August Ballnus

Friedrich August Ballnus (born August 8, 1807 in Marggrabowa , † April 26, 1871 in Czychen , Oletzko district ) was a German pastor in Masuria.

Life

Ballnus' father worked 1799-1800 as justycjariusz the judicial offices in Cimochy and Cichy. By Abraham Adolf Hillmann (1790-1858) and his wife Henriette geb. Klein (1793–1864), probably adopted , Ballnus attended school in Rhein and the Kgl. Lyck high school , which he left with the Abitur in 1827. He studied Protestant theology at the Albertus University in Königsberg . In 1829 he was one of the founders of the Corps Masovia , which many high school graduates from Lycker Gymnasium and the Herzog-Albrechts-Schule (Rastenburg) joined. After completing his studies, he became rector in Lyck in 1833 , where he taught "with love, joy and considerable effects". In 1837 he was introduced to the Cichy Church as a preacher . Two years later he followed as pastor Carl Adam Rohmann, who (like many German pastors in Masuria ) campaigned for the preservation of the Polish language . Through him and his wife, Ballnus found contacts with wealthy citizens who supported his social commitment with material resources and donations. On the building site he bought, he built a “hospital” with timber from the forestry office, which in today's terms is more of a hospice for elderly, frail and sick people. The Königsberger Hartungsche Zeitung reported on these initiatives and a Lycker Zeitung published its appeal:

“Poverty is spreading. Begging children, brutality and savagery are becoming more common. With this generation there will never be any benefit to others. Prisons and penitentiaries release demoralized tramps. Poverty cannot be removed with an order, but it can be alleviated through charitable love. Help for poor and needy children has long been close to my heart; but i can't help them as i wanted. I need your help, ladies and gentlemen. "

- Lycker non-profit entertainment journal, May 30, 1846

He was heard not only in the church and in the public, but also in the counties near Marggrabowa and the government in Gumbinnen . In recognition of his selfless work, he was elected to the Prussian National Assembly in 1848. As a member of the Prussian state parliament , Ballnus fought for international humanitarian law and against the death penalty. He turned against the maintenance of privileges of the state and religious orders.

The 1860s were particularly difficult for the already poor Masuria. Bad harvests and typhoid fever caused 5.3% of the population to die in Oletzko County alone in 1868 . Ballnus donated the Ballnus orphanage in Goldapstrasse for the orphaned and homeless children . At the laying of the foundation stone on April 26, 1871, he expressed the view that drunkenness, poverty and ignorance predominated among the Masurians and were the main source of moral decline.

Elected superintendent of the Oletzko church district in 1862 , he resigned from office after a few years in order to be able to return to his previous work in Czychen. When he died there and was buried, masses of people and many dignitaries from state and church paid him their last respects (contrary to his last wish). He is still remembered in today's Polish Masuria.

Ballnus was married to his stepsister Emma Hillmann (1815–1866).

Fonts

• Put on the weapons of light! A political sermon on Rom. 13, 12. Dedicated to Germany's Catholic princes, priests and bishops . Gerhard, Danzig 1845.

literature

• Andreas Kossert : Masuria. East Prussia's forgotten south . Berlin 2001, p. 193.
• Jan Chłosta: Biography Niemców z Prus Wschodnich / Biographies of Germans from East Prussia . Studio Poligrafii Komputerowej "SQL", Olsztyn 2010. ISBN 978-83-88125-72-0 . In it p. 14/15: Friedrich August Ballnus (Polish and German).

Web links

• GeneaNet
• Czychen
• Polish memory
• Abitur in Lyck

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 141/28.
2. ^ Directory of all members of the Corps Masovia Königsberg in Potsdam 1823 to 2005 . Potsdam 2006.