Bruno Schottstädt

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Bruno Schottstädt (born April 14, 1927 in Dierberg ; † April 25, 2000 in Berlin ) was a German Protestant pastor and founder of the Gossner mission in the GDR .

Life

Bruno Schottstädt's grave in the Parkfriedhof Berlin-Marzahn

Schottstädt grew up in the family of a farmer . After obtaining his university entrance qualification , he completed a teacher training facility in Dahme in the Mark and in Brandenburg an der Havel from 1941 to 1944 . In 1944 he was drafted into the Reich Labor Service and did military service in the Wehrmacht in the last year of the war in 1945 , where he was taken prisoner by the British and Belgian prisoners of war , from which he was only released in 1948. Through the encounter with the life and work of Johannes Evangelista Goßner during his theology studies at the Seminary for Church Service in Berlin (West) and at the Paulinum in Berlin (East), he was influenced by students of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth such as Günter Jacob . In 1953 he became vicar at the Redeemer Congregation in Berlin-Lichtenberg . As early as 1954, before his ordination , he founded the Gossner Mission in the GDR, which has set itself the goal of the practical transmission of the Gospel as a teaching and service for people in agriculture and industry. After his ordination as a Protestant pastor, he became the head of the Gossner mission in the GDR. From 1962 he worked in the ecumenical missionary office and in 1963 was appointed its deputy director. During this time, Schottstädt was in charge of the church project Open Congregation Berlin, which maintained a "basement" of the meeting in the parish hall in Göhrener Straße. A visitor at the time, who came to this Gossner project as a spokesman for a Catholic student community , said in an interview:

I belonged to the Catholic Student Congregation (KSG) Berlin East, and was one of the four speakers for the congregation in 1968/69. It was an exciting time: the Second Vatican Council , the Prague Spring , the revolt of the students in Paris and West Berlin, time of new beginnings, but also of restoration . At that time we tried to democratize our church, established a parish council in the KSG and demanded a change of pastor. The conflict then came to a head in 1971 that the active core of the community was given the chair at the door. The search for a new church began for us. We sought protection because we knew that without the protective roof of the church we would be in danger. But we were also looking for a figure of integration who could bundle the various currents, thoughts and paths. Today I don't remember exactly who said at the time that there is an open church in the Gossner Mission, maybe this would be an opportunity for us. <Question: What impressed you the most?> Those were the people I met at the time. Irma and Martin Richter, Ruth and Bruno Schottstädt - these are the people you have to talk about if you want to talk about the Gossner Mission's Open Congregation. So I have to think of how Bruno welcomed us with open arms, shining eyes and a smile around his mouth ...

After initially overseeing mainly ecumenical missionary projects in Germany, he was called to numerous ecumenical services of Gossner's work abroad in the following years: from 1980 to 1982 he taught as a guest lecturer in the USA , Canada , India and Japan . After his return he took over a pastor's position in Berlin-Marzahn -Nord. In 1987 he founded a church partnership between the parish of Ahrensfelde and the parish of Galston in Scotland , which has been in existence to the present day. Schottstädt also made a name for itself with commemorating the Sinti and Roma who were expelled and murdered from Marzahn during the Nazi regime . He made sure that a memorial stone was erected there for the victims. Finally, a serious illness brought his professional life to an end. On February 11, 1994, the Hendrik Kraemer House in Berlin, to which Schottstädt had been associated for many years, gave a farewell reception. He spent his retirement in Diemelstadt- Wethen.

Schottstädt joined the GDR CDU and became a member of the GDR Peace Council . He worked in the Christian Peace Conference (CFK) and was a member of the CFK regional committee in the GDR for several years. He took an active part in the All-Christian Peace Assemblies in Prague in 1961, 1964 and 1978.

Bruno Schottstädt was married to his wife Ruth.

Works

  • The cross breaks open the world. Church building and ecumenism in Berlin-Marzahn. With a foreword by Konrad Lübbert and an afterword by Dirk Heinrichs , Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim 1992.
  • Specifically - binding. Notes from the GDR. In: INITIATIVES FOR PEACEWORK. Volume 11. Reich-Verlag, Hamburg 1971, ISBN 978-3-487-09659-9 .

Articles and reviews

  • Charlotte Sauer: Stranger and Citizen. Life novel by Johannes Evangelista Goßner. EVA, Berlin 1966 In: Review The signs of the times. 1970, no. 1, p. 37.
  • Reconciliation is necessary! Experiences in the church in the GDR - as help for today. In: Dialoguehefte No. 16. 1994.

As editor

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.gossner-mission.de/media/pdf/gmi2004_1.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.mehrow.de/Kirche/Partner_Galston.html
  3. ↑ http://www.angelfire.com/mac/dialoghefte/heft16_29.html
personal data
SURNAME Schottstädt, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant pastor
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Dierberg
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2000
Place of death Berlin