Boniface Church (Zgorzelec)
| Church of St. Boniface Polish: Kościół św. Bonifacego |
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 View of the east portal and tower of the church |
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| Start of building: | May 26, 1929 |
| Inauguration: | May 11, 1930 |
| Architect : | Bernhard Sander |
| Style elements : | Modern |
| Location: | 51 ° 8 '52.6 " N , 15 ° 0' 35.2" E |
| Address: | ulica Emili Plater 9 Zgorzelec Lower Silesia , Poland |
| Purpose: | Roman Catholic Church |
| Parish: | św. Bonifacego |
| Diocese : | Legnica |
| Website: | www.bonifacy.zgorzelec.pl |
The St. Boniface Church (Polish: Kościół św. Bonifacego ) is a Roman Catholic church in the Polish city of Zgorzelec in Upper Lusatia . The church was built at the end of the 1920s in Görlitzer Oststadt on what would later become Gneisenaustrasse. After the Second World War , the areas east of the Oder and Lusatian Neisse, and thus also the Oststadt Görlitz, fell to Poland in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . The church has been used as a Catholic parish church by a Polish community since the end of the war. It belongs to the deanery Zgorzelec.
location
Today the church is located in the center of Zgorzelec on the ulica Emili Plater. South of the church is the city bus station . In the east, the former barracks complex of the Kleist barracks is the direct neighbor. To the north there is a gas station and a few meters further the former barracks complex of the New Barracks (from 1938: Courbière barracks). However, both neighboring barracks complexes are used for civil purposes today.
history
As early as 1926/27, plans were drawn up for the construction of a Catholic church in the Görlitz district east of the Neisse. Due to the immigration from the Catholic Silesian area to the Protestant Görlitz and the numerous soldiers who were stationed in the city, a new Catholic church was necessary. Up to this point there were only two Catholic churches in the city: the Holy Cross Church in the city center and St. James in the southern part of the city . East of the Neisse, there was only one Protestant church in the Moys district since 1907. A plot of land was purchased on what was then the eastern outskirts of the city and it was decided in favor of the simple and simple design by the Görlitz architect Bernhard Sander.
In addition to the Catholic population, the Bonifatius Church was also intended to serve as a garrison church for the numerous military personnel in the garrison town of Görlitz . The groundbreaking ceremony took place on March 27, 1929 . Two months later, the foundation stone was officially laid on May 26th . After about a year, the Bonifatiuskirche was inaugurated on May 11, 1930. The church consecration was carried out by Cardinal and Prince-Bishop Adolf Bertram from the Diocese of Breslau .
On December 1, 1940, the Archdiocese of Breslau took over administrative rights. At the same time the community became independent and the church was consecrated as a parish church to St. Boniface . Already after 1938 the former organ of the Görlitz synagogue came into the house of God. It is still in use today.
During the Second World War, it continued to serve as a garrison church for the soldiers barracked at the numerous locations in the eastern part of the city. Furthermore, became pastor Franz Scholz prisoners of war pastoral care for the main camp VIII A . Until then, Scholz was the pastor of the Polish St. Martini congregation on the Wroclaw Cathedral Island . The monthly services for the prisoners of war were strictly monitored by the Gestapo . Especially the Polish visitors found a spiritual home in St. Bonifatius and his pastor Scholz. Scholz still enjoys an undisputed good reputation among its Polish neighbors. He had the congregation erect an atonement cross in front of the church on September 14, 1943 . This cross reminds us of the prisoners of war that are brought past here every day. After the end of the war, Scholz stayed in the Polish city for a year. His published diary records describe the advance of the front during the war and developments in the Polish city.
The interior of the church was rebuilt between 1962 and 1968. A special feature of the church are its five bells, three of which are from the German era. The two Polish bells St. Josef and St. Adalbert have been reinforcing the ringing since 1966. They were cast as a symbol of German-Polish understanding for the 1000th anniversary of Poland. Between 1990 and 1999 the church served again as a garrison church.
literature
- Thomas Backhaus: A church makes history. The Catholic Church of St. Boniface in Zgorzelec . In: Preservation of monuments in Görlitz - A series of publications . Issue 17. Verlag Gunter Oettel, Görlitz, Zittau 2008.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ernst Heinz Lemper: Görlitz. A historical topography . 2nd Edition. Oettel-Verlag, Görlitz 2009, ISBN 3-932693-63-9 , p. 172 .
- ↑ Wolf-Dieter Fiedler: A walk through the old Görlitz-Moys . 1st edition. Senfkorn-Verlag, Görlitz 2012, p. 73 .
- ↑ a b c d e Hans Schulz: A house of God writes history . In: Saxon newspaper . August 30, 2006 ( online ).
- ↑ a b goerlitz.de: Catholic Bonifatius Church . (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved May 30, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Synagoge-goerlitz.de: history and meaning . Retrieved May 30, 2012 .
- ↑ Life escapes war . In: Saxon newspaper . January 12, 2006 ( online ).
- ↑ Thomas Backhaus: A Church Makes History - The Catholic Church St. Bonifatius in Zgorzelec . In: Preservation of monuments in Görlitz - A series of publications . Issue 17. Verlag Gunter Oettel, Görlitz, Zittau 2008, p. 6th ff .
- ↑ Historia parafii. Parafia etc. Bonifacego w Zgorzelcu, 2016, accessed January 7, 2018 (Polish).
