Gelsenkirchen Baptist Cemetery

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The Baptist Cemetery Gelsenkirchen (also called Evangelical Free Church Cemetery after 1942 ) was opened on August 18, 1901 and still serves as the resting place for deceased members and friends of the Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen Erlöserkirche KdöR (official name until 1942: Baptist Church Schalke -Gelsenkirchen ). The cemetery is located in the Schalke district at Hochkampstraße 3.

history

On January 20, 1895, the community assembly of the Baptist Congregation Schalke-Gelsenkirchen decided : "A request should be made to the authorities for an own cemetery". The background to this decision was the experience made in many other places that the church owners of the then mostly denominational cemeteries hindered or even refused funeral ceremonies and funerals of free-church Christians. In Dr. von Hammerschmidt, the then district administrator and later governor of Westphalia , found the cemetery plans of the Gelsenkirchen Baptists a well-meaning supporter. A large piece of land on Hochkampstrasse was offered to the Free Church for purchase and finally acquired by the community. After further discussions within the congregation in June 1901, part of the property was sold to the Free Church Evangelical Community . This united in 1968 with the Episcopal Methodist Church to form the Evangelical Methodist Church . For the Baptists a cemetery area of ​​around 9,300 m² remained, including today's parking lot. Most of the fencing and earthworks were done by the Baptists themselves. The inauguration took place on August 18, 1901.

One of the special graves is that of the couple August Broda and Hedwig, née Schröder. August Broda was the first pastor of the Gelsenkirchen Baptist congregation from 1893 to 1929 and co-initiator of the cemetery.

Cemetery operations

Originally, the funeral services were held in the Zionskirche . The mourners then accompanied the deceased to the cemetery via public roads. After the big city traffic made such funeral procession impossible, a wooden barrack built in the cemetery was used for the funeral services. For many years there has been an agreement with the Roman Catholic parish of St. Joseph Schalke , which enables the use of their cemetery chapel in the adjoining Catholic cemetery for a corresponding fee. For this purpose, a gateway was built between the Baptist and Catholic cemeteries, which is opened during funeral services.

The cemetery is looked after by a volunteer cemetery administrator. At his side are so-called 450 euro workers , who have been entrusted with gardening care. The work necessary in connection with the burial is carried out by a neighboring cemetery nursery, which also looks after the Methodist cemetery.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In 1942 the Federation of German Baptist Congregations and the Federation of Free Church Christians merged to form the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches .
  2. ^ Archives of the Evangelical Free Church Church of the Redeemer : Minutes of the parish meeting of January 20, 1895.
  3. ↑ Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (Ed.): Your loyalty calls us. Preacher August Broda in memory , Gelsenkirchen 1957, p. 18.

literature

  • Evangelical Free Church Congregation (Baptists) Gelsenkirchen / Erlöserkirche (Hrsg.): Festschrift zur Hundertjahrfeier , Gelsenkirchen 1991, p. 77 (article by Manfred Bärenfänger).
  • Evangelical Free Church (Baptist) Gelsenkirchen / Erlöserkirche (Ed.): Your loyalty calls us. Preacher August Broda in memory , Gelsenkirchen 1957.

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '38 "  N , 7 ° 5' 50"  E