Gordon C. Zahn, author, teacher, and pacifist; at 89

GORDON C. ZAHN

The story of an Austrian peasant beheaded in 1943 for refusing to serve in Hitler's army during World War II captivated the attention of US scholar and peace activist Gordon C. Zahn, who wrote of the conscientious objector's plight in a book that Austrians would later turn into a movie.

"In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter," made its debut in 1965. Just over four decades later, the peasant whom Dr. Zahn introduced to the world was beatified, an important step toward sainthood.

Jägerstätter's story, as told by Dr. Zahn, would later serve as an inspiration to Daniel Ellsberg, known for his 1971 release of the Pentagon Papers.

Dr. Zahn's book was "the most moving account of heroism to come this way for a long time," a Globe reviewer wrote upon the book's release. "It has two planes for admiration, one for the man's courage, the other for the author's method of investigation, the way he wrings out every last bit of evidence of the kind of man this rebel was, this martyr, this possible saint."

Just weeks after Jägerstätter was beatified, Dr. Zahn, himself a conscientious objector during World War II, died Dec. 9 of complications of Alzheimer's disease, in St. Camillus retirement community in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 89.

He was a former sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and served as president and director of the Center on Conscience & War in Cambridge.

"His persistence in doing what he felt was right really gave me a lot of strength," Ellsberg said of the peasant's legacy.

Ellsberg said he re-read Dr. Zahn's book on Christmas day and remembered how the book helped him. "His discovery of Jägerstätter and his analyses were extremely well done," Ellsberg said of Dr. Zahn's work.

Colleagues and friends dubbed him "dean of American Catholic pacifists," and, over time, his firm belief that war could never be justified helped to give pacifists a wider voice within the church. Many Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, hold to a theory of just war, which sanctions war under certain circumstances.

"He was a person who could persuade you with words," said longtime family friend Susan Kalmer of Minneapolis. "He wouldn't get angry; he didn't get dogmatic. His arguments were his forte."

Those who did not always agree with him respected his approach.

"He was always committed to peace in a personal sense, as well as in a national sense," said Sylvester Theisen, a professor emeritus at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., who met Dr. Zahn during their undergraduate years at that school. "He was a pacifist, and I believe that some wars are just. Despite that kind of difference, he was unusually kind and reflective, rather than aggressive. He was an outspoken person for pacifism, but he was not hostile."

Dr. Zahn wrote prolifically on subjects he cared about - he always carried a pad of paper and a writing tool - and was often published in journals such as Commonweal.

His books also stood out for his style of writing, Theisen said. "It was very scholarly and, at the same time, very readable."

Dr. Zahn grew up in Milwaukee, where his mother worked in a bakery while raising her two boys. She died when her sons were young, and her other son died shortly thereafter of tuberculosis.

When World War II broke out, Dr. Zahn made up his mind to be a conscientious objector, even though a priest on the Milwaukee draft board suggested that it was not possible for a Catholic to be a conscientious objector. He appealed the ruling and was given a CO classification, and was sent to Camp Simon in New Hampshire, a camp for objectors, where he fought fires. He wrote of his experiences there in a book, "Another Part of War: The Camp Simon Story."

When the war ended, relatives said, he found it hard to get into colleges because of his status as a conscientious objector, but was offered a full scholarship by St. John's. Still, his pacifism was not popular with students, many of whom were war veterans, and several chaplains objected to his beliefs, as well. After a year there, he transferred to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

He earned a master's degree and doctorate from the Catholic University of America in Washington, and became an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University in Chicago in 1953.

Dr. Zahn continued to land in hot water for his pacifist views and had difficulty getting his book, "German Catholics and Hitler's Wars: A Study in Social Control," published. The book detailed his research on the relatively small number of Catholics in Germany who opposed the Nazi war effort. The book eventually was published in 1962.

He also wrote many book reviews for the Globe on issues dear to him.

Dr. Zahn became an assistant professor of sociology at UMass-Boston in 1967, a post he held for 13 years. He then headed the Center on Conscience & War, a Cambridge-based organization that supports and promotes the efforts of conscientious objectors.

He also teamed up with a group of other pacifists, and formed Pax Christi USA in 1972, an extension of a group started in Europe to promote the idea that nonviolence and antiwar views can come from within Christian teachings.

Often dressed in a shirt and tie, Dr. Zahn sometimes looked like Trotsky, his colleagues said, especially early in his career when he had a wild head of hair and wore a mustache. He had a soft spot for Wagner, and was known for his playful sense of humor, such as sending an RSVP to friends that said, "Sorry I cannot make the party - I've been drafted, Signed, Richard Wagner," Kalmer said.

He leaves no immediate survivors. Services have been held.