Franz Scholz was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and professor of theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 from Breslau, Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

. He had eight brothers and two sisters. His youngest brother Gerhard is now 86. He studied at Breslau's Catholic St.-Matthias-Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

, then Caritas Science at Freiburg

Freiburg

Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...

. He studied the Polish language

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 at Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 and Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

. In 1934 he became a priest and took up a position as chaplain at Cross Church in Breslau. In this office Schulz attended to the spiritual needs of Polish seasonal workers in the Silesian capital city. After receiving his doctorate he transferred to St. Bonifacius Church in Görlitz

Görlitz

Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...

.

In 1945, the eastern part of the city of Görlitz was split off and became known as Zgorzelec

Zgorzelec

Zgorzelec is a town in south-western Poland with 33,278 inhabitants . It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship . It is the seat of Zgorzelec County, and also of the smaller district of Gmina Zgorzelec...

 when the Polish-German border was redrawn. Because of his knowledge of Polish, Scholz was able to remain in Zgorzelec, but he chose to leave in 1946 when Germans who remained in the city were forced to adopt Polish citizenship.

Scholz went to the nearby city of Cottbus

Cottbus

Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of , its population was .- History :...

, but when it became part of the German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

 in 1949, he moved to West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

. There, Scholz taught many classes dealing with morals and theology and he received many honors, including Papal Honorary Titles.

Professor Scholz was a theologian with many years of practical experience with parishioners and inmates, and he had experience with Polish life and people. He left a large volume of written material. He was especially opposed to the proposed beatification of the Primate of Poland, August Cardinal Hlond.