Alfred Geist

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Alfred spirit (* November 28 jul. / 10. December  1863 greg. In Riga , Governorate of Livonia , Russian Empire ; † 2. October 1919 in Riga, Latvia SPR ), with full name Karl Alfred spirit , even Alfred Karl spirit written, was a German-Baltic pastor . He is considered an evangelical reformed confessor and is recorded on the Riga martyr's stone.

The dates in this article are based on the Julian calendar for the period up to 1918 unless otherwise noted.

Life

Youth, Training and Inauguration

Alfred Geist was baptized in the Reformed Church in Riga. From 1883 to 1884 he studied at the University of Dorpat . He then worked as a tutor until 1885. From May 5, 1885 to May 5, 1886, he continued his studies in Heidelberg and Jena . He was ordained on November 27, 1887, after which he was vicar in Moßbach in Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach until 1888 .

On Palm Sunday , Good Friday and Easter Sunday in 1888 he gave candidate sermons at the Reformed Church in Riga. On May 15, 1888, he was elected assistant preacher by the parish meeting of this church with effect from October 1.

On November 11, 1890, he gave the festive sermon on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Reformed Church in Mitau .

On November 30, 1890, Alfred Geist joined the literary-practical citizen association together with Gustav Cleemann .

At the New Year he made regular donations to charity.

On January 26, 1892 at 1 p.m. he assisted in the inauguration of the renovated cemetery chapel.

On Sunday September 19th Jul. / October 1, 1893 greg. , he became the sole pastor of the Reformed Church, the sixth Reformed pastor in Riga. He entered the church with his predecessor, Pastor August Iken, and Pastor Kurnatowski from Mitau, and prayed briefly at the altar. Then Geist stood between the leaders of the church. Iken gave the introductory speech to the words of Jesus to Peter: "Simon Johanna, do you love me?" ( Joh 21,15-17  LUT ). Kurnatowski welcomed him to the pastorate. Spirit then preached about 1 Cor 11 : 3  LUT . In the end, the congregation congratulated him.

Outside employment

As pastor of the Reformed Church in Riga, Alfred Geist in particular made a successful effort to promote inner evangelical ecumenism with the Riga Lutherans while maintaining their own mutually respected identity. In addition to his parish in Riga, Geist made a contribution to the Reformed Church in all of Russia. So he initiated the union of the few evangelical reformed pastors scattered throughout the country and continued to strive for this union.

On December 1st, Jul. / December 13,  1899 greg. He married Martha Ottilie Wagner (* 1862) in Riga.

Around 1903 the Rigas Reformed Congregation asked the General Consistory in Saint Petersburg to allow the Reformed spiritual member of the Livonian consistory, Geist, to attend its meetings. The request was forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior. Only in February 1906 was the corresponding permission given, so that at the beginning of March 1906 Geist was able to take part in such a meeting for the first time.

Geist was President of the Evangelical Youth Association in Riga.

From 1907 to 1911 he gave annual speeches on the occasion of the birthday of the German Emperor Wilhelm II at the Imperial German colony.

On January 29, 1909, the kerosene kitchen in his house exploded. His cook, Marie Oseedataj, suffered life-threatening burns to her arms, face and chest.

On December 5, 1912, he joined the board of directors of the German child welfare of the St. Johannisverein, Riga department.

On March 19, 1914, he was unanimously elected President at the well-attended board meeting of the Riga local branch of the German Association, in which all Baltic Germans in Livonia were united.

During the First World War he was the managing director of the Riga Aid Committee, which supplied the Evangelical Field Hospital with donations of money and materials from the population.

Geist brought the Evangelical Reformed Lithuanians together in Riga to form one community. In order to be able to look after them appropriately, he learned Lithuanian despite his advanced age, so that he now also held services in Lithuanian in addition to German.

Geist was also involved in school. In the main, however, he tried to get his German-speaking evangelical-reformed congregation, and he represented Emil Sulze's ideals with regard to congregational work. In 30 years he grew closer and closer to his community.

During the Latvian War of Independence

During the Latvian War of Independence , the Bolsheviks advanced on Riga. In this situation Alfred Geist said:

"I will not leave my post and with my community I will carry my fate to the extreme."

Only a few families in his parish stayed behind. He only had a few weeks of freedom, which he used to visit his parishioners, give them advice, comfort them, and help them. The Bolsheviks carried out several searches of Geist's house.

Detention

On March 19, 1919, Alfred Geist was finally arrested together with his 16-year-old son. The pastor was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks outside the city in the Riga Central Prison, initially together with his official brother Erhard Doebler . All the hostages of the Bolsheviks were imprisoned here. Alternately with Doebler, Geist held devotions for his fellow prisoners. The pericopes he had preached about were later found on a slip of paper:

He studied the psalms together with Doebler in the original Hebrew. He kept telling his fellow prisoners about his trip to Palestine.

His son was released on March 29th. Alfred Geist remained hostage as an alleged counter-revolutionary , from which he could only send two pieces of paper to his wife before she and the other children were also taken to prison. He did not complain on the news, but asked that arrangements be made for the congregation to have worship and communion during Holy Week.

The Lithuanian community tried unsuccessfully to free its pastor. This led to the fact that he was moved from the comparatively airy cell to a dungeon in the basement. He was imprisoned here with thieves. They stole the remaining food from him and tore his clothes. Together with the thieves, he now had to do forced labor in Ringmundshof by loading wood into wagons.

Typhus infection

Undernourished as they were, the thieves refused to do forced labor. The punishment Geist shared was that they were locked in a freight car. Inside was a young Russian landowner who was suffering from typhus . The car was contaminated with vermin, so that Alfred Geist was also infected.

He suffered from a fever when he was brought back to the central prison, where, in addition to Doebler, he also met the pastors August Eckhardt and Eberhard Savary . Finally he shared the cell with the pastors Hermann Bergengruen and Theodor Hoffmann . After spending time with criminals, he saw the company he now enjoyed as “heavenly”. Regardless of his fever, Geist now had to work on the extensive forest cemetery. He used a branch he had found as a crutch to get back to prison with an effort.

By the morning of May 22nd, Geist had deteriorated so much that he was taken to the prison hospital. As a farewell, the other pastors blessed him. That day, the prison was about to be stormed by a raid troop of the Baltic State Army , about which the prisoners knew nothing.

Geist fantasized in fever and heard gunshots in the afternoon. In fact, 33 prisoners, including Doebler, Bergengruen, Hoffmann, Eckhardt and Savary, were taken to the prison yard shortly before the Bolsheviks withdrew from Riga and shot there.

Liberation and Death

The Baltic State Army broke through into the prison yard with an armored car and freed the survivors, including Alfred Geist.

He was admitted to the city hospital; In addition to typhus, he now also suffered from pneumonia, which could be temporarily cured. Due to the malnutrition and a weak heart that had set in with the fever, the state of health remained very poor. For months he suffered from a fever and pneumonia developed again. When he was on the sickbed, he looked back positively on the imprisonment, as he believed it was enhanced by the bravery and friendship of the other pastors, whose deaths touched him very closely. Oskar Schabert comments in his Baltic Martyrs book on Alfred Geist's attitude to his imprisonment with Col 1,24  LUT : “I am happy in my suffering that I suffer for you, and in my flesh I reimburse what is still lacking in tribulations in Christ for his Body, which is the church. "

In his last words, which he could only produce with difficulty, Geist expressed a song wish:

Fought on and struggled, struggled
to the light, it
must be, weary soul.

He could neither speak nor move for the last five days until he died on October 2, 1919, as one of the last victims of the typhus infection that had raged among the prisoners.

As a text for his funeral he had chosen Ps 116,13  LUT : “I will take the cup of salvation and preach the Lord's name.” The congregation expressed its thanks for his service at his grave. Provost Erdmann spoke as a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran pastorship and expressed his gratitude for Geist's efforts to promote inner evangelical ecumenism as a unity in respect for diversity.

Funerals of local celebrities

On August 1, 1894, Alfred Geist gave a speech at the funeral of city councilor Alexander Jestanowitsch .

On September 5, 1896, he buried the then well-known Professor Gustav Kieseritzky .

On January 18, 1899 at 3 p.m. he spoke to 10,000 people at the funeral of Conrad Butterweck , who had made a name for himself in the theater and in many associations.

On March 25, 1899, he gave the funeral oration for his predecessor August Iken on Eph 4:15.

On January 18, 1906, he buried the French teacher , then known in Riga, of State Councilor Cortésy , who had died under tragic circumstances.

On January 16, 1907 at 2 p.m. he hosted the funeral of the church mayor Otto von Irmer . He gave the funeral oration on Romans 12:12: "Be joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, stop praying."

On October 12, 1908 at 4:15 p.m., he spoke words of thanks on behalf of the Reformed community for the former district teacher Karl August Teich , who had served the community as organist from 1862, at his funeral.

On April 16, 1909, Geist was in charge of the funeral of Heinrich Scheel , who had become famous for his work at the Technical Association and the Liedertafel.

In October 1911 he buried Friedrich Pilzer , a well-known employee of the "Rigaschen Zeitung".

On November 15, at 1 p.m., he buried the well-known Professor C. Lovis .

Works

  • The Auxiliary Committee in Riga in Ernst Gelderblom: First report on the activities of the committee in World War 1914 , Petrograd 1915

Afterlife

Alfred Geist is recorded on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

On Sunday, October 1st, 1939 at 11 a.m., a memorial service for Alfred Geist by the Reformed Congregation of Rigas took place in the Great Cemetery Chapel under the direction of Pastor Abramowski. Then a wreath was laid on his grave. The collection was intended for a memorial stone in his honor.

literature

  • Oskar Schabert : Baltic Martyrs Book . Furche-Verlag, Berlin 1926, p. 183 ff. ( Digital version , the report is based on the records of Alfred Geist's wife, Martha Ottilie Geist, née Wagner)
  • Harald Schultze and Andreas Kurschat (editors): "Your end looks at ..." - Evangelical Martyrs of the 20th Century , Evangelical Publishing House, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 978-3-374-02370-7 , Part II, Section Russian Empire / Baltic States , P. 530

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From the parishes. in the Rigaschen city sheets , No. 1, January 2, 1864, online under Geist | issueType: P
  2. ↑ Locales. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 84, April 12, 1888, online under Geist | issueType: P
  3. ↑ Locales. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 111, May 16, 1888, online under Geist | issueType: P
  4. ↑ Literature. in the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 54, March 7, 1891, online under Geist Pastor | issueType: P
  5. ↑ Literary. in the Rigaschen city sheets , No. 52, December 31, 1891, online under Geist Pastor | issueType: P
  6. ↑ From the minutes of the general assemblies of the literary-practical citizens' association in the Rigas City Gazette , No. 51, December 20, 1890, online under Geist | issueType: P
  7. ↑ New Year 1892 in the Düna newspaper , No. 1, January 2, 1892, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  8. ↑ New Year 1894 in the Düna newspaper , No. 298, December 31, 1893, online under Pastor Geist Geist | issueType: P
  9. ↑ New Year 1895 in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 294, December 31, 1894, online under Pastor Geist Geist | issueType: P
  10. ↑ New Year 1897 in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 294, December 31, 1896, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  11. ↑ New Year 1898 in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 294, December 31, 1897, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  12. ↑ New Year 1899 in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 295, December 31, 1898, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  13. ↑ New Year in the Düna newspaper , No. 289, December 24, 1899, online at Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  14. ↑ New Year 1900 in the Düna newspaper , No. 294, December 31, 1899, online at Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  15. ↑ New Year 1901 in the Düna newspaper , No. 294, December 30, 1900, online under Pastor Geist Geist | issueType: P
  16. ↑ New Year 1901 in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 293, December 30, 1900, online under Pastor Geist Geist | issueType: P
  17. ↑ New Year 1902 in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 295, December 31, 1901, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  18. ↑ New Year 1904 in the Düna newspaper , No. 298, December 31, 1903, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  19. ↑ New Year 1904 in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 294, December 31, 1903, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  20. ↑ New Year 1906 in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 285, December 31, 1905, online under Geist Geist Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  21. ↑ New Year 1907 in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 300, December 30, 1906, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  22. ↑ New Year 1908 in Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 302, December 31, 1907, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  23. ↑ New Year 1908 in the Düna newspaper , No. 1, January 2, 1908, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  24. ↑ New Year 1909 in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 303, December 31, 1908, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  25. ↑ New Year 1909 in the Düna newspaper , No. 303, December 31, 1908, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  26. ↑ New Year 1910 in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 302, December 31, 1909, online under Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  27. ↑ New Year 1912 in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 302, December 31, 1911, online at Pastor Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  28. ↑ New Year 1913 in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 286, December 31, 1912, online under Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  29. ↑ New Year 1914 in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 301, December 31, 1913, online at Geist Pastor Geist Geist Geist Geist Geist | issueType: P
  30. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 21, January 27, 1892, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  31. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 210, September 17, 1893, online under Geist | issueType: P
  32. ↑ Misc. in the Rigaschen Stadtbl Blätter , No. 32, August 12, 1899, online under Geist | issueType: P
  33. ↑ Notes. in the Rigaschen city sheets , No. 41, October 14, 1893, online under Geist | issueType: P
  34. ^ A festive greeting to the Reformed Church in Rigas for the bicentenary. in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 63, March 18, 1933, online under Geist | issueType: P
  35. ↑ Called up. in the Rigaschen city sheets , No. 46, November 18, 1899, online under Geist | issueType: P
  36. ↑ Petersburg. A session of the Reformed Department of the General Consistory in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 40, February 17, 1906, online at Geist | issueType: P
  37. ↑ Annual report of the Evangelical Youth Association in Riga in the Rigas City Gazette , No. 45, November 9, 1906, online at Geist | issueType: P
  38. ↑ The Association of Members of the German Reich in Riga in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 12, January 16, 1907, online at Geist | issueType: P
  39. ↑ Associations. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 11, January 15, 1907, online under Geist | issueType: P
  40. ↑ Little news. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 12, January 15, 1908, online under Geist | issueType: P
  41. ↑ To celebrate the birthday of the German emperor in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 12, January 15, 1908, online under Geist | issueType: P
  42. ↑ Local. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 10, January 14, 1909, online under Geist | issueType: P
  43. ↑ The 50th birthday of the German Emperor in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 11, January 15, 1909, online under Geist | issueType: P
  44. ^ A Reich German school party in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 10, January 15, 1910, online under Geist | issueType: P
  45. ^ The school party of the Association of Members of the German Reich in Riga in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 10, January 14, 1911, online under Geist | issueType: P
  46. ↑ Explosion. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 24, January 30, 1909, online under Geist | issueType: P
  47. ↑ The German child welfare of the St. Johannisverein in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 267, December 6, 1912, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  48. ↑ German Association. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 64, March 19, 1914, online under Geist | issueType: P
  49. ↑ Domestic. in the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 65, March 20, 1914, online under Geist | issueType: P
  50. ↑ Protestant field hospital. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 226, October 1, 1914, online under Geist | issueType: P
  51. ↑ Local. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 12, January 16, 1915, online under Geist | issueType: P
  52. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 171, August 2, 1894, online under Geist | issueType: P
  53. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 201, September 5, 1896, online under Geist | issueType: P
  54. ↑ Locales. in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 14, January 19, 1899, online under Geist | issueType: P
  55. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 14, January 19, 1899, online under Geist | issueType: P
  56. ↑ Locales. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 70, March 26, 1899, online under Geist | issueType: P
  57. ^ The funeral of Pastor August Iken, in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 70, March 26, 1899, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  58. ^ The burial of the French teacher, Councilor of State Cortésy in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 15, January 19, 1906, online at Geist | issueType: P
  59. ↑ Local. in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 13, January 17, 1907, online under Geist Pastor | issueType: P
  60. ↑ Local. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 13, January 17, 1907, online under Geist Pastor | issueType: P
  61. ↑ Local. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 13, January 17, 1907, online under Geist | issueType: P
  62. ↑ Little news. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 238, October 13, 1908, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  63. ↑ On the funeral of Mr. Karl August Teich in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 238, October 13, 1908, online under Pastor Geist | issueType: P
  64. ↑ Personal details . in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 86, April 17, 1909, online under Geist | issueType: P
  65. ↑ The burial of Friedrich Pilzer's earthly shell in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 227, October 3, 1911, online at Geist | issueType: P
  66. ^ The transfer of the corpse of Professor C. Lovis in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 263, November 15, 1911, online under Geist | issueType: P
  67. ↑ Domestic. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 12, January 16, 1915, online under Geist | issueType: P
  68. ^ Memorial service for Pastor Alfred Geist. in Ev.-Luth. Church paper for the German parishes of Latvia , No. 40, September 29, 1939, online under Geist Alfred Geist | issueType: P
  69. ^ Memorial service for Pastor Alfred Geist in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 222, September 29, 1939, online under Geist Alfred | issueType: P
  70. ↑ Church news in Ev.-Luth. Kirchenblatt , No. 40, September 29, 1939, online at Geist | issueType: P
  71. ^ Memorial service for Pastor Alfred Geist. in the Rigaschen Post , No. 47, October 1, 1939, online under Alfred Geist | issueType: P
  72. ↑ Today's services. in Rigaschen Post , No. 47, October 1, 1939, online under Geist | issueType: P
  73. ^ Evangelical Lutheran. Kirchenblatt in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 225, October 3, 1939, online at Geist | issueType: P
personal data
SURNAME Spirit, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geist, Karl Alfred; Geist, Alfred Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Evangelical Reformed clergyman, German-Baltic professor
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1919
Place of death Riga , Latvian SPR