Brotherly circle
The Brotherly Circle is a Christian lay brotherhood with an evangelical character.
history
The fraternal circle had two predecessor organizations:
Association of the founders of the order "Organization X" (1920–1928)
First, in 1920 in Erkner near Berlin, an "Association of the Founders of the Order" was founded, which the members also called "Organization X". It was a secret organization; even the members did not know the names of the leadership. The main initiators for the founding of the association are Baron Friedrich von der Ropp (1879–1964), Baron Roderich von Bistram , employee of the magazine Resistance , but also Otto von Kursell and Harald von Rautenfeld , who later became the first leading brother of today's Fraternal Circle. The reasons for the foundation were the peace treaties signed by Dorpat and Riga in 1920 between Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania with the Soviet Union , the expropriation of German property in the countries there as well as the abolition of the basic order of knighthood and the supposed danger of a communist world revolution .
Baltic Brotherhood (1929-1936)
This association of the founders of the order dissolved in 1928, and in its place a "Baltic Brotherhood" was founded in 1929, whose role as leading brother Otto von Kursell took over. This Baltic Brotherhood was forcibly dissolved on November 22, 1936 with the direct involvement of Heinrich Himmler . The estates of the Baltic Brotherhood are currently in the Herder Institute in Marburg .
Brotherly circle
After the Second World War , the Brotherly Circle was founded in 1953 on the initiative of Friedrich Worms, Harald von Rautenfeld and others. In the new constitution, however, the domestic reference to the Baltic States was replaced by the philosophy of a cosmopolitan spiritual dimension in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Brotherly Circle sees itself only as an "unofficial" successor organization to the Baltic Brotherhood.
Both the Baltic Brotherhood and the Brotherly Circle never saw themselves as an order, but as an order- like community . The principle of responsibility of the free decision of the individual applies to the members.
The fraternal circle is a "male order" and the brothers are usually bound to the community for life after a few years of membership. The wives are connected to the fraternal community through their husbands and are not themselves entitled to vote. The fraternal circle does not have its own institutions. It is included in the directory of the Protestant communities of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
Mission and Spiritual Life
The Fraternal Circle does not pursue corporate goals and tries to work through people rather than programs. He sees his task in providing binding support to the individual brothers and in supporting and accompanying them in issues of social life and above all in questions of faith and in the willingness to take on responsibility in accordance with the contents of his constitution.
The fraternal circle is geographically divided into areas, which are led by an area officer appointed by the leading brother. Once a year the brothers meet for an annual convention in the Evangelical Academy in Loccum. The journal The Call - Discussion Forum of the Fraternal Circle , private printing counts as a joint publication .
structure
- The leading brother (is not elected, but determined by his predecessor)
- The guard of the fraternal circle (has to pay attention to the observance of the constitution, is chosen by the shop stewards from their ranks)
- The Chapter (governing body consisting of 5-7 brothers from the ranks of the shop stewards)
- The shop stewards (fourteen brothers elected by the friars)
- The convent brothers (brothers who have pledged to remain united to one another for life).
- Totality of the brothers
literature
- Bastian Filaretow: The Baltic Brotherhood. Against the zeitgeist? In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): Baltic Germans, Weimar Republic and Third Reich . Volume 1. 2., revised and supplemented edition, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2008, pp. 11–50 digitized
- Heinrich von Baer: My experience of brotherhood . Notes from 1979. Ed .: Brotherly Circle. BoD Books on Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8448-1727-0 . Digitized
- Claus Grimm: The Baltic Brotherhood , Hirschheydt-Verlag, Hanover 1977.
- Patrick Kirsch: Baltic German emigré organizations and their interdependence with German politics in Latvia and their influence on the Baltic Germans in Latvia (1918–1934) , Master's thesis, Philosophical Faculty of the University of Cologne, 2013, pp. 61–66 digitized
swell
- Handbook for the Brother in the Brotherly Circle , November 2001 edition, private print.