Bruno Adler (bishop)

Bruno Adler (born January 4, 1896 in Itzehoe ; † November 18, 1954 in Minden ) was a German Protestant pastor and from 1933 to 1934 a German Christian bishop of the Evangelical Diocese of Münster (= ecclesiastical province of Westphalia of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union).

Life

Adler was the son of a chief paymaster. After graduating from high school, Adler served in the artillery from 1915 until the end of the First World War . Two decades later, as bishop, he wrote a memory book of his war experiences and his regiment. From 1919 he studied Protestant theology . In 1922 he joined the NSDAP . After his ordination in 1925, he was a brief pastor in Werne an der Lippe, and from 1925 to 1933 in Weslarn near Soest. As early as 1931 he gave a lecture on “National Socialism and Christianity” at the parish conference of the Soest parish - in this order! - and promoted National Socialism .

In December 1932 Adler became head of the German Christians (DC) in Westphalia. In 1933 he was a member of the last Westphalian provincial parliament for the Soest constituency and the NSDAP . In June 1933 he was appointed State Commissioner for the Westphalian Church. On October 5, 1933, he was appointed first (and only) bishop (provincial bishop) by the church senate of the Westphalian provincial church , in violation of provisions of the church constitution . Adler worked towards the fact that the Catholic Münster became the seat of the Protestant bishop for Westphalia (and not, for example, Protestant cities in Westphalia such as Hamm or Soest) and that he consequently bore the title "Bishop of Münster" in order to achieve an "equality" to complain to the Catholic Bishop of Munster . With the other DC bishops, he was courted by Adolf Hitler . But on the part of the Confessing Church , resistance to his administration increased. After the illegality of his administration was proven in November 1934, Adler had to suspend his office as provincial bishop until further notice. In 1936 he was recalled as bishop by the provincial church committee.

1939/1940 Adler was provisional cathedral priest in Brandenburg an der Havel . Then he did military service. After the end of the war he was given early retirement in 1946. He worked as a gardening assistant. In Minden, his last place of residence, he belonged to the "Working Group for Research into Church History of the Last 25 Years", which consisted mainly of former members of the German Christians.

Fonts

• Field artillery regiment No. 233. Processed according to the official and private war diaries with the support of several members of the regiment. With roll of honor, battle calendar, officer list, several maps and pictures . Radwitz printing works, Obisfelde 1935.

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bauks: The Westphalian DC Bishop Bruno Adler (1896–1954) . In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History 80 (1987), pp. 153–159.
• Bernd Hey : The church province of Westphalia 1933–1945 . Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1974, ISBN 3-7858-0199-8 .
• Kurt Meier : The Protestant Church Struggle . Volume 1: The struggle for the imperial church . Niemeyer-Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1976, p. 307.
• Karlfriedrich Schikora: We want to live and die by the gospel. History of the church districts of Soest and Arnsberg. From the beginnings of Christian church planting until today . 2., changed u. updated edition. Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-7858-0568-8 , here: pp. 297–339.
• Josef Häming: The members of the Westphalia Parliament: 1826 - 1978, 1978, Westphalian sources and archive directories; Vol. 2 (main volume), p. 157.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bruno Adler: The Field Artillery Regiment No. 233 . Buchdruckerei Radwitz, Oebisfelde 1935, p. 3.
2. ^ Peter Noss: The church province of Westphalia 1933 to 1945 . In: Manfred Gailus , Wolfgang Krogel (ed.): From the Babylonian captivity of the church in the national. Regional studies on Protestantism, National Socialism and post-war history from 1930 to 2000 . Wichern-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-88981-189-2 , pp. 223-264, here p. 241.
3. ^ Frank Stückemann: Viktor Raabe (1864-1942), pastor in Meinings and superintendent in Soest . In: Communications of the Association for History and Homeland Care , No. 28, Soest 1998.
4. ↑ Helmut Geck (ed.): Church district history and great politics. Epochal years of German history as reflected in the Rhenish and Westphalian district synodal protocols (1918/19 - 1932 / 33–1945 / 46) . Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-8258-9421-4 , p. 211.
5. ^ Reijo Heinonen: Adaptation and Identity. Theology and church politics of the Bremen German Christians 1933–1945 . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1978, ISBN 3-525-55704-3 , p. 93.
6. ↑ Kurt Meier: The German Christians. The image of a movement in the church struggle of the Third Reich . Halle (Saale) 1964, p. 27.
7. ↑ Carsten Nicolaisen (edit.): Documents on the church policy of the Third Reich . Vol. 1: The year 1933 . Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 1971, ISBN 3-459-00629-3 , p. 18.
8. ^ Christian Peters, Jürgen Kampmann (ed.): 200 years of Protestantism in Münster. Contributions from the anniversary year . Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 3-7858-0521-7 , pp. 131–148, here p. 140.
9. ↑ Jürgen Kampmann: "A turning point in the church policy of the Third Reich". The reception of the Protestant church leaders by Hitler on January 25, 1934 in the memory of the Westphalian DC bishop Bruno Adler . In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History 89 (1995), pp. 196–209.
10. ↑ Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE), Vol. 35. Art. Westphalia , p. 694.
11. ↑ Erich Brühmann: Church fight in the 3rd Reich, with us in Altenbochum and elsewhere. Documents, reports and memories from the years 1933 to 1945 . Evangelical Church District, Bochum 1978, p. 135.
12. ^ Reijo Heinonen: Adaptation and Identity. Theology and church politics of the Bremen German Christians 1933–1945 . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1978, ISBN 3-525-55704-3 , p. 93.
13. ↑ Volker Heinrich: The church district Siegen in the Nazi era . Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-7858-0383-4 , p. 57.
14. ↑ Karlfriedrich Schikora: History of the Soest Church District ( Memento from January 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Hans Nordsiek: Municipal Archives Minden. History, holdings, collections . Minden 1993, p. 264.