Bernhard Sahler

Pastor Bernhard Sahler

Bernhard Sahler (born May 27, 1927 in Hamm ; † April 20, 2007 in Schmölln ) was a Roman Catholic priest and honorary citizen of Gera .

Career

Sahler grew up in Honnef . During the Second World War he served as an air force helper , was drafted into the Reich Labor Service in 1944 and later joined the Wehrmacht .

After the end of the war and internment, he began studying theology in 1946 ; He was ordained priest in 1953 from Cardinal Joseph Frings in Cologne Cathedral . He was then used in the pastoral care of his home diocese, the Archdiocese of Cologne . In 1956 he was in accordance with the then sponsorship arrangements in the in the DDR preferred Bistum Meißen added. There he served as a chaplain in Plauen , from 1959 in Rochlitz . His stay in the GDR was initially planned to be limited. That changed with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

In 1970 he was appointed pastor of the Catholic parish of St. Elisabeth in Gera . From 1974 to 1992 he also held the office of dean in the Gera deanery . As a pastor, he was involved in the peace and environmental movement. From 1988 onwards, his community housed the Gera environmental library, which was set up by civil rights activists . As a result of his initiative, the prayers for peace took place in Gera on March 2nd, 1989, initially in the Catholic Church.

On November 25, 1995 he founded the Caritasverband Ostthüringen e. V. and was its 1st chairman for many years.

In 1996, Sahler was retired. On November 9, 1999, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was made an honorary citizen of the city on behalf of those involved in the political change in Gera . Sahler spent his retirement in Schmölln, where he died in 2007. He was buried in a communal grave of local Catholic chaplains on the East Cemetery in Gera.

Web links

• CV and appreciation on the official website of the city of Gera
• Katharina Funke: Retiring with old debts. In: Day of the Lord , 2/1997.