Albrecht Schönherr
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Albrecht Friedrich Schönherr (born September 11, 1911 in Katscher , Leobschütz district , Silesia ; † March 9, 2009 in Potsdam ) was a German Protestant theologian and bishop .
Life
Schönherr studied Protestant theology in Tübingen and Berlin from 1929 to 1933 and was then vicar in Potsdam until 1934 . He attended the Finkenwalde seminary , which was headed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer ; the encounters with him had a lasting impact on Schönherr. In 1936 he was in Berlin ordained and was then in Greifswald and from 1937 in Brüssow active (Uckermark) as pastor. After taking part in the war and being a prisoner of war, he was superintendent of the Brandenburg / Havel church district from 1946 and director of the preacher's seminary in the city of Brandenburg from 1951 to 1962. He is one of the co-founders of the " Weißensee Working Group " in 1958. At the same time, he began working in the Christian Peace Conference (CFK). In addition, Schönherr was dean of the Brandenburg Cathedral from 1946 to 1999 .
In 1963 he became general superintendent of the newly created district of Eberswalde and, from 1967 to 1972, administrator of the bishop's office of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg for the eastern part of Berlin and Brandenburg after the GDR authorities persistently refused entry to Bishop Kurt Scharf, who lived in West Berlin .
From 1969 to 1981 Schönherr was chairman of the conference of the Protestant church leadership and thus chairman of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR . The latter was founded in 1969 after the GDR had declared all cross-border organizations illegal in 1968. From 1972 to 1981 Schönherr was Bishop of the East Region of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg . His successor in this office was Gottfried Forck .
Schönherr was instrumental in the internal church agreement on the formula “Church in Socialism” (“not against, not alongside, but in socialism”), which was interpreted as “Church for others” based on Bonhoeffer. The meeting on March 6, 1978 between the delegation of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR and the chairman of the GDR State Council, Erich Honecker , marked the turning point towards more moderate church policy, which promised the Protestant church gains in autonomy in return for renouncing confrontation. Schönherr participated in the separation of the churches in the GDR from the EKD.
Albrecht Schönherr was married to Hildegard Enterlein (1912–1962) for the first time and, after her death, was married to the theologian Annemarie Schönherr since 1963 . His son from his first marriage, Dietrich Schönherr (* 1947), was cantor and lecturer for music from 1981 to 2010 at the then church college in Potsdam-Hermannswerder and then at the Evangelical grammar school there .
Fonts
- On the way of the Protestant churches in the GDR . Union Verlag Berlin, 1986
- ... but time was not lost. Memories of an old bishop. Aufbau-Verlag Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-351-02407-X ; Autobiography
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Common life / The prayer book of the Bible . Edited by Albrecht Schönherr. ISBN 3-579-01875-2
literature
- Ehrhart Neubert: Schönherr, Albrecht . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Awards
- 1963: Honorary doctorate in theology received from the University of Greifswald and the Reformed University in Debrecen (Hungary)
- 2002: Large Federal Cross of Merit with a star
- 2005: Order of Merit of the State of Brandenburg
Web links
- Broadcast contribution from Prof. Bobert after an interview with Schönherr
- 95th birthday ( memento from October 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Literature by and about Albrecht Schönherr in the catalog of the German National Library
- Angela Merkel's early years . Welt Online , May 12, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Christ in Trials . In: FAZ , March 11, 2009
- ↑ Albrecht Schönherr died . In: FAZ , March 10, 2009
- ↑ Herbert Lüpnitz, Walter Arndt: The Protestant pastor in the Uckermark. In: AMF series of publications. (130). Leipzig 2003.
President of the EKD Council:
Theophil Wurm (1945–1949) |
Otto Dibelius (1949–1961) |
Kurt Scharf (1961–1967) |
Hermann Dietzfelbinger (1967–1973) |
Helmut Claß (1973–1979) |
Eduard Lohse (1979–1985) |
Martin Kruse (1985-1991) |
Klaus Engelhardt (1991–1997) |
Manfred Kock (1997-2003) |
Wolfgang Huber (2003–2009) |
Margot Käßmann (2009-2010) |
Nikolaus Schneider (2010–2014) |
Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (since 2014).
Chairwoman of the GDR Church Federation:
Albrecht Schönherr (1969–1981) |
Werner Krusche (1981–1982) |
Johannes Hempel (1982–1986) |
Werner Leich (1986–1990) |
Christoph Demke (1990-1991).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| none ( district newly created from parts of the Kurmark ) |
General Superintendent of the Eberswalde district 1963 - 1972 |
Hermann-Theodor Hanse |
|
Kurt Scharf (undivided regional church) |
Bishop of the Ev. Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (East Area) 1972 - 1981 |
Gottfried Forck |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schönherr, Albrecht |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schönherr, Albrecht Friedrich (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Protestant theologian and bishop |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 11, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Katscher , Leobschütz district, Silesia |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 2009 |
| Place of death | Potsdam |