Wehrmacht Chaplain in the Second World War

During the war, Schröder was first the deputy Protestant chaplain for Military District VI in Münster and then divisional chaplain from mid-October of 1940 onward. In April of 1940, he objected to and prevented part-time garrison and hospital chaplains from being discharged and the military chaplaincy from being thusly reduced. In May of 1940, he convinced a Jehovah’s Witness to perform his military service in order to escape the death penalty.

Schröder was a divisional chaplain in France from October 1940 to April 1941 as well as from February to April 1942, in Belgium from May to June 1942 and in Russia from June to November 1941 as well as from June 1942 to December 1945.