Name Father Raskin | Died 1943 | |
Jozef Maria Raskin (21 June 1892 – 18 October 1943) was a Belgian artist, painter, draftsman, and Scheutist missionary who served in World War I and became a missionary in China from 1920 to 1934. Later, during World War II, he was drafted into the Belgian army as a chaplain and was a personal advisor to King Leopold III. While operating under the code name Leopold Vindictive 200 for the Dutch resistance, on 1 May 1942 he was arrested by the Gestapo, tried and convicted, and on 18 October 1943 was guillotined. A statue honoring his service stands in Aarschot. After World War II, a book about Raskin's exploits in both world wars was written by Jozef De Vroey, himself a Catholic priest and survivor of both these conflicts, under the title Pater Raskin in de beide wereldoorlogen (Father Raskin in Both World Wars).
Contents
Early life and education
Jozef Raskin was born in Stevoort, Belgium, in 1892. He was the eldest son of Amandus and Marie Leonie (née Cleeren). He studied in a college in Sint-Truiden and took his vows in 1910 from the CICM Missionaries, a Catholic religious order widely known as the Scheut Missionaries.
World War I
After becoming a deacon on 25 July 1914, Raskin was mobilized into the Belgian army where, due to a shortage of uniforms, he continued to wear his cassock. He was captured on the front lines with the Germans giving him an automatic death sentence, as soldiers disguised as priests were suspected of carrying secret documents, but he successfully escaped from his captors. As a front-line soldier and observer of enemy lines, his skills in drawing were particular noted.
Missionary in China
After his ordination on 2 February 1920 by the CICM Missionaries, he was stationed as a missionary to Inner Mongolia, China, where he became fluent in both the spoken and written Chinese language. While attached to the Diocese of Xiwanzi there, he taught natural sciences, and in February 1934 he returned to Belgium and became a writer for his order.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, Raskin was drafted as a military chaplain into the Belgian military, reading mass for King Leopold III, and was the personal adviser to this monarch. He used the code name Leopold Vindictive 200 while working for the Dutch resistance. His knowledge of radiography allowed him to hear conversations, among other things, from the Nazi German forces occupying Belgium, with his spying activities consisting primarily of the allocation of the German positions on the Belgian coast. He became widely known for his use of pigeons to carry his intelligence reports to England. His missives were contained in a small 3 mm tube using thin paper, whereon he compiled detailed sketches of enemy lines with up to 5,000 words of explanation. One such message from Raskin flown by pigeon to the British during World War II, now archived in the National Archives of the United Kingdom under the heading of "Source Message No. 37", reads:
This message is from Leopold Vindictive 200. Please tell us if you get it in your normal news transmission, – in Dutch twice and in Radio Belquige twice, with the hour of arrival and as soon as you get it. Please say what was unknown to you, only giving the letters of the maps (A.B.C., etc) with "were unknown" or more about "........ is asked for". This information is thoroughly reliable and here is our guarantee or warranty: We are a staff of three principals and Several (? Seven) secondary agents but identify me as follows: – I am the bearded Military Chaplain who shook hands with Admiral Keyes on the morning of 27 May 1940 at about 7.30. Ask the Admiral please where he was exactly at that moment with my most respectful greetings.
Arrest and execution
On 1 May 1942, Raskin was betrayed as a spy by a man dressed as a beggar and was arrested by the Gestapo. While imprisoned awaiting trial, he was described by other prisoners as being "a learned man, uplifting, eloquent, a support and an example" who sang every night, told stories of his years in China, and took confessions from his fellow inmates. On 31 August 1943 he was tried and convicted, offering as his only defense: Im Gewissen und vor Gott habe ich meine Pflicht getan (In conscience and before God I have done my duty). The following day, 1 September 1943, he was sentenced to death and on 18 October 1943, at 1843 hours, he was guillotined in Dortmund Prison.
Statue and grave
He is buried in Stevoort. A statue was erected in his honor in Aarschot.