Carl Bertheau III.

Carl Bertheau (born July 4, 1878 in Hamburg ; † November 11, 1944 there ) was a German teacher and co-founder of the Confessing Church .

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Carl Bertheau's ancestors were well-known theologians in Hamburg. These included his grandfather Carl Bertheau the Elder and his father Carl Bertheau the Younger . From 1884 to 1887 he attended the secondary school in front of the Holstentor in Hamburg and then the learned school of the Johanneum . After graduating from high school in Easter 1896, he studied Protestant theology. He attended the University of Greifswald in 1896/97 , the University of Leipzig in 1897/98 , the University of Halle in 1898/99 and the University of Tübingen in 1899/1900 . At the same time he learned the Arabic and Syrian languages. He passed his first theological exam on September 25, 1900 in Hamburg. Then he went to the teachers' college and gave private lessons. In 1902 he worked at Sankt Katharinen , where he sorted and cataloged the library. He passed the second theological examination on February 27, 1903, also in Hamburg. Afterwards he got no church position. He had hoped to work as a pastor at the main church of St. Michaelis like his father , but could only preach there occasionally.

Since he could not find a job as a clergyman, Bertheau taught temporarily in 1906/04 at the learned school of the Johanneum and at the Wilhelm Gymnasium . In July 1904 he passed the state examination for teaching at secondary schools in Kiel with distinction. From now on he was allowed to teach Protestant religion, Hebrew and Latin. In 1904/05 he went through a shortened instruction and trial year at the Johanneum. On October 1, 1905, he was granted employability at higher secondary schools. He then taught religion, Greek, Latin and Hebrew as a senior teacher at the school of scholars, took care of the school library and also gave private lessons. In 1910 he passed a supplementary examination for teaching ancient languages.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Bertheau volunteered for military service in August. He suffered repeated serious injuries and had to spend some time in Russian captivity. For some time he acted as an interpreter for Arabic-speaking inmates in the half-moon camp. Since he did not have to take part in the city watch during the war, he was also able to give French lessons for a drafted member of the teaching staff.

When the teachers were elected in 1920, Bertheau coordinated the legal list and assumed the office of spokesman. He was given a seat in the chamber. The Hamburg citizenship elected him to the state school authority in 1933. During this time, Bertheau campaigned in particular for Hebrew lessons, which from 1939 could no longer be officially given in schools. He then taught the language in private courses recognized by the regional church and took exams in the subject. His former student Walter Jens said he found Bertheau "conservative to the bone and at the same time an obsessed advocate for the Hebrew language".

In 1933/34 Bertheau gave prospective religious education teachers two semesters of Greek lessons at the University of Hamburg . Since he was considered a Lutheran, he was criticized in particular by the Society of Friends of the Fatherland School and Education System . Bertheau advocated Lutheran denominational schools and was involved in the Evangelical Parents' Association under the direction of Simon Schöffel . He participated in the church council of the St. Michaeliskirche and in 1929 took over the office of the parish elder of the St. Lukaskirche in Fuhlsbüttel . In 1933/34 he was a member of the regional church council, in 1934 also the audit office of the regional church.

In church policy Bertheau in 1933 founded the Pastors with. Until 1938 he was involved in the confessional community. There he stood up for a group of lay people who existed alongside a community of pastors. In Fuhlsbüttel, where he also lived, he led a community group. He was committed to religious instruction that the Confessing Church was supposed to give independently, but was unable to assert himself. From 1920 until the end of his life he worked on the board of the Rauhe Haus .

literature

• Rainer Hering: Bertheau, Carl . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 6 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1025-4 , p. 31-32 .