Arnold von Rutkowski

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arnold von Rutkowski (* 16 February July / 28 February  1865 greg. In the pastorate of Hofzumberg , Courland Governorate , Russian Empire ; † March 14, 1919 in Mitau , Latvian SPR ), with full name Arnold Alexander von Rutkowski , also Arnold Rutkowski or Arnold Alexander Rutkowski , in Latvian Arnolds fon Rutkovskis or Arnolds Rutkovskis , was a Baltic German clergyman. He is considered a Protestant martyr and is recorded on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

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

Life

Church in Hofzumberg

Arnold von Rutkowski's father was the provost Adolf von Rutkowski. Arnold von Rutkowski's parents had 13 children, of which he was the sixth. He grew up in the old pastorate and initially received home schooling. From 1879 to 1883 he attended high school in Goldingen , after which he studied theology at the University of Dorpat from 1883 to 1888 . In 1888 he was accepted into the Curonia student union. He completed his studies in 1889 as a graduate student. In 1890 he became pastor-adjunct in Sallgalln and in 1891 pastor-vicar of the diocese of Doblen . In 1891 he succeeded his father as pastor in Hofzumberg. His administration was considered quiet and fatherly. However, it is known that he suffered from manic-depressive illness.

Arnold von Rutkowski was married from 1896 to Elisabeth Thekla Maria von Rutkowski, née von Bahder, a daughter of the governorate archivist of Tver , Eduard von Bahder. In addition to his spiritual activities in Hofzumberg, he was, like Pastor Karl Schilling , murdered in 1905, Provost Ludwig Zimmermann , murdered in 1906, Pastors Hans Bielenstein , Alexander Bernewitz , Xaver Marnitz , Paul Fromhold-Treu , Christoph Strautmann , Karl Schlau , who were executed by Bolsheviks in 1919 , Eberhard Savary , Eugen Scheuermann and Wilhelm Gilbert and, like the pastors Gustav Cleemann and Erwin Gross , who died as a result of their imprisonment with the Bolsheviks, full members of the Latvian-Literary Society , which was dedicated to the study of the Latvian language, folklore and culture . This society was mainly supported by German-Baltic pastors and intellectuals. For the Latvians themselves, a higher education was hardly accessible at the time of the imperial Russian rule, their culture led a shadowy existence.

Following the Russian Revolution of 1905 , which turned out to be painful for him, von Rutkowski stayed in his pastorate at the request of his congregation, despite the danger to the country pastors.

Arnold von Rutkowski had seven children, the sixth was Lothar Stengel-von Rutkowski , who was born on September 3, 1908 in Hofzumberg.

After eight peaceful years, the horrors of World War I followed . Rutkowski was threatened with exile by the Russian authorities. It did not happen because the German troops moved into Hofzumberg relatively quickly.

When the Bolsheviks approached in the Latvian War of Independence , von Rutkowski stayed with his community because his friends had promised him their protection. When the Bolsheviks occupied Hofzumberg, there were house searches; it was even intended to arrest von Rutkowski. During the planned arrest, he knelt in prayer. The Bolsheviks ruled: “He's crazy” and initially left him in peace.

A few days later, on February 27, 1919, Arnold von Rutkowski and his 16-year-old son were arrested by other Bolsheviks. They were taken to Mitau with other prisoners and detained in the prison there. Von Rutkowski's congregation watched inactive; Efforts to get Rutkowskis and his son released were only made by their family. This led to the pastor's wife being arrested and imprisoned in the women's prison, along with their youngest children, who were only 11 and 3½ years old, respectively. The children were soon placed in the care of relatives. Von Rutkowski, his wife and their teenage son remained in custody. Further information on the captivity is not available.

Arnold von Rutkowski and his wife were finally shot on the evening of March 14, 1919, together with 47 other prisoners in the prison yard by the Bolsheviks.

Afterlife

On March 18, 1919, the Baltic State Army , including Rutkowski's four eldest sons, entered Mitau. The four were able to free their younger brother.

Arnold von Rutkowski's son Lothar was only ten years old when his parents were executed. Its later move to Nazism is the anthropologists returned Boria Sax and Peter Klopfer to this traumatic experience, without justifying them, " The trauma of the experience Partially Explains, though it can Certainly not excuse, his later passionate embrace of the Nazi.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members of the Latvian Literary Society from 1901 ( Memento from September 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Courland. Pastor Rutkowski - Hof zum Berge in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 269, December 8th, 1905, online at Rutkowski | issueType: P
  3. Boria Sax and Peter Klopfer, Jakob von Uexküll and the Anticipation of sociobiology , In: Semiotica 134 (2001), p. 773