Albert Klein (Bishop)

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Bishop Albert Klein, 1987

Albert Klein (born March 16, 1910 in Schäßburg , Austria-Hungary ; † February 8, 1990 in Sibiu ) was a Protestant clergyman from the German-speaking minority of the Transylvanian Saxons . From 1969 to 1990 he was the bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania ("Saxon Bishop ").

Life

Albert Klein was the son of middle school professor Albert Klein and his wife Frieda geb. Petrovits. He spent his childhood together with his three siblings, including the future microbiologist Paul Klein , in Schäßburg, where he also attended the Protestant elementary school and the lower secondary school . In 1924 the family moved to Sibiu , the hometown of their father, who had received a position at the regional church teachers' college. Klein attended secondary school in Sibiu and passed his matriculation examination there in 1928. 1928/29 he did his military service in the artillery - reserve officer -School in Craiova .

In the summer semester of 1930 he was enrolled at the University of Marburg , where he mainly studied Greek and Hebrew , but also attended theological lectures as well as psychology and logic . In the winter semester of 1930 he enrolled in Cluj and studied physics , chemistry and mathematics . In the academic year 1931/32 he was an associate lecturer at the Reformed Theological Faculty in Cluj. In 1933/34 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen and attended physics lectures on the side. In the summer semester of 1934 he was in Berlin , where he attended theological lectures and continued to work in chemistry. In the autumn of 1936 he passed the licentiate examination for physics and chemistry in Cluj and then went to Tübingen for an academic year (1936 to 1937) to complete his theology studies. In autumn 1937 he became a teacher of physics, chemistry, mathematics and religion at the lower secondary school in Sebeş and in autumn 1939 he switched to the Brukenthal school in Sibiu, where he taught the same subjects. In autumn 1938 he passed his theological examination before the examination board of the Evangelical Church AB in Sibiu.

In 1938 he married Maria geb. Walcher (1912–1992), whom he had met in Berlin. Born in Stuttgart , she went to school in Ravensburg and passed her school leaving examination in 1931. In 1932 she began studying modern philology at the University of Tübingen , which she completed with a doctorate in 1937 . In 1938 she went to Transylvania with Albert Klein , where he was already a teacher in Mühlbach. They had six children, the youngest son of whom died in 1959 at the age of eleven.

In September 1941 Klein was called up as a reserve officer and fought on the Eastern Front during the Second World War until April 1943. In the school year 1943/1944 he worked temporarily in the school administration. In January 1945 he was deported to the Soviet Union for forced labor , from where he came home in December in bad health. He then worked as a pastor in Dobring, Dobârca (1946–1953), Petersdorf, Petreşti (1953–1958) and was the city pastor in Mühlbach (1958–1968). During his time as the parish priest in Mühlbach, the Protestant church was restored by the state monuments office. Albert Klein followed this restoration with great interest and published a report on it in 1976. In 1968 he was appointed city pastor to Brasov, Brasov . While he was pastor in Kronstadt / Brașov, Klein was elected bishop of the Evangelical Church AB in 1969. He held this office until his death.

His successor was Christoph Klein . Albert Klein's son, Hans Klein , was professor of the New Testament at the Protestant Theological Institute in Sibiu.

bishop

On April 15, 1969 Albert Klein was elected 35th Bishop of Saxony of Transylvania by the 47th regional church assembly and thus head of the Evangelical Church AB in Romania. With him, a man took over the leadership of the church, who was deeply rooted in the faith, for whom the church in its early Christian meaning was an ideal and who consciously placed himself in the tradition of his predecessors.

Questions of faith preoccupied him as a youth. Out of deep conviction, he had already campaigned for a spiritual renewal of his generation as a student. The then parish priest from Kronstadt, Konrad Möckel, was his mentor and fatherly friend. It was not a matter of course that he could be elected bishop, although he was highly valued by many contemporaries. It became possible in a favorable political situation in dictatorially ruled, communist Romania at the end of the 1960s, a very short and deceptive thaw. Albert Klein had been active in a leading position in the southeast German Wandervogel in the 1930s . As a student, he was also an advocate of the renewal movement and in a leading position within this group. This past justified the mistrust on the part of the state. It was not publicly known that his basic political and ideological attitude had fundamentally changed as a result of his experiences during the Second World War on the Eastern Front outside Stalingrad and later during the deportation for forced labor to the Soviet Union .

There were high expectations with this choice. On the one hand this illustrates the election result, on the other hand it is confirmed by the reactions of the Transylvanian Saxons who live in the FRG and who are interested in the church . These expectations were very different; This inevitably led to Bishop Klein exercising his office in a field of tension whose requirements could hardly be met and whose contradictions could only be partially resolved. This is what Pastor Sepp Scheerer (at that time pastor in Mainz ) indicated in the “Siebenbürgische Zeitung” on April 30, 1969: “He [...] will have to face a lot of incomprehension, perhaps even hostility, in his decisions. He would be well advised if, when he took over the inheritance of Bishop Müller, he took over his spiritual will [...] 'If God is on our side, who can be against us?' ”Pastor Scheerer was right.

Bishop Klein consciously accepted and continued the legacy of his predecessor, Bishop Friedrich Müller-Langenthal . Bishop Müller had led the Evangelical Church in Transylvania back to what its real mission is, the preaching of the gospel. This was necessary because between the world wars there had been a “amalgamation of 'folkish' and ecclesiastical concerns” in the national church in Transylvania, whereby the “folkish” was brought into focus and religious and spiritual concerns were pushed into the background.

Albert Klein took over the office to continue on the path taken by Bishop Müller. The primary goal was to consolidate church life. Therefore, at the beginning of his activity there was a visit to individual communities to get to know their circumstances. After only 17 months in office, he reports that he has already visited 105 parishes in collaboration with Episcopal Vicar Hermann Binder and thus got to know the needs and worries of the faithful, but also the positive aspects and inadequacies of church life. He maintained this lively visitation activity throughout his term of office.

The basis for spiritual life and action in this church was the new agenda for the order of worship, which was developed by an internal church body under his guidance and support and was based on Lutheran agenda I. It was given to the pastors as a ring binder in 1971 and received its final version in 1987. The regulations for spiritual activities were issued in 1982.

From 1973 the Kirchliche Blätter could be published again, a very important publication for church life with a long tradition, the publication of which was discontinued in 1944. In close cooperation and with the support of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a new hymn book was published in 1978, which was introduced in all parishes at the same time.

The training of the young clergy was a special concern of Albert Klein, the former passionate teacher. In close cooperation with the professors of the Theological Institute, work was carried out to improve training within this still very young institution. Specialist literature was scarce, but it came from the German-speaking area, albeit to a limited extent. This invaluable support was accepted with great gratitude, but was monitored with suspicion by the state. Publications in the country were difficult, if at all possible. From 1978 the series of supplements of the Kirchliche Blätter appeared .

He brought the already existing cantor school to Sibiu and gave it greater importance. He initiated the workshops for organ building and textile restoration so that the maintenance and preservation of valuable art objects were made easier. The already existing building department within the administration of the episcopal office facilitated the repair of church buildings and enabled the effective use of financial support from western countries.

Albert Klein's activity as bishop was marked by the difficulties the church faced in a communist dictatorship. He received support from many Protestant churches in the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR , but also from the umbrella organizations, the EKD and the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , which viewed the church in Transylvania as a sister church and supported it accordingly. Close personal contacts between representatives of both sides offered the possibility of ecclesiastical and religious exchange and the further training of individual pastors and church employees, but at the same time also the chance to provide the communities with material help. In addition, during his tenure, Albert Klein, together with the Diakonisches Werk der EKD, found ways in which more and more medical equipment for the state hospitals and medicines for the population came into the country, which were distributed through the church. This aid benefited everyone in need, regardless of religion or ethnicity, and was of inestimable value.

The cooperation initiated by his predecessor with the other denominations, the Reformed Churches and the Greek Orthodox Church , was further improved and deepened in the more than twenty years of his tenure and finally led the Church in Transylvania out of the isolation in which it found itself had found for centuries. This opening process had already begun in the interwar period, but progressed only slowly.

This also applies to the cultivation of ecumenical connections with churches outside the country. The Evangelical Church of Romania, together with other churches in Romania, became part of the ecumenical movement in 1961. In 1976, Bishop Klein was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The Protestant Church in Transylvania received protection from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), of which it became a member in 1964, that should not be underestimated . Albert Klein was appointed to the LWF Study Commission as early as 1970 and was a member of it until 1977. The “considerable help in the spiritual and material field” was supplemented by a form of support that is difficult to grasp even today and yet was of great importance in the time and context. The representative of the LWF, Paul Hansen, came to visit very often, especially in the first few years of Bishop Klein's term of office, and thus in a certain way had a “protective function” against potentially dangerous state interference.

In both the WCC and the LWF, Bishop Klein served in various working groups and was recognized for his personality and theological authority. This cooperation on an international level was an important enrichment for the spiritual life of the church, for its continued existence in the broadest sense, but also for the relativization of its difficult situation in a dictatorship and a social system that it could not support and still had to recognize Not to endanger existence. Klein considered the ecumenical work of the international Christian Peace Conference (CFK) to be important. He took part in the 5th All-Christian Peace Assembly convened by her in  1978 in Prague and was elected in its committee to continue the work.

As head of the Protestant Church in Transylvania, Albert Klein was also responsible for the German-speaking minority in Romania. He officially represented his church and its members. The entire group of Romania's German-speaking minority had official representatives who were organized in the Council of Working People of German Nationality. Nevertheless, the bishop of the Transylvanian Saxons in Romania was also considered to be a representative of the German population group, after the church had taken on an identity-creating function for almost a century. Klein took this responsibility consciously, and it was clear to him that he would walk a very fine line. His stated goal was to lead the group of Transylvanian Saxons as a community through the years of the communist dictatorship, to secure their cohesion and thus also to guarantee their existence, which could only endure in the geographical location. But this also meant that he was campaigning not to emigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany - an opportunity that many Transylvanian Saxons wanted to take advantage of in order to leave the difficult living conditions in communist Romania behind. In his report to the 49th regional church assembly, he commented on this topic when he said that the decision whether to emigrate or not is an individual one and should therefore be left to the individual: “The church cannot and will not slogans here output."

He also pointed out, however, that the church would continue to take on its task of offering protection and taking responsibility and that it would be there for those who want to stay. He took this high moral responsibility very seriously; he repeatedly addressed this in sermons and in pastoral discussions. The state consistory, which he headed as chairman, shared this view of the situation. Requests by pastors for exemption from the Church, for whose service they had committed themselves, were carefully examined and only approved in relatively few cases of hardship. This could happen on the basis of an agreement with the EKD, which his predecessor had already initiated and which had been confirmed by the state consistory during his term of office. This led to great resentment in the group of emigrated pastors who, after emigrating to the Federal Republic of Germany, could only apply for employment in a church after several years, which led to hostility from this group.

It was also stressful for him that the Landsmannschaft of the Transylvanian Saxons in the Federal Republic of Germany accused him of cooperation with the state and adjustment instead of resistance. This organization publicly denounced the deteriorating living conditions in the communist dictatorship. This meant that he had to justify himself to government agencies and make it clear that he had not initiated this. He also had to explain attacks that were directed against him personally and name the causes. The aid committee of the Transylvanian Saxons and evangelical Banat Swabians showed more understanding for his difficult situation.

The attacks on his person increased in the last years of his term of office in the media of the Federal Republic of Germany. Known mainly the discussion about the Kirchentag in was Berlin West 1989. On November 1, 2009 caused the Catholic , from the Romanian Banat native and minority of the Banat Swabians belonging writer and Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller with a speech at the ceremony of Franz Werfel human rights award from the Association of Expellees in Frankfurt's Paulskirche for a scandal . In it, she accused the leadership of the Evangelical Church A. B. in Transylvania for having "unloaded" from the panel discussion "Forum Romania" at the Evangelical Church Congress in West Berlin in 1989 under pressure from the Romanian communist state in order to remove further restrictions on the Ceaușescu - To avoid regimes against the church. As evidence, she cited a recording, apparently made by the Romanian secret service Securitate , of a telephone conversation between Bishop Albert Klein and the then Schaumburg-Lippe Bishop Joachim Heubach , in which the concerns of the leadership of the Evangelical Church in Transylvania had been expressed against an invitation by the writer to attend the Kirchentag . However, the Evangelical Church A. B. in Romania and the Evangelical Church in Germany rejected Müller's criticism and replied that they had no influence. Herta Müller's account of the events in connection with the 1989 Kirchentag in Berlin is corrected in an essay published in autumn 2010.

The criticism abroad and the resulting increasing pressure from the state impaired Klein's ability to act. He could not resign in 1987 because the state organs wanted to approve his resignation, but not a new election. Therefore, despite his advanced age, he continued to bear responsibility. At the end of 1989 he fell seriously ill and died in office shortly before his 80th birthday in early February 1990. He experienced the upheaval at the end of 1989 with satisfaction and in January 1990, already seriously ill, directed the first aid measures after the fighting in Sibiu at the end of 1989. Albert Klein As the bishop of a church in a communist dictatorship, he endeavored to consolidate and deepen spiritual life, to avoid confrontation with the state and thus to create free space for Christian action.

Honors

literature

  • Albert Klein: A Life of Faith for Church and Community . Publishing house hora, Hermannstadt, and publishing house of the working group for Transylvanian regional studies (AKSL), Heidelberg, 2009, ISBN 978-973-8226-87-6 .
  • Order and responsibility. Festschrift for the 80th birthday of Bishop D. Albert Klein . In: Supplements of the Kirchliche Blätter, 6 . Sibiu / Hermannstadt 1996.
  • Hans Philippi (Hrsg.): Faith and serve: building blocks of community and the future - gift of friend for the 70th birthday of the bishop of the Evangelical Church AB in Romania D. Albert Klein . Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7689-0174-2 .
  • Simon Thiess: Church life in Transylvania from 1972–1982 (photo documentation). 2nd Edition. Self-published, Althegnenberg 2009 (DVD)
  • Dieter Knall (pictures), Albert Klein (text): Transylvania land of blessings. Image of a Protestant church (illustrated book). Self-published by the Aid Committee of the Transylvanian Saxons, Munich 1977.
  • Hermann Pitters (ed.): Thinking and serving. Theological and historical essays as a gift to Prof. D. Dr. Paul Philippi on his 65th birthday. With a foreword by Bishop D. Albert Klein . (1st edition not published, 2nd full edition for 80th birthday), Hora and AKSL, Hermannstadt / Heidelberg 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Important Memorial Days 2010 , Siebenbürgische Zeitung , online edition, January 17, 2010
  2. ^ A b Albert Klein: A life in faith for church and community. Testimonials. Edited from the estate by the children and grandchildren on his 100th birthday on March 16, 2010. Hermannstadt / Sibiu, hora Verlag 2010.
  3. ↑ Sabine Liebig: A woman goes her way - from Ravensburg to Transylvania. Everyday life in Transylvania between National Socialism and Communism using the example of Maria Klein. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / New York / Paris / Vienna 1998 (European university publications: series 3, history and its auxiliary sciences; vol. 809) Weingarten, Pädag. Hochsch., Diss., 1996.
  4. ^ Gustav Gündisch , Albert Klein, Harald Krasser, Theobald Streitfeld: Studies on the Transylvanian Art History. Kriterion Verlag, Bucharest 1976.
  5. ↑ Resisting the zeitgeist: 25 years since the death of Bishop D. Albert Klein
  6. ↑ Samuel Liebhart (ed.): The evg. Church life in Transylvania during the communist period 1946–1990. From the diaries of Pastor Hellmut Klima. Self-published, Dudweiler 2001, p. 307 and the election of Albert Klein as bishop of the Evangelical Church in Romania. From Hellmut Klima's diary. In: Journal for Transylvania Regional Studies, Issue 1/2001, pp. 119–124.
  7. ^ Ludwig Binder: The Evangelical Church AB in Romania 1920-1944. In: Transylvania between the two world wars. P. 253.
  8. ↑ Albert Klein: A life in faith for church and community. Testimonials. Edited from the estate of children and grandchildren on his 100th birthday on March 16, 2010. Hermannstadt / Sibiu 2010, p. 438.
  9. ↑ Christoph Klein: Sermon in the funeral service for Bishop D. Albert Klein. In: Christoph Klein, Hermann Pitters (ed.): Order and responsibility. Festschrift for the 80th birthday of Bishop D. Albert Klein. Sibiu / Hermannstadt 1996, p. 328.
  10. ↑ a b Ludwig Binder, Josef Scheerer: The Bishops of the Evangelical Church AB In Transylvania. Part II, p. 237.
  11. ↑ Ludwig Binder: The Evangelical Church AB in Romania 1920-1944. In: Transylvania between the two world wars. Pp. 238-239.
  12. ↑ Ludwig Binder, Josef Scheerer: The bishops of the Evangelical Church AB in Transylvania. Part II, p. 219.
  13. ↑ International Secretariat of the Christian Peace Conference (ed.): God's call to solidarity. Christians for Peace, Justice and Liberation. Documents of the V All-Christian Peace Assembly, Prague, June 22-27, 1978, Prague 1978.
  14. ↑ Albert Klein: A life in faith for church and community. Testimonials. Edited from the estate of children and grandchildren on his 100th birthday on March 16, 2010. Hermannstadt / Sibiu, 2010, p. 442
  15. ↑ Albert Klein: A life in faith for church and community. Testimonials. Edited from the estate of children and grandchildren on his 100th birthday on March 16, 2010. Hermannstadt / Sibiu, 2010, p. 443.
  16. ↑ State Consistory comments on Herta Müller's criticism , Siebenbürgische Zeitung, online edition, November 12, 2009
  17. ↑ Half-yearly publication for Southeast European history, literature and politics. 22nd year, issues No. 1 and 2, autumn 2010, pp. 82–89.
  18. ↑ Church life with Bishop D. Albert Klein on DVD , Siebenbürgische Zeitung, online edition, May 5, 2009
  19. ^ Faith and Home on DVD , Siebenbürgische Zeitung, online edition, November 20, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Schäßburg , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1990
Place of death Sibiu