Nicolas Delsor  Abbé Nicolas Delsor (5 October 1847 – 20 December 1927) was a French priest and politician. He represented Bas Rhin in the German Reichstag before World War I, and then in the French Senate after the war. Although born French, his primary allegiance was to the Catholic church, and he drew criticism for cooperating with the German authorities after Alsace was annexed in 1871. Nicolas Delsor was born in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, on 5 October 1847. His father came from the Auvergne. He entered the minor seminary of Strasbourg in 1858, at the age of 11. He was an excellent pupil, and after being ordained a priest in 1865 was asked to remain at the seminary for a while as a teacher. He left the seminary after Alsace had become part of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Delsor was priest of several parishes in succession. He became well known as a preacher and as a speaker, fluent in both French and German. Around 1880 he founded the "Revue catholique d'Alsace" and became the director of this journal. Articles in the journal often discussed Christian trade unionism, a movement with German origins that drew on the Catholic tradition of social commitment. Delsor engaged in studies of the history of Catholicism in Alsace at this time. He was at first active in the movement protesting the German annexation of Alsace, but then became one of the leaders of the Catholic Party of Alsace. He went to far as to state that logically the party should join the main Catholic Party of Germany. Delsor became a member of the Alsatian Landtag, and in 1898 was elected Deputy for Alsace in the Reichstag. He was supported by reactionary elements in the German government, but was opposed to the Prince of Hohenlohe, prefect of Upper Alsace. In Berlin he became known as a rabid Catholic polemicist. In 1900 he founded the daily newspaper "le Volksfreund" in Strasbourg. In one article he attacked Protestants in language that led to his imprisonment for three months for contempt of another church. On 7 January 1904 Delsor visited Lunéville, where he was invited to a meeting of Alsatians living in the town. Some said Delsor asked that the discussion avoid politics, but others said it was a protest by reactionary Catholics against the ban on "Volksfreund" in France.