St. Augustin Abbey

The mission house of St. Augustin was founded with the aim of supporting pastoral care and providing a place of recuperation for order members; it was occupied in 1913. During World War I, it served as a reserve hospital, where order members assisted in nursing. After the war, occupation soldiers used the building as quarters. From September 1919, St. Augustin functioned as a novitiate, and in 1925, it was expanded to include a seminary with an order university, which received state recognition in 1983. In 1941, the National Socialists confiscated the mission house and expelled its residents. The building suffered damage from aerial bombs during the war years. After its capture by American troops in March 1945, it briefly served as an evacuation site for approximately 5,000 people from surrounding villages and later as a transit camp for returning French forced laborers. Already in 1945, the Steyl Missionaries began reconstruction, and by March 1947, the building, with the exception of the church, was repaired. The church could be used again in 1948.