to play the Philadelphia Athletics at Yankee Stadium, but got rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The A's won the 1st game, 4-1. The Yankees won the 2nd game, 3-2. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 in each game.

* The Boston Red Sox were supposed to play the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, but got rained out. It was made up on September 8, and the Senators won, 15-11. Jake Early had 5 RBIs for the Senators, Jimmy Pofahl 4, and Bobby Estallela 3. Ted Williams went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were supposed to play the Boston Braves at Braves Field, but got rained out. The game was rescheduled for September 24, and the Dodgers won, 5-3.