Berlin Conference of European Catholics

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The Berlin Conference of European Catholics , originally the Berlin Conference of Catholic Christians from European States (BK) , was held on 17./18. November 1964 East Berlin founded and supported by the East German government and participation of the East German secret police arranged organization of European Catholics .

The historian Clemens Vollnhals classifies it as a communist cover organization .

The political guidelines of the organization were laid down at the level of the apparatus of the Central Committee of the SED and the State Secretariat for Church Affairs, and the desired course was implemented with unofficial State Security forces .

History and structure

The initiative to found it came from Catholic functionaries of the GDR CDU , in particular Otto Hartmut Fuchs and Karl Grobbel . The chairman was the functionary of the GDR CDU and Otto Hartmut Fuchs led the way as an unofficial employee of the GDR State Security. After his death, the Italian Franco Leonori took over the chairmanship of the BK.

The international continuation committee (IFA) consisted of around 30 to 35 people, priests and lay people, from more than 20 Eastern and Western European countries. The IFA Presidium consisted of around eight people from East and West. Otto Hartmut Fuchs took over the chairmanship of the presidium of the IFA and after his death (1987) Franco Leonori from Italy and Karl Derksen OP from the Netherlands as deputies. Karl Derksen OP was deputy until the end of the IFA of the BK (1990). He chaired the "Ecumenical Peace Forum of European Catholics" when the BK was closed (1993). After Leonori was appointed Chairman of the Presidium, Hubertus Guske was appointed Secretary General of the BK. Guske was also an unofficial employee of the State Security (IMV Georg). Another unofficial member of the management team was Adolf Niggemeier (IM "Benno Roth").

The Bishop of Ivrea, Luigi Bettazzi , was present at BK conferences. Bishop Jacques Gaillot from France attended a number of meetings. Werner Pfeifenberger from Austria was a member of the IFA for several years. Kanonikos Goor and the general secretary of the Christian trade unions from Belgium have repeatedly attended BK meetings.

effect

Attempts by the SED to influence Catholics with the Berlin conference did not receive any major response, and there was no broad impact on Catholics. Catholic clergy in the GDR were not allowed to take part in the Berlin conference on the instructions of their bishops.

literature

  • Secretariat of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics (Ed.): 20 Years of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics (BK) 1964–1984 , Berlin 1984. 132 pp.
  • Bernd Schafer: State and Catholic Church in Eastern Germany, 1945–1989 . In: German Studies Review, Vol. 22, No. 3 (October 1999), pp. 447-461
  • Berlin Conference of European Catholics (BK), Berlin Manifesto of European Catholics. Adopted by the Xth plenary meeting of the BK in Berlin / GDR, 2. – 4. June 1988, in: New Voice, No. 10/88, pp. 32–34.
  • Chronicle of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics from archives compiled by Hubertus Guske, Edition Ost, Berlin 1999

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals , 1996: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: An Interim Balance Sheet , Volume 7 of Analyzes and Documents, Ch. Links Verlag, ISBN 3-86153-122-4 , p. 116 ( limited preview in the Google book search)
  2. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals , 1996: The Church Policy of SED and State Security: an interim balance sheet , Volume 7 of Analyzes and Documents, Ch. Links Verlag, ISBN 3-86153-122-4 , p. 115 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  3. ^ Ludz Peter Christian Johannes Kuppe: GDR manual . Ed .: Federal Ministry for Internal German Relations. 1st edition. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-8046-8515-3 , p. 162 .
  4. ↑ Ed. Clemens Vollnhals: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: an interim balance; Volume 7 of Analyzes and Documents p. 185 , Ch. Links Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-86153-122-4 .
  5. ↑ Hubertus Guske: Chronicle of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics, Edition East Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932180-91-7 , B.2, p. 328
  6. ↑ Hubertus Guske: Chronicle of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics, Edition Ost Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932180-91-7 , Vol. 2, pp. 481 and 507.
  7. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/die-papst-akte/647774.html
  8. ↑ Thomas Marin (ed.): Babelsberger Katholiken in der DDR , Books on Demand, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-8907-3 , p. 30
  9. ↑ Peter Maser: The Churches in the GDR , Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, p. 158, ISBN 3-89331-401-6