Father Bernard Goebel
In 1940, Bernard M. Goebel, a young Polish priest, was arrested and sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, where he and other interned priests performed secret Masses and rites and served the spiritual needs of the prisoners whenever and however they could.
After his liberation in 1945, Father Goebel spoke in detail about his experiences to Reverend Hoffmann, for a book he was writing about the Catholic priests who were interned at Dachau. Bedrich Hoffman published the book And Who Will Kill You … in the Czech language.
In 1951 Father Goebel left Europe for the U.S. and arrived at the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. There, he began serving the predominately Czech, Bohemian, and Polish residents of the area.
One of the nuns at the first church Father Goebel was assigned to in Texas asked if he was the same Father Goebel who had been written about in Hoffman's book. He said he was, and she gave him a copy. Goebel had not read the book before, but now, after reading it, having it translated into English became a passion he would pursue for many decades as he worked as a pastor in several small Texas parishes.
In the 1970s, Father Goebel was assigned pastor at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Panna Maria. In an incredible turn of fortune, Father Goebel would finally find the person who would translate the book into English, someone literally in his own backyard, who spoke fluent Czech. He was Bishop John L. Morkovsky, of the Galveston-Houston Roman Catholic Diocese, and the brother of one of Goebel's Panna Maria parishioners.
Reverend Bernard Goebel, 96, died June 24, 2001, and is buried in the Panna Maria Cemetery. The inscription on his grave reads, Dachau Prisoner Number 22805, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” Timothy II 4:7