Adelbert Mühlschlegel

Adelbert Mühlschlegel (born June 16, 1897 in Berlin , † July 29, 1980 in Athens ) was a German doctor and Esperantist. As a Bahai became one of the seven so-called “ hands of the cause of God ”, who were appointed on May 29, 1952 by Shoghi Effendi . With his translations, he helped shape the style of the early German-language translations of the Baha'i scripts.

Adelbert Mühlschlegel 1978 in Hofheim a. Ts.

Life

The years from 1897 to 1951

Adelbert Mühlschlegel grew up in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg and studied medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau , Greifswald and Tübingen .

In 1920 he received a letter from his mother in Greifswald, in which she reported on the Baha'i faith that she had got to know in Stuttgart. He wrote a letter to Abdul-Baha professing his belief in Baha'u'llah . In October, Mühlschlegel received a letter from Abdul-Baha in response.

In 1922, Dr. Mühlschlegel opened a doctor's practice in Stuttgart and began to give lectures for the small Baha'i community in Germany, worked as a translator and was active as a writer. He wrote a melodrama for a Baha'i Congress in September 1924. In the same year Mühlschlegel was elected to the National Spiritual Council of the Baha'i in Germany, where he stayed until 1937, when the council was dissolved by the Gestapo .

Mühlschlegel gave a lecture on the Baha'i Faith in Esperanto at the Esperanto World Congress in Geneva in 1925 . His translation work also gave him a solid knowledge of other European languages ​​and Arabic . Among other things, he translated the Book of the Covenant and the Book of Certainty .

In 1926 Mühlschlegel married Herma Weidle. They had two girls and three boys, one of whom died in early childhood. In 1936 the Mühlschlegel couple made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where they met Shoghi Effendi personally. Before that, Mühlschlegel only knew him from numerous letters.

In 1937 a large part of Mühlschlegel's Baha'i books was confiscated and in 1944 his home was bombed out. After the Second World War , the National Spiritual Council of Germany and Austria was established in 1946 . Mühlschlegel was elected to this body and often served as chairman until 1959.

Hand of the cause of God

In 1952 Mühlschlegel was appointed a hand in the cause of God. In this capacity he traveled a lot. He took part in the International Baha'i Conferences in Stockholm (1953) and Frankfurt am Main (1958) and in 1957 represented Shoghi Effendi in the formation of the Regional Spiritual Council for Scandinavia and Finland . Also in 1957, Shoghi Effendi died in London. Mühlschlegel hurried there, prepared Shoghi Effendi's body for the funeral and attended it.

In addition to his numerous trips, he also moved frequently to support the Baha'i on site. So he left Stuttgart in 1958 and finally settled in Tübingen. In 1959 Mühlschlegel suffered a heart attack and gave up his job. From then on he could devote all his time to the service of the faith. In 1962 he was present in the elections of the first National Spiritual Councils of Sweden and Finland.

In 1964 his wife Herma died after a long illness. Mühlschlegel moved to Vienna to strengthen the Austrian Baha'i community. He married again, namely Ursula Kohler, and traveled with her worldwide for the Baha'i Faith. From 1969 to 1970 he traveled to Pakistan , India , Nepal , East Pakistan, today's Bangladesh , and Iran on behalf of the House of Justice .

In 1970 the Mühlschlegel couple moved to the canton of Friborg . In 1971 and 1972 he took part in the Baha'i Youth Conferences in Fiesch in Switzerland , in Salzburg , Padua and at Plön Castle . During these two years he made two trips to Africa . He participated in the national meetings for the initial formation of the National Spiritual Councils of Lesotho , Swaziland , Rwanda and the Seychelles . He also traveled to Rhodesia , today's Zimbabwe , Zambia , Botswana , the South African Union , South West Africa , today's Namibia , and Malawi , where he advised the Baha'i.

1974 Mühlschlegels moved to Hofheim am Taunus . From there they traveled in 1975 to Venezuela , Curaçao , Columbia , Panama , Ecuador , Peru , Chile , Argentina , Paraguay , Uruguay and Brazil . There he visited the Baha'i communities, gave lectures mostly in Spanish , gave interviews for newspapers, radio and television stations, visited politicians, etc.

Finally, in 1977, the Mühlschlegels moved to Athens. There, at the age of 80, he attended the meeting to form the first National Spiritual Council of the Baha'i of Greece as a representative of the Universal House of Justice.

Mühlschlegel wrote numerous poems. A selection of these poems was published in memory of his 80th birthday. He also left a work on world history that overcomes the usual Eurocentrism. Excerpts from this are published in Ursula Mühlschlegel's biography. He died in 1980 and was buried in Athens' 1st cemetery.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wendy Heller: Lidia: The Life of Lidia Zamenhof Daughter of Esperanto . George Ronald, Oxford, UK 1985, ISBN 0-85398-195-7 , pp. 65 .
2. ↑ Shoghi Effendi: The Light of Divine Guidance: The messages from the Guardian of the Bahai Faith to the Bahais of Germany and Austria, Vol. 1 . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1982, ISBN 3-87037-145-5 .
3. ↑ Shoghi Effendi: The Light of Divine Guidance: The messages from the Guardian of the Bahai Faith to the Bahais of Germany and Austria, Vol. 2 . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1985, ISBN 3-87037-159-5 .

Fonts

• Poems . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1977, ISBN 3-87037-092-0 .
• Self-education as a Bahá'í . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 1977, ISBN 3-87037-325-3 .

literature

• Ursula Mühlschlegel: Adelbert Mühlschlegel: His life and work ... and all paths will be free . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-87037-472-3 .
• Barron Deems Harper: Lights of Fortitude . George Ronald, Oxford, UK 2007, ISBN 978-0-85398-413-9 , pp. 288-298 .
• Anneliese Bopp: The Baháí World Vol. XVIII . Ed .: The Universal House of Justice. Haifa 1986, ISBN 0-85398-234-1 , p. 611-613 .