Nationality German Died 27 July 1941 | Denomination Roman Catholicism Ordination 2 February 1917 | |
Born 12 December 1888
Groß Strehlitz, German Empire ( 1888-12-12 ) Parents Anton and Julija (neé Hepner) Nestor Diocese Roman Catholic Diocese of Banja Luka | ||
Waldemar Maximilian Nestor (12 December 1888 – 27 July 1941) was the first Roman Catholic priest known to have been murdered in World War II in Yugoslavia.
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Life
Waldemar Maximilian Nestor was born in Groß Strehlitz to Anton and Julija (née Hepner) Nestor. His family moved near Banja Luka in Austria-Hungary when his father got a job there as a state forester. Therefore, he continued education at the Trappist Mariastern Abbey.
He was ordained a priest on 2 February 1917 as a member of the abbey where he served as a teacher in the abbey's elementary school and as a governor of the abbey's resources. In 1931 he left the Trappist order and joined the diocesan priests after which he was appointed parochial vicar in Ljubunčić. In 1936 he was transferred to Bosanski Petrovac where he was appointed parish priest.
As the majority of Catholics of the parish had lived in Drvar, Father Nestor moved the parish seat there.
Death
On 26 July 1941 he went with his parishioners on a pilgrimage to Saint Ann near Knin. On the way back to Drvar on 27 July, at Trubar near Bihać, Chetniks stopped the train and killed the group. After, the bodies were tossed into the Golubnjača pit.