Annemarie Rübens

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Annemarie Rübens (born May 24, 1900 in Banfield , Argentina , † May 8, 1991 in Göttingen ) was a German-Argentine theologian, resistance fighter and benefactor in Uruguay . She became known on the one hand in Germany in the 1930s as a champion for the admission of women to the Protestant pastoral office and on the other hand with the establishment of the "Rübens House", a country school in Colonia Valdense , Uruguay, which from 1938 onwards became a meeting place for the emigrants persecuted by the Nazis has been.

Life

Annemarie Rübens was born to German parents in Banfield, Argentina, where she grew up with her four siblings until 1909. The family then moved to Germany, where they experienced youth, training and their first job.

Germany until 1933

She studied Protestant theology at the Philipps University of Marburg and from 1927 worked in vocational schools and retirement homes in Cologne . Together with six other theologians, whom she knew from her studies in Marburg, she founded the Association of Protestant Theologians in Cologne - including Ina Gschlössl , Aenne Schümer (married Traub) and Elisabeth von Aschoff (married Bizer), who later became known as the “ Four Cologne Vicaresses “gained notoriety. The association fought to open up the parish ministry to women and that men and women should have equal rights in the Evangelical Church. The association demanded the full, "male parish for women as well", that is, with all tasks and competencies, from sermon to baptism, marriage to burial. The theologians joined the SPD and the Brotherhood of Socialist Theologians around the same time in the late 1920s . At the same time, in the summer of 1933, the National Socialists dismiss them from their vicariate service. Annemarie Ruben's dismissal was based on the fact that she prayed publicly for Jews on the one hand and, on the other hand, in a sermon on April 2, 1933, expressed clear criticism of the rule of the National Socialists and condemned the hatred of the Jewish fellow citizens.

Uruguay

After her release in July 1933, Rübens emigrated to Noordwijkerhout , Netherlands , where she was accepted by the theologian Bram Burger. She wanted to continue traveling to her brother Hans in Uruguay, which she did in 1936, although he died shortly before her departure. He left her 13 hectares of land in Colonia Valdense . She renovated this estate with fruit trees, pastureland, eucalyptus forest and two almost dilapidated houses and built a country home for children of persecuted and refugees, mainly from Germany. "It was a little paradise: the children played sports, went swimming, could ride a horse, helped in the house and garden, went hiking, played theater and regained security and self-confidence." In addition, Annemarie Rübens also made sure that the children had theirs Mother tongue and its cultural roots are not lost. Even if the Rübens house was not a school in the strict sense, it belongs to the ranks of schools in exile that preserved the approaches to humane and liberal education developed in the Weimar Republic and continued them in a lively discussion of the conditions in the host country.

In 1938 the first group of children came from the Pestalozzi School in Buenos Aires , which is probably due to the close contacts that Annemarie Rübens had with the emigrants in Argentina, for example with August Siemsen , who taught at the Pestalozzi School in Buenos Aires, and in Uruguay entertained. During the war, Annemarie Rübens joined the movement Das Andere Deutschland, founded in Buenos Aires in 1937, and was an active member there.

During this time their only child, son Thomas (* 1943), was born, who grew up with the emigrant children in the Rübens house . In 1980 she commented in a film interview that she had not closed herself off to this desire to have children without being married: “You have to have friends, but also love. For me, children are part of it. "

After the number of visitors to her country home declined in the early 1950s, Rübens returned to the FRG , where she wanted to work and gain a foothold in the Protestant church again. Since she did not succeed in doing this, she returned to Uruguay in 1956.

When the economic situation in Uruguay deteriorated noticeably in the 1970s, democracy collapsed and a civil-military dictatorship came to power after a military coup in 1973, Annemarie Rübens reopened her house to children of politically persecuted parents. In 1975 she traveled to Germany to collect donations. When she learned that she was on wanted lists of the dictatorial regime, she did not return to Uruguay.

Germany from 1975

Back in exile, this time in Germany, she got involved in a third world shop in Tübingen and with Amnesty International . Later she lived in a retirement home in Göttingen .

Annemarie Rübens died shortly before her 91st birthday in Göttingen after she did not want to have the expired batteries of her pacemaker replaced .

literature

  • Ernesto Kroch and Eva Weil: Annemarie Rübens: Refuge for the children of the persecuted . In: Stefan Thimmel, Theo Bruns, Gert Eisenbürger and Britt Weyde (eds.): Uruguay . A country on the move. 1st edition. Association A , Berlin , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-935936-74-3 , history and stories, p. 55-58 .
  • Iris Gusner and Helke Sander: Fantasy and Work: Biographical Dialogue . 1st edition. Schüren Verlag , Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89472-692-8 , Annemarie Rübens, p. 30-32 .
  • Günther van Norden and Klaus Schmitt (eds.): They swam against the current, opposition and persecution of Rhenish Protestants in the "Third Reich" . 2nd Edition. Greven Verlag , Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0382-9 , A life in solidarity. Annemarie Rübens' engagement in Germany and Uruguay, p. 64-66 .
  • Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a foreign country. Exile in Uruguay 1933–1945. Verlag Association A, Berlin and Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86241-407-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Schmidt: YOU HAVE ALWAYS SPEAKED CLEAR TEXT politically . In: Hartmut Ludwig (Ed.): On the opposite course . A festive letter of thanks for the 100th birthday of Pastor Dr. hc Ilse Härter. 1st edition. Logos Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8325-3043-3 , pp. 130-137 ( YOU HAVE ALWAYS SPEAKED CLEAR TEXT politically [accessed April 22, 2014]).
  2. ↑ a b Christoph Krix and Thomas Klug: Refuge of the persecuted. The children's home "Casa Rübens" in Uruguay. (No longer available online.) Bayern 2 , June 30, 2013, archived from the original on October 12, 2013 ; Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a Foreign Land , pp. 265–266
  4. ↑ However, it has not been established whether children from the Pestalozzi School in Montevideo were guests in the Rübens house .
  5. ↑ The Other Germany was an aid committee founded by emigrants in Buenos Aires, which from 1938 published the magazine of the same name and edited by August Siemsen . Compare: The Other Germany - Antifascist Struggle in Latin America
  6. ↑ Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a Foreign Land , p. 266. Wegner, however, dates the year of birth of Thomas Rübens to 1942.
  7. ^ Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a foreign land. , P. 267
personal data
SURNAME Rübens, Annemarie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Argentine theologian, resistance fighter and benefactor in Uruguay
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Banfield , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1991
Place of death Goettingen , Germany