Home > World War II > Edith Stein Biography

Born October 12, 1891
Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland)
Died August 9, 1942
Auschwitz, Poland
German Jew who converted to Catholicism
and became a nun

On October 11, 1998, Edith Stein became the first Jewish person in modern times to achieve sainthood. The Roman Catholic Church gave her this honor because, they said, she had done so much to promote understanding between Christians and Jews and because she had died a martyr (someone who dies rather than renounce his or her religion) for both her heritage and her faith. A respected thinker and writer on philosophical issues and an atheist (person who does not believe in God) as a young woman, Stein converted to the Catholic religion when she was thirty years old. Twelve years later, she entered a convent as a nun. In 1942 she was executed at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland. Stein's sainthood caused a controversy...