2,000 priests, and many other lay retreatants. In 1926, Kentenich founded the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. During Hitler's reign Kentenich observed the rise of Nazism with concern, which he ranked among the products of what he called "the idealistic and mechanistic thinking" that engulfed Europe since nineteenth century like an oil spill. In 1933, when the Nazis took power in Germany and closed religious houses one after the other, Father Kentenich took little time to send groups of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary groups to South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay to allow the movement to survive in case the persecution of the Church in Germany intensified. His opposition to Nazism attracted persecutory reactions towards him. Father Kentenich said about the swastika: "We, it is the Cross of the Christ that we follow." About Nazism, he said, "I see no place where the water of baptism could run there". On 20 September 1941, Kentenich was arrested by the Gestapo in Koblenz and subsequently sent to Dachau concentration camp. He spent over 3 years in the camp, where he became a support for many people, especially among the priests, and according to firsthand accounts, he guided many prisoners to show compassion, to be good men even in the midst of certain death. In Dachau, new branches of the Schoenstatt Movement, including its first international and family branches, were founded. Arrest by the Gestapo Once in power, the Nazis were quick to classify Schoenstatt among the main opponents to destroy. After endless vexations, on 20 September 1941, Kentenich was summoned by the Gestapo; quoting some of his words spoken in private, but reported by an informer: "My mission is to reveal the inner emptiness of National Socialism, and by there to defeat it." The police imprisoned him for a month in a cell without ventilation, in order to break his resistance. This was a small massive concrete cell without any opening than the door. Father Kentenich was kept for four weeks in this dark and airless bunker, which was previously the vault of a branch of the Reichsbank. He left physically debilitated, but calm and peaceful as before. He was then transferred to a prison in Koblenz, a former Carmelite convent. He spent 5 months there, after which he was sent on to Dachau. Sent to the Dachau concentration camp In March 1942, Kentenich was sent to the Dachau concentration camp