Gordon Zahn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gordon Zahn
Born	August 7, 1918 Milwaukee
Died	December 9, 2007 Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Cause of death	Alzheimer's disease
Nationality	United States
Title	professor emeritus University of Massachusetts
Known for	Peace activist
Religious beliefs	Roman Catholic

Gordon C. Zahn (August 7, 1918 – December 9, 2007) was an American sociologist and peace activist.

During World War II, he was a conscientious objector, and served in the only Civilian Public Service camp for Catholics, Camp Warner in New Hampshire, established by the Catholic Worker Movement^[1].

Gordon Zahn helped form the intellectual basis for the statements of the Roman Caththolic Church on conscientious objection, both in "Schema 13", the peace chapter of the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, and in the 1983 pastoral letter, War and Peace: the Challenge of God's Promise and Our Response. ^[2] He extensively studied the German Catholics during World War II. His publications became major sources for Catholic Peace activists and the Austrian national reminiscence on the loss of conscience during the period when Nazis were in power.

Zahn is the author of In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter, about Franz Jägerstätter, a German conscientious objector who was beheaded for refusing to fight in Hitler's army.^[3] Zahn came across Jägerstätter's story while researching his book German Catholics in Hitler's Wars: A Study in Social Control. Jägerstätter was beatified by the Catholic Church on October 26, 2007.

He was one of the founders of Pax Christi USA, the US branch of the international Catholic peace group. A victim of Alzheimer's disease, Zahn died December 9, 2007 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Contents 1 Education/Career 2 Further reading 3 Sources 4 Books 5 References

[edit] Education/Career

• 1952: Ph.D. Catholic University
• 1953-1967: Professor of Sociology, Loyola University of Chicago
• 1967-1980: University of Massachusetts at Boston
• 1968: President, American Catholic Sociological Society

[edit] Further reading

• Let Us Now Praise Gordon Zahn, by Michael Gallagher, Sign of Peace, Ordinary Time 2003 (pp. 11-14).

[edit] Sources

• Center on Conscience and War Records, University of Notre Dame [1]

[edit] Books

• Zahn, Gordon. German Catholics and Hitler's Wars: A Study in Social Control 1964 ISBN 9780268010171 ^[4]

• Zahn, Gordon. In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter 1964 ISBN 087243141X

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME	Zahn, Gordon C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Peace Activist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 7, 1918 PLACE OF BIRTH=Milwaukee, Wisconsin DATE OF DEATH=December 9, 2007 PLACE OF DEATH=Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH