Albert Schmidt (theologian)
Albert Schmidt (born August 1, 1893 in Hagen , † November 20, 1945 in Werther (Westphalia) ) was a Protestant pastor and politician ( CSVD ).
Life
From 1913 Albert Schmidt studied theology in Bonn , where he was a member of the Alemannia fraternity from the winter semester 1913/14 , interrupted by military service, for which he had volunteered . He has received several awards for his special bravery. As one of the few officers he was elected chairman of a soldiers' council at the end of the war . In the meeting of the workers 'and soldiers' councils in the Busch Circus in Berlin on November 10, 1918 and in discussions with Friedrich Ebert , he supported the majority Social Democrats against the Independent Social Democrats . In December 1918 he joined the German People's Party (DVP). In 1919 he began studying theology in Giessen , then resumed in Münster (Westphalia). In 1919 he became a member of the Alemannia Münster fraternity . In 1922, he was with a dissertation on "The ideology of pacifism in the light of the Christian faith" for licentiate doctorate. From 1923 to 1925 he was first active as a parish priest in Bottrop-Eigen , then in Bochum's old town parish . There he worked at the Christ Church from 1926 to 1938 . Schmidt was also politically active, for example he was a city councilor in Bottrop for the Christian People's Service from 1924 to 1926 , and was a member of the Provincial Parliament and the Provincial Committee of Westphalia from 1929 to 1933 . He was co-founder and chairman of the Westphalia regional association of the CSVD . From 1930 to 1933 he represented the Evangelical People's Service (EVD) in the Reichstag , where, like all members of the CSVD, he also voted for Hitler's Enabling Act.
After the " seizure of power " Albert Schmidt publicly condemned the acts of violence by the SA . He became "one of the bravest preachers of the Confessing Church in Bochum and beyond in all of Westphalia". On November 13, 1938, he was arrested by the Gestapo in the sacristy of his church after he had reported from the pulpit about the devastation in the apartment of his “Jewish Christian” friend and official brother Hans Ehrenberg during the November pogrom , although he was among his Gestapo officials Listeners knew. After a month's imprisonment, Schmidt, who was severely diabetic, was expelled from Bochum and banned from speaking . He moved to the Westphalian town of Werther, where he was seriously ill and was allowed to resume his parish work from a wheelchair in 1940. In 1945 he was one of the founding members of the CDU . He died on November 20, 1945 at the age of 52 in Werther as a result of his illness.
In 1947, in memory of him and in his honor, the former Roonstrasse in Bochum was renamed Schmidtstrasse. The Diakonie Ruhr senior citizens' home in Bochum's Griesenbruch district also bears his name.
On November 11, 2019, a stumbling block will be laid for Schmidt in Bochum , with which survivors have also been honored for some time. At the same time, Ehrenberg receives a stumbling block.
literature
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 8: Supplement L – Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2014 ISBN 978-3-8253-6051-1 , pp. 251-254
- Martin Rosowski (Ed.): Albert Schmidt 1893–1945. Political and pastoral existence in Christian social responsibility. SWI, Bochum 1994 ISBN 3-925895-50-7
- Martin Schumacher (Hrsg.): MdR The Reichstag members of the Weimar Republic in the time of National Socialism. Political persecution, emigration and expatriation, 1933–1945. A biographical documentation . 3rd, considerably expanded and revised edition. Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-5183-1 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Albert Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
- Albert Schmidt in the database of members of the Reichstag
- Archive for Christian-Democratic Politics of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Sankt Augustin
- State Archives North Rhine-Westphalia, Main State Archives Düsseldorf
Footnotes
- ^ Martin Rosowski: Albert Schmidt: Stations of a life in the Reich, Weimar Republic and the Third Reich . In: Church in the Revier. Announcements of the Association for Research into the Church and Religious History of the Ruhr Area , 1993, No. 2, ISSN 0943-4380 , pp. 4–13, here p. 12.
- ↑ Evang. City Academy Bochum
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmidt, Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Protestant theologian and politician (CSVD), MdR |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 1, 1893 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 20, 1945 |
| Place of death | Werther (Westphalia) |