Carl Sunshine

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Carl Sonnenschein around 1928 on a photograph by Nicola Perscheid .
Carl Sonnenschein in Berlin, around 1925
Memorial plaque on the house, Delbrückstrasse 35, in Berlin-Grunewald
Memorial plaque on the house, Georgenstrasse 44, in Berlin-Mitte
Late expressionist Christ for the sunshine grave by Hans Perathoner 1935, old cathedral cemetery of the St. Hedwigsgemeinde, Berlin, Liesenstrasse
Postage stamp (1952) from the series Helpers to Mankind
Postage stamp (1976) for the 100th birthday of Sunshine

Carl Sonnenschein (born July 15, 1876 in Düsseldorf , † February 20, 1929 in Berlin ) was a Catholic priest known for his appearance in the working class ; who "was a somewhat suspect figure for the very fine, a gypsy of charity." ( Kurt Tucholsky ).

Life

childhood

Carl Sonnenschein was born as the son of the plumber and plumber Ernst Sonnenschein (1844–1878) and his wife Maria, b. Lütgenau (1852–1901) born in Düsseldorf. In addition to the plumbing, his grandfather looked after a pilgrims' hostel in the pilgrimage site of Hardenberg , his uncle was a priest and had built a hospital in Borbeck and set up a children's meal. When Carl was two years old, his father died of illnesses from the war in 1870/71 . In 1884 his mother married the piano tuner and music teacher Noll, who supported Carl as much as he could in his training.

Education

After graduating from the Düsseldorf Hohenzollern-Gymnasium, today's Görres-Gymnasium , he studied in Bonn and at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome , which was run by Jesuits. In addition to his studies, he gave religious lessons to the poor children in the area and soon became known as the “ragazzi tamer”. He also guided visitors through the catacombs. In 1897 he obtained a doctorate in philosophy and in 1900 a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a priest on October 28, 1900. His encounter with Italian social and political Catholicism was formative for his Roman period. He later became an honorary member of the Catholic student association K.St.V. Semnonia Berlin (Osnabrück) and the K.St.V. Askania-Burgundia (Berlin) in the KV .

Work in the Rhineland

In 1901, Sonnenschein returned to Düsseldorf . In 1902 he became a chaplain in Aachen and in 1903 in Cologne-Nippes , where he was particularly involved in youth work. He founded a career counseling and job agency. In 1904 he was transferred to Elberfeld . His commitment here was for girls' education (he advocated women's studies ) and pastoral care for homeworkers . His duties included looking after the Italian miners, for whom he founded his own newspaper, Der Italiener in Deutschland . He also arranged for the appointment of the first representative of the Italians to the state government. When the German workers went on strike, Sonnenschein convinced the Italians not to allow themselves to be abused as scabs.

Soon he became notorious for his tendency to track down potential donors at any time of the day or night and his forgetfulness. In 1906 he was given leave of absence because of his uncomfortable political work. He then devoted himself to literary work and finally found a job in the Volksverein for Catholic Germany in Mönchengladbach , a think tank for social Catholicism. He supported the Christian trade unions, which for him were a piece of applied Christianity. He owed essential suggestions to his friendship with Elisabeth Gnauck-Kühne .

In 1908 he founded the “Secretariat of Social Student Work” in Mönchengladbach. Its magazine was the social student papers . In his house he set up a student burse and also set up social student centers in other cities, which he mostly housed in union offices and journeyman's houses. He was inspired by the English settlements . He set up joint advanced training courses for students and other sections of the population that became the forerunners of the Catholic adult education centers .

During the First World War he organized campaigns for letters and letters and campaigned for the Flemish prisoners of war. He welcomed the war as an opportunity to overcome class society. His writings from this period show a nationalist pathos that is otherwise rarely achieved in the Catholic field and lack any sense of the suffering of soldiers in an industrial war. After the war he founded an academic employment office for Catholics in Mönchengladbach.

Work in Berlin

At the end of the war, in the days of the November Revolution, Sonnenschein went to Berlin , probably out of fear of the advancing Belgians from Mönchengladbach . He opened his office in the social archive of the Volksverein, with which he moved several times until he finally settled at Georgenstrasse 44.

His card index was famous, in which not only those in need but also the potential helpers were thoroughly recorded, a slip of paper for social work. This group of helpers also included the sculptor Harriet von Rathlef-Keilmann , who speaks Russian , the lawyer Hubertus Prinz zu Löwenstein and the poet Else Lasker-Schüler . His special concern was the post-war hardship of the academic proletariat, he was moved by professional alienation and the wasted knowledge potential. He also took care of the Christian burial of suicides .

His work was financially supported by the Volksverein until 1925, after which he was left to fend for himself. Above all, he earned something from lectures and brochures. In 1924 he founded a church paper for academics, in addition to taking over the existing Catholic church paper , whose journalistic weight and circulation he was able to increase enormously.

In 1923 he began to set up a Catholic adult education center, in 1926 he opened a Catholic reading room with donations, which he filled with review copies. Inspired by his hikes around Berlin, he founded the “History Association Catholic Mark” and published the Märkische Calendar . The Josephs settlement in Tegel and the Marienfelde-Mariengarten settlement were created through his initiative. And as before, he taught Italian children. He also founded the working group of Catholic artists . On April 15, 1928 , the theologian Johannes Pinsk came to Berlin as his successor.

The Diocesan History Association in Berlin goes back to a joint founding of Carl Sonnenschein, the historian Karl Heinrich Schäfer and Josef Deitmer in 1928. The aim of the association is to arouse interest in local church history and to contribute to scientific research.

He suffered from heart failure for the last ten years of his life. After his death, he was mourned not only by the Catholics, but also by the Jewish community, the Social Democrats and many others.

Sonnenschein was buried in the St. Hedwigs Friedhof in Berlin. His friend, the sculptor Hans Perathoner , created an expressionist bronze crucifix based on the late Gothic carving style for his grave .

Quotes

  • Don't nag! Don't stand aside! Don't be offended! To understand! Lead our country out of confusion and misery! Protect the Christian culture of the country, develop plants! The humility of such work is the blessing of God. ( Notes , August 29, 1926)
  • Communists must be made superfluous. (Maria Grote: Dr. C. Sonnenschein in Berlin , page 46)

Works

  • Notes (world city views). Berlin 1926 to 1928.
  • Sunday Gospels (statements). Berlin 1928.

Awards named after Carl Sonnenschein

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of its member Carl Sonnenschein in 1976, the Cartel Association of Catholic German Student Associations donated the “Carl Sonnenschein Prize”, which is awarded annually to selected scientific achievements in pursuit of the “Science” association principle.

The Caritas community foundation Osnabrück has been awarding the "Sunshine Prize", named after Carl Sonnenschein, for charitable work every year since 2007.

Dedications

The following were named after Carl Sonnenschein:

Else Lasker-Schüler wrote the poem Carl Sonnenschein, which Sofia Gubaidulina set to music for alto and double bass in 1994 under the title “An Angel ...” .

On July 3, 2014 , a memorial plaque was attached to his former office in Berlin-Mitte , Georgenstrasse 44 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kurt Tucholsky: Complete Edition of Texts and Letters , Vol. 14, 1998, page 12
  2. ↑ Ernst Thrasolt: Carl Sunshine. Man and his work. 1930, page 16
  3. ^ Wolfgang Löhr: Carl Sunshine . In: Siegfried Koß / Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV, Part 6, with the collaboration of Gisela Hütz (= Revocatio historiae. Writings of the Historical Commission of the Cartel Association of Catholic German Student Associations [KV] in cooperation with the Association for German Student History [GDS]) . 1st edition. tape 7 , no. 1 . SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1991, ISBN 3-923621-55-8 , p. 99 f .
  4. ↑ Sunshine Prize. Caritas Community Foundation Osnabrück, accessed on February 25, 2017 .
  5. ↑ https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search.php?q=Carl+Sonnenschein&polygon_geojson=1&viewbox=
  6. ↑ Else Lasker-Schüler: The poems . In: Friedhelm Kemp (ed.): Collected works . 1st edition. tape 1 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-518-39290-5 , pp. 438 .
  7. ↑ SMP media GmbH, Hamburg & SMP systems GbR, Berlin - http://www.smpmedia.net : Gubaidulina, Sofia: EIN ENGEL ... for alto and double bass on a poem by Else Lasker-Schüler | Sikorski Music Publishers. Retrieved June 8, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Carl Sonnenschein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Sunshine, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gypsies of Charity
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic priest
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1929
Place of death Berlin