Riedel, Peter

Father Riedel was born in 1880 in Herzog. He began his seminary training in Saratov and graduated from the Theological Academy in St. Peteresburg. He was ordained as a subdeacon on 23 December 1901 in Grosswerder and ordained a priest in 1903. He served from 3 July 1903 to 8 September 1906 as vicar in Katharinenstadt. He served in Marienfeld from 1911 to 1914. In 1928, he became parish priest in Schönchen.
On 18 August 1930, he was arrested by the secret police because of the alleged group conspiracy of the German Catholic clergy in the Volga district back in 1917 and sent to the prison at Yaroslavl. On 20 April 1931 he was convicted by a committee of the secret police (OGPU) and given the maximum penalty. His death sentence was commuted to a 10 years imprisonment in the concentration camp at the Solovezki Islands. In 1937 while still imprisoned, Father Riedel was arrested again and convicted on 9 October 1937 by a special tribunal of the secret police (NKVD) to death. He was executed by a firing squad on 3 November 1937 in the prison on the Solovezki Islands.