Barbara Unger

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Memorial bowl for Barbara Unger and other members of the Zella-St. Blasii, established by the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation Zella-Mehlis

Barbara Unger (* unknown; † January 18, 1530 in Reinhardsbrunn ) was a Thuringian martyr of the Anabaptist movement . She was married, the mother of four children and belonged to the Anabaptist congregation in Zella-Mehlis , which came to an end quickly due to persecution by church and state. Barbara Unger's name and her life story, documented in files and interrogation protocols, is mentioned as an example in the context of the Lutheran - Anabaptist or Lutheran- Mennonite reconciliation process.

Life

Memorial stele in Reinhardsbrunn

Barbara Unger's origins, childhood and youth are in the dark. Presumably she came from Zella-St. Blasii (today: Zella-Mehlis ). It is known that she was married and had two daughters and two sons with her husband Georg Unger (also called Bader).

The later interrogation records show that as early as 1527 - two years after the first Anabaptist congregation was founded in Zurich - preachers of the Anabaptist movement appeared in and around Zella-Mehlis and held meetings there. Among other things, there is evidence of an Anabaptist meeting in the house of a certain Hans Focken. How Barbara Unger came into contact with them is unknown. However, there is evidence that she made her house available to Jorgen Küß and probably also Georg Nespitzer as a place of preaching. The Anabaptist missionaries are described as those who "carry sticks, are pious and [...] have all goods in common ." This description refers to the non-violent Anabaptist faction of the Stäbler ("sticks"), some of whom also lived in community of property .

Barbara and Georg Unger were not the only ones in their environment who accepted the Anabaptist teaching. The Anabaptist emissary Volkmar von Hildburghausen baptized at least eleven other people from Zella and the surrounding area on June 7, 1528 in Haus Fock [en] in addition to the Unger couple: The aforementioned Hans Focken (former mayor in Zella-St. Blasii), his wife, Christoff Ortlepp, Elsa Cuntz, Katharina König, Anders Kolb , Katharina Kolb, Osanna Ortlepp, Balthasar Armknecht, Balthasar Armknecht's wife and Valtin Unger.

Fearing persecution, the Unger couple went on the run shortly after their baptism. They left their four children behind. The two boys were four and ten, the two girls twelve and thirteen years old at the time. The older daughter was blind.

A fortune does not seem to have existed, so that the accommodation of the blind daughter and the younger son with a "mhan [name] hans mhor im dorff" should be denied from welfare funds ("1 1/2 Malter erff Erfurter Mahlkorn"). The other two children were given “to dine”. So they had to earn their own living.

According to the interrogation protocol of January 1530, the fugitives were caught in 1529, interrogated and then released again. That Barbara Unger was released because of a revocation of her Anabaptist beliefs is likely, but not proven.

Hedgehog pond near Reinhardsbrunn

In 1529 the Diet of Speyer issued the so-called Anabaptist mandate . It says, among other things: "Anyone who has been rebaptized or undergone rebaptism , whether man or woman, is to be punished with death without a spiritual inquisition court needing to be active beforehand." Around January 8, 1530, Barbara Unger became and five other members of the Anabaptist community captured again and taken to the Reinhardsbrunn prison. They were executed just ten days later. The Thuringian reformer Justus Menius stated that Barbara Unger and the Anabaptists who were judged with her received the “death blow” “without the slightest trace of remorse or fear”. Based on this statement, it is believed that the execution was carried out by the sword.

The place of execution was at Reinhardsbrunn Monastery, more precisely: at the Igelteich , one of several small bodies of water between the villages of Rödichen and Cumbach .

Christening succession

The line of baptismal succession goes with Barbara Unger (1528) via Volkmar von Hildburghausen (date of baptism unknown), Hans Hut (Whitsun 1526), Hans Denck (spring 1526), Balthasar Hubmaier (Easter 1525), Wilhelm Reublin (January 1525), Jörg Blaurock (January 1525) to Konrad Grebel (January 1525). The dates in brackets indicate the respective baptism date. Evidence of this can be found in the biography articles of the persons mentioned.

Commemoration

  • Permanent exhibition in Reinhardsbrunn : Trapped, Suffered, Died - The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time
  • Memorial stele at Reinhardsbrunn Monastery with the names of the members of the Anabaptist community of Zella-Mehlis who were executed in 1530 (see picture)

literature

  • Paul Wappler: The Anabaptist Movement in Thuringia from 1526–1584. Jena 1913.
  • Thuringian Information Center for Spiritual Tourism in Reinhardsbrunn Monastery Park: Caught. Suffered. Died. The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time. In memory of the Anabaptists executed in Reinhardsbrunn in 1530. Macholdt-Verlag, Eisenach [o. J .; 2015?], ISBN 978-3-946-031-02-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For example, humbly break the silence. Lutherans invited Mennonites to the reconciliation service in Zella-Mehlis. In: Glaube und Heimat (Mitteldeutsche Kirchenzeitung) , March 26, 2012, viewed on August 5, 2017.
  2. ^ Astrid von Schlachta: The Anabaptists in Thuringia. From well-fortified beginnings to defenseless serenity . Volume 10 in the series Contributions to the history of the Reformation in Thuringia . Vopelius, Jena 2017, ISBN 978-3-939718-32-1 . P. 52.
  3. ↑ Hans-Joachim Köhler: The Anabaptists in Zella St. Blasii and Mehlis. Pilgernetz.mobi, accessed on August 10, 2017
  4. ^ Marita Krüger: Reconciliation with the Anabaptists at the General Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation 2010 in Stuttgart. Pilgernetz.mobi, accessed on August 15, 2017.
  5. ↑ Source: Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Weimar / Ernestinisches Gesamtarchiv under the register number 1025. Bl. 5v.
  6. ↑ Hans-Joachim Köhler :: The Anabaptists in Zella St. Blasii and Mehlis. Pilgernetz.mobi, accessed on August 10, 2017.
  7. ↑ Peter Heckert: Church in Steinbacher Grund. Our home is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) . Hallenberg 1990, p. 11.
  8. ^ Thuringian Information Center for Spiritual Tourism in Reinhardsbrunn Monastery Park: Captured. Suffered. Died. The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time. In memory of the Anabaptists executed in Reinhardsbrunn in 1530. Macholdt-Verlag, Eisenach [o. J .; 2015?]. P. 22.
  9. ↑ Christian Hege: Article Kolb, Andreas and Katharina (d. 1530) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO). First version 1957; Online since August 8, 2017.
  10. ↑ In the Thuringian State Archive Weimar ( Ernestinisches Gesamtarchiv ) there is the following entry under the register number N 1025 Bl. 3v: “Jorg Unger ader Bader gnant and his wife are still on the run, have left four children and have nothing at all of goods, including 2 boys ; one is 10 years old, the other 4 years and 2 girls; one is blind and is 13 years old, the other 12 years. "
  11. ↑ Pilgernetz.mobi: Reformation and Tolerance. GeDenk-impulses for the opening of the theme year of the Reformation on January 18, 2013 in Waltershausen. Accessed October 16, 2017
  12. ↑ Quoted from Thuringian Information Center for Spiritual Tourism in the Reinhardsbrunn Monastery Park : Captured. Suffered. Died. The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time. In memory of the Anabaptists executed in Reinhardsbrunn in 1530 . Macholdt - The publisher: Eisenach [o. J .; 2015?]. P. 27.
  13. ↑ They were Andreas Kolb, his wife Katharina, Christoph Ortlepp, Katharina König and Elsa Kuntz; see Thuringian Information Center for Spiritual Tourism in Reinhardsbrunn Monastery Park : Captured. Suffered. Died. The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time. In memory of the Anabaptists executed in Reinhardsbrunn in 1530. Macholdt, Eisenach [o. J .; 2015?]. P. 24.
  14. ^ Paul Wappler: The Anabaptist Movement in Thuringia from 1526 to 1584 . Volume II in the series Contributions to the recent history of Thuringia. Verlag von Gustav Fischer, Jena 1913, p. 49.
  15. ^ Thuringian Information Center for Spiritual Tourism in Reinhardsbrunn Monastery Park : Captured. Suffered. Died. The Anabaptists in the Contradictions of Time. In memory of the Anabaptists executed in Reinhardsbrunn in 1530. Macholdt, Eisenach [o. J .; 2015?]. P. 14
  16. ↑ Ökumene-AcK: Reconciliation has an effect. Anabaptist exhibition in Reinhardsbrunn / Thuringia ; accessed on August 6, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Unger, Barbara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Thuringian martyr of the Anabaptist movement
DATE OF BIRTH 14th century or 15th century
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1530
Place of death Reinhardsbrunn