| Karl
Kruger, son of Jewish parents, arrived in Edinburgh in 1939
at the age of 15 as a refugee from Nazi Germany along with his
brother Hans. Soon afterwards he was picked up on his way to
church, wearing his school uniform of Edinburgh Academy and
was deported to a detention camp for aliens in Canada. There
he became a Catholic in 1940. On his return to Scotland he was
educated at Blairs in Aberdeen and St Edmund's College Ware
and went on to be ordained in Edinburgh on the 17th July 1949
at the age of 25. He never forgot his Jewish roots and the Reformed
Protestant faith of his family back in Berlin. His brother Hans
also followed Fr Krugger into the Priesthood and is now Fr Boniface.
After service for a year as assistant Priest at St Ninian's
in Edinburgh from 1949 to 1950 he continued with further studies
this time at Cambridge University for 4 years from 1950 to 1953.
After a further year as an assistant priest at St Cuthbert's
Edinburgh 1953 to 1954 he undertook a period as Professor at
Blairs Seminary followed by yet further studies at the Institut
Catholique in the Sorbonne University de Paris.
Following his many studies Canon Kruger then undertook an extensive
academic tenure as Professor at the Diocesan Senior Seminary
of St Andrews at Drygrange from 1957 to 1970.
He then went to Parish work in Grangemouth on 1st Sept 1970
having been appointed by Cardinal Gordon Gray to establish a
new church of ‘Christ
the King’. As well as undertaking his parish duties,
the then Father Kruger also took a great interest in the wider
community in Grangemouth. He was the chairman and founder member
of Grangemouth Enterprises, a member of Grangemouth Council
of Churches, Christian Aid, Chairman of the local Catholic Marriage
Advisory Committee as well as being the Dean of the Deanery
of St Mungos for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
On the 26th November 1987 Father Kruger was transferred to St.
Patrick's Parish in Kilsyth. Shortly thereafter in 1988 he was
admitted to the Cathedral Chapter of Canons by the then Archbishop
O'Brien. Canon Karl Kruger died suddenly and unexpectedly only
18 months after his arrival in Kilsyth on 24th May 1989. After
Mass with a congregation of nearly 1000 people in St Patrick’s,
containing many of his friends from Grangemouth, his remains
were interred at Kilsyth cemetery. Fr Boniface, his brother,
after concelabrating Canon Kruger's funeral Mass donated his
chalice to the people of St Patrick's Kilsyth. This chalice
is used on a daily basis for communion and from time to time
by Fr Boniface who returns to say Mass in St Patrick's around
the anniversary of Canon Krugger's death when he is able to
do so.

The image immediately above of Canon Kruger, is from an original
painting by Charlie McGuire of Grangemouth.
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