Apostle Paul Church (Berlin-Schöneberg)

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Apostle Paul Church

The Apostle-Paulus-Kirche in Akazienstraße in Berlin 's Schöneberg district is a neo-Gothic brick church . It was built from 1892 to 1894 on what was then Prinz-Heinrich-Platz based on designs by the Royal Building Councilor Franz Schwechten . The church was consecrated on December 29, 1894 . The church in the historicized Gothic style , reminiscent of the Brandenburg tradition, is a listed building .

history

Today the parish is St. Paul a municipality in the church district Tempelhof-Schöneberg of Berlin parish in the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz . The parish of Apostle Paulus, as a daughter of the parish of Alt-Schöneberg, only became independent of the parish in 1913. Benefiting from its proximity to Berlin and its location on the connecting road from Berlin to Potsdam , the population of Alt-Schöneberg developed very quickly, the village already had 6,929 inhabitants in 1858, and Neu-Schöneberg, the village had 773 inhabitants in 1858 . The population of the villages, which were combined from Alt- and Neu-Schöneberg to form the independent rural community of Schöneberg in 1875, grew to 62,695 by 1895 and to 175,093 by 1919.

On May 6, 1923, Eitel-Friedrich von Rabenau took up his position as second pastor at the Apostle Paulus Church, where he officiated until 1954. In his community he cultivated intensive personal relationships with the individual members, supported by a community helpers group. In the global economic crisis after 1929, Rabenau built a group of unemployed men , which was followed by various other youth community groups ( student Bible group , YMCA , scouts ).

From 1931 Rabenau began - also in connection with the Lutheran Sydower Brotherhood - to deal with ethnic nationalists . In the regular old Prussian church elections in November 1932, Rabenau opposed Wilhelm Kube's faith movement German Christians (DC) with his Twelve Guidelines for the Work of the Protestant Church in the Present . In it he made a clear commitment to Jesus of Nazareth , the only standard for being a church and being a Christian. “The community”, said Rabenau, “necessarily becomes a community of action through the word, in which comprehensive brotherhood is practiced.” Rabenau became a member of the Young Reformation movement . In November 1932, the members of the Apostle-Paulus parish only voted with a minority of 33.3% of the votes for German Christians in the parish council of the Apostle-Paulus parish.

Apostle-Paulus-Kirche (south side)

On June 24, 1933, the Prussian minister of education, Bernhard Rust , revoked the right of self-determination of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union and submitted it to State Commissioner August Jäger . On this occasion held Rabenau and other pastors "on 2 July 1933 instead of by the EOK arranged thanksgiving service a Day of Prayer and prayer service and signed a few days later a letter of protest against hunters." Adolf Hitler imposed all regional churches in Germany a church disorderly election of elders (or . Presbyters ) and Synodals for July 23, 1933.

Rabenau joined the new church party Evangelical Church , which had come together for the church elections as an opposition to the DC. Shortly before the election, the Gestapo ordered the church party to change its name, which was then called Gospel and Church , and confiscated all election papers and posters printed under the forbidden logo, as well as the printing house that the group had used to prevent reprinting.

The massive mobilization of Protestant Nazis, fueled by the state and the NSDAP for propaganda purposes, most of whom had not attended church services for years, let alone participated in church elections, resulted in an extraordinarily high turnout, with the result that German Christians - with a few exceptions - on average 70–80% of the elders and synodals made up. The voters of the Apostle-Paulus parish also elected representatives of the DC to the parish council with a majority of 60% of the votes.

Because of his critical stance, Rabenau was twice suspended from office for short periods in November 1933 and was represented by a DC assistant preacher. At the end of 1934, however, he himself switched to the Confessing Church (BK), as did one of the other two parish pastors. Rabenau was finally able to win over the Apostle Paul Congregation. Many DC representatives had tired and worn out in disputes within their movement and with the BC and withdrew from committee work in frustration. In 1939 the Apostle-Paulus Congregation finally committed to the BK and joined the Bund der Notgemeinden , initiated by Superintendent Martin Albertz , which Rabenau led for some time.

Rabenau wanted to bring the church struggle to the political level. For this purpose he founded the working group of educated laypeople , in which Rudolf Smend , Oskar Hammelsbeck , privy councilor Heinrich Quaatz and Else Meyer-Waldeck participated , among others . After the Nazis had ended the closed Olympic season, they extended their persecution in Germany again in 1937. On June 23, 1937, the Gestapo arrested Rabenau and seven other members of the Reich Brotherhood Council from a meeting in Berlin's Friedrichswerder Church . After interrogation and a brief detention, Rabenau was released. In September 1938, Rabenau held a liturgy service in the Apostle Paulus Church, as recommended by the second provisional church leadership of the BK in view of the danger of war , after which he was suspended by the officially destroyed church leadership and his salary blocked. From then on, the BK met his salary from collections and contributions.

After Jews and Christians of predominantly Jewish descent had to wear the yellow star from September 1, 1941 , they were easy to identify as churchgoers on the star. On December 22, 1941, the destroyed German Evangelical Church (DEK) called on the churches to take appropriate measures to exclude star bearers from all church events. That could not be done with Rabenau, so that star bearers were welcome in the Apostle Paulus Church. Rabenau tried to maintain the community and pastoral work during the worsening war.

In 2014 Rufus Wainwright gave the only Germany concert of his tour Vibrate in the church : The Best of Rufus Wainwright .

building

After the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church , built in neo-Romanesque, the architectural taste of Wilhelm II. , Schwechten turned to the forms of brick Gothic at the Apostle Paulus Church , which was supposed to be reminiscent of Brandenburg traditions. The three-tower church in Berlin brick architecture of the 19th century takes into account both the Berlin Schinkel School and the Hanover Architecture School in its floor plan and construction . Schwechten chose a Latin cross as the floor plan for the hall church . The transept has galleries . The organ stands on the gallery in the first yoke of the nave . In the south is the five-sided choir with altar , opposite the 85-meter-high tower with three bronze bells .

Bell jar Caster Casting year Chime Weight
(kg)		 Diameter
(cm)		 Height
(cm)		 inscription
1. Franz Schilling 1894 cis' 1465 139 110 ROEMER 5.5 THAT HUMANS LEAVE. NOT. TO. SHAME. BECOME.
2. Bell and art foundry Rincker 1958 g sharp ° 3854 186 160 SO WE NOW THAT THAT MAN IS JUSTICE WITHOUT THE LAW'S WORKS / BY FAITH ALONE. / ROME. 3.28.
3. Bell and art foundry Rincker 1958 h ° 2506 164 150 THEREFORE THE LOVE OF CHRIST THROUGH US.

The bell storey is opened with arcades decorated with tracery . Above there are stepped gables , the tower is crowned with a pointed tent roof on an octagonal floor plan. The nave is covered with a star vault . The church cost 630,000  marks and at that time had 1500 seats (today only 1200). In 1919 the vestibule was transformed into a memorial hall for those who died in the First World War .

During the Second World War , the church was badly damaged by incendiary bombs in an Allied air raid in early 1944 . After restoration, it was inaugurated again on May 1, 1949. The main portal of the church, with an angel cross above the gable , is on Grunewaldstrasse. The high triumphal cross , which used to be on a wooden column behind the altar, has been moved to the left side of the nave . The material for the plate of the new altar comes from the old altar, that of the new baptism comes from the base of the old pulpit. The original painting of the church has not been preserved. The frescoes came from the Charlottenburg decorative painters Gathemann & Kellner. The stained glass of the Apostle-Paulus-Kirche survived the war, but not undamaged. Around 1960 three new altar windows were built; it designed Alfred Kothe. Between 1960 and 1961 the interior of the church was modernized by Werner Gabler.

organ

Since the old Sauer organ, which had 60 sounding registers , had become unusable due to the effects of the war , the church received a new Walcker organ in 1964 . The slider chests -instrument has 38 registers (2700 pipes ) on three manuals and pedal . The playing and stop actions are electric.

I Rückpositiv C–
1. Dumped 08th'
2. Principal 04 ′
3. Forest flute 02 ′
4th Fifth 01 1 ⁄ 2  ′
5. Pointed flute 01'
6th Third cymbal III
7th Krummhorn 08th'
Tremulant
II main work C–
8th. Principal 16 ′
9. Principal 08th'
10. Reed flute 08th'
11. octave 04 ′
12. recorder 04 ′
13. Nassat 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
14th octave 02 ′
15th Mixture V-VI
16. Scharff III – IV
17th Trumpet 08th'
III Swell C–
18th Principal flute 08th'
19th Principal 04 ′
20th Night horn 04 ′
21st Fifth 02 1 ⁄ 2  ′
22nd Bach flute 02 ′
23. third 01 3 ⁄ 5  ′
24. Sextan II
25th Scharff V
26th Dulcian 16 ′
27. shelf 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C–
28. Prefix 16 ′
29 Sub bass 16 ′
30th Nasat 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
31. Octave bass 08th'
32. Gedacktpommer 08th'
33. Pipe whistle 04 ′
34. Mixture VI
35. Rauschpfeife III
36. trombone 16 ′
37. Trumpet 08th'
38. Cornett 02 ′

literature

  • Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings . Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
  • Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
  • Hans-Jürgen Rach: The villages in Berlin. Berlin 1990.
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Band Berlin. Munich / Berlin 2006.
  • Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.

Web links

Commons : Apostle-Paulus-Kirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Foerster: Mission in the Holy Land. The Jerusalem Association of Berlin 1852–1945. Gütersloher Verlags-Haus Mohn, Gütersloh 1991, (Research on missiology; [NS], 25), ISBN 3-579-00245-7 , p. 159.
  2. ↑ Roland Löffler: The congregations of the Jerusalem Association in Palestine in the context of current ecclesiastical and political events during the mandate period , in: See, we're going up to Jerusalem! Festschrift for the 150th anniversary of Talitha Kumi and the Jerusalemsverein , Almut Nothnagle (ed.), Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, 2001, ISBN 3-374-01863-7 , pp. 185–212, here p. 209.
  3. ↑ Peter Noss:  Rabenau, Eitel-Friedrich Karl Balthasar von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1166-1173.  ([ http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/r/rabenau_e_f_k.shtml ( Memento from June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) article / beginning of the article in the Internet archive])
  4. ↑ a b Cf. Peter Noss: Conclusion , in: Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945. 42 Stadtgeschichten , Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Institute Church and Judaism, 1999, (Studies on Church and Judaism, Volume 18), ISBN 3-923095-61-9 , p. 574 -591, here p. 576.
  5. ↑ cf. Ralf Lange and Peter Noss: Confessing Church in Berlin , in: Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945. 42 Stadtgeschichten , Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Institute Church and Judaism, 1999, (Studies on Church and Judaism , Volume 18), ISBN 3-923095-61-9 , p. 114 –147, here p. 117.
  6. ↑ cf. Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein: The Faith Movement German Christians , in: Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932-1945. 42 Stadtgeschichten , Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Institute Church and Judaism, 1999, (Studies on Church and Judaism, Volume 18), ISBN 3-923095-61-9 , p. 97 –113, here p. 104.
  7. ↑ Only in the synods of the regional churches of Bavaria , Hanover (Lutheran) , Hanover (Reformed) and Württemberg, as well as the old Prussian church province of Westphalia , did German Christians not achieve a majority. These churches were therefore considered intact by BK supporters . In Berlin the church party Gospel and Church only achieved a majority in the parish councils of the parishes of Dahlem and Staaken.
  8. ↑ cf. Circular of December 22, 1941 from the DEK church chancellery, published by: Kurt Meier, Kirche und Judentum. The attitude of the Protestant Church to the Jewish policy of the Third Reich, Halle an der Saale: Niemeyer, 1968, p. 116seq.
  9. ↑ "You can no longer run away". In: Die Welt , March 26, 2014
  10. ↑ Information on the organ of the Pauluskirche ( Memento from September 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 21.3 "  N , 13 ° 21 ′ 9.9"  E