Klaus Mayer

Klaus Mayer (24 February 1923 – 16 December 2022) was a German Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Mainz and was an .

Biography Mayer was born in Darmstadt on 24 February 1923. Due to his half-Jewish heritage from his father, Karl Jakob Mayer, he received severe persecution from the Nazi Party. His father emigrated to Argentina in 1933, though he stayed in Germany with his mother, Emmi Meisinger. He found refuge at the Ettal Monastery, where he attended secondary school. After the abbey closed in 1942, he graduated from the Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium. He was not admitted to any universities and narrowly escaped deportation in February 1945.

After the end of World War II, Mayer entered the and was ordained a priest by Bishop of Mainz Albert Stohr on 30 July 1950 at the Mainz Cathedral. He subsequently worked as a chaplain in Büdesheim, Seligenstadt, and Oppenheim. He was appointed pastor of a church in Gau-Bickelheim, where he served for six years. From 1965 until his retirement in 1991, he was pastor of the Collegiate Church of St. Stephan in Mainz and played a key role in the reconstruction of the church, which had sustained damages during World War II.

Works Die Chagall-Fenster zu St. Stephan in Mainz Der Gott der Väter. Das Mittelfenster (1993) "Ich stelle meinen Bogen in die Wolken." Die flankierenden Mittelfenster (1994) Herr, mein Gott, wie groß bist du!. Die seitlichen Fenster (1994) Die Himmel der Himmel fassen dich nicht. Die Querhausfenster. Brief an meinen Freund (1995) Psalmen in Bildern (1995) Traumbilder (1997) St. Stephan in Mainz (2001) Zeitzeugenbericht von Monsignore Klaus Mayer (2004) Wie ich überlebte. Die Jahre 1933–1945 (2007)

Documentary Die Chagall-Fenster in Mainz (SWR Fernsehen, 2007)