Christians and Churches in the GDR

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Erich Honecker (left) celebrates the founding of the Martin Luther Committee in 1980 with (from left to right) Werner Leich ( BEK ), Gerald Götting ( GDR CDU ) and Werner Krusche (BEK) .
Youth consecration in Berlin in 1968. The SED established the ritual of passage instead of confirmation or confirmation , which led to permanent conflicts with the churches.

The relationship between Christians and churches in the GDR and the socialist government was difficult for almost the entire GDR period and was associated with targeted state repression.

At the time of the founding of the GDR in 1949, Christians represented a clear majority of its population with approx. 92 percent. The largest religious community were the Protestant regional churches, which were organized in the EKD until 1969 and then in the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , followed by the Roman Catholic Church . Over time, the number of church members decreased, among other things due to an atheistic educational and religious policy, which propagated a non-religious and materialistic worldview and included repression against believers and churches.

After temporary neutrality after the end of the Second World War , tensions between the GDR leadership and the churches quickly increased. As a result, the government tried actively and with repression to reduce the influence of the churches. Only with the construction of the wall in 1961 did the situation relax and mutual concessions were made. Nevertheless, the churches remained centers of resistance against the GDR, so that they played a decisive role in the turning process . The state measures intensified a de-Christianization of the entire society; as a long-term consequence, the majority of former GDR citizens still do not belong to any church and religion plays a lesser role in the new federal states than in the old federal states.

Framework

The relationship between the GDR government and Christian churches was difficult and full of tensions from the start. The atheistic Marxism-Leninism , the state ideology of the GDR, postulated a disappearance of religion on the way to communism , on which the SED saw itself . For this reason alone, the churches were ideological opponents for the state (religion as the “ opium of the people ”), even if there were always harmonizing tendencies in the GDR church policy.

In addition, the state's loyalty to the West German churches, which was weakening over time, was nevertheless always high. Until 1969, the Evangelical Regional Churches were still organized throughout Germany in the Evangelical Church in Germany . Because of the considerable political pressure, increasing organizational problems, but also because of increasing differences in everyday church work in both countries, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR (BEK) was founded in 1969 .

The churches were largely able to regulate their own circumstances independently. There were ecclesiastical publishers and newspapers as well as a variety of social services and institutions. They were also important land owners and farmed. The large private forest alone made up over 30,000 hectares and required an important church forest administration with its own costumes and badges.

Nevertheless, the GDR tried to suppress the influence of the churches and, above all, to withdraw church influence from young people. Areas of conflict were the dispute over religious instruction , the introduction of youth consecration , church youth work, the admission of the children of Christian parents or church workers to the extended secondary school (EOS) and the introduction of military instruction . Terms and formulations with a Christian connotation have been replaced by neutral formulations in the language used by administration, schools and universities. Some Christians spoke of the "church struggle" with the SED leadership - an allusion to the church struggle in the time of National Socialism .

Religious freedom was enshrined in the GDR constitution and was formally granted. Nevertheless, Christians were subject to various forms of repression. The state did not promote religious communities. There was a very strict separation between church and state . On the state side, the State Secretariat was responsible for church issues at the GDR Council of Ministers. The state secretaries in chronological order were Werner Eggerath , Hans Seigewasser , Klaus Gysi and most recently Kurt Löffler . During the fall of the Wall, the State Secretariat was upgraded; from November 1989 to April 1990 Lothar de Maizière was Minister for Church Affairs .

Christian denominations in the GDR

The vast majority of Christians belonged to an evangelical church . In 1989 around 5.4 million people were members of a church belonging to the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR (BEK). About a million people, mostly concentrated in certain regions, professed their support for the Catholic Church . Other denominations with significantly fewer members in 1989 were the New Apostolic Church (100,000), Methodists (35,000), Jehovah's Witnesses (30,000) and Baptists (14,500). In addition, there were numerous other free churches and religious communities, most of which had significantly fewer than 10,000 members.

The majority of the population did not belong to any religious community: in 1988, a total of around 6.6 million people were members of a religious community, i.e. almost 40%. In this regard, there was a significant change towards the end of the GDR. In 1949 about 90% of the population were members of a church community. In 1979 it was still about 57%; the regional churches of the BEK alone still had around 8 million members.

Evangelical regional churches

post war period

After the end of the Second World War and the resulting collapse of National Socialist rule, the cards in church politics were also reshuffled. First, the predominant Protestant regional churches in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) began to reorganize, church tours were exchanged and new governing bodies were introduced or revived. General Superintendent Otto Dibelius , head of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg , was in charge here. As the only representative from the Soviet zone of occupation, he was able to participate in the establishment of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), an amalgamation of all regional churches in all zones of occupation. Dibelius, who first openly supported National Socialism and then fought it in the Confessing Church , thus became the most important representative of the Evangelical Church in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet Union accepted the autonomy of the church and its legal status as well as church work such as diakonia , but enforced a separation of religion and state . For the time being, the churches did not commit themselves to either parliamentary democracy or communism . Evangelical Christians first and foremost demanded freedom of conscience and distanced themselves from ideological pressure to confess.

With the intensification of the Cold War and the founding of the two German states at the end of the 1940s, tensions between state and church increased, despite positive promises of possible cooperation and constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. In particular, the "commitment to dialectical materialism " as the goal of the SED's educational work led to resistance from church representatives - they feared that the materialist party position would lead to a degradation of religion as spiritual and politically retrograde. As the new chairman of the EKD, Dibelius made this clear with a pastoral letter at Pentecost 1949, in which he denounced the state structure of the Soviet occupation zone and urged an open expression of opinion. Provocatively, he compared features of the National Socialist rule with the SED, which saw itself as anti-fascist . A year later, he mainly criticized the situation in schools, where the pressure was growing on young Christians to deny their faith. Dibelius announced that the church would fight if necessary if the government did not renounce direct or indirect attacks on the Christian faith. The church leadership was then accused of hostility to the regime in service abroad.

Direct confrontation and attempts at moderation

Walter Ulbricht declares an "intensification of the class struggle" during the Second Party Conference of the SED

With the Second Party Conference of the SED (July 9-12, 1952), the SED turned away from its position of conditional neutrality towards the Church. The now announced “ building of socialism ” requires an “intensification of the class struggle”, from which an offensive action against the church was derived. Erich Mielke ordered a comprehensive observation of "the church and associated organizations as well as CDU" by the Ministry for State Security , since these "reactionary groups of people" are opponents of socialist construction. Arrests and convictions are already under way. Subsidies were cut by 25% and in 1956 the collection of church taxes was stopped. A particular thorn in the side of the party was the Protestant youth work of the Junge Gemeinde , which was suspected of being illegitimate and hostile to the state because of its connections to the West German church youth . In January 1953, a whole catalog of measures against this youth organization and its members was decided, while at the same time the FDJ should intensify its work. State interventions were also directed against social and charitable work; Young people were expelled from high school because of their confession.

On March 5, 1953, the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died ; Hopes for an end to Stalinism arose. From June 2 to 4, 1953, an SED delegation in Moscow received the express order from the Soviet leadership to immediately embark on the "new course". Moscow had recognized that there was a pre-revolutionary mood in the GDR (which shortly afterwards led to the uprising of June 17 ).

On June 11, the “New Course” of the Politburo was finally announced in Neues Deutschland , the central organ of the SED: It certainly contained self-criticism. Some measures to build socialism have been withdrawn. The fight against the young community was stopped. Pastors and church workers have been released from custody, and confiscated buildings have been returned. Pupils expelled from secondary school because of their religious beliefs had to be re-accepted and admitted to high school. For the 5th German Evangelical Church Congress (August 12-16 in Hamburg), generous interzone passes were issued and special trains were even used.

Final meeting for the Protestant Church Congress 1954 in Leipzig; here the SED tried a moderate church policy, which was quickly abandoned.

The SED now tried to develop an independent church policy . This was formulated in a basic document to SED organs on “The Party's Politics in Church Issues” in 1954: The aim was to “educate” the Christian population and win them over to the party and mass organizations. The paper differentiated between Christian members loyal to the state, whose religious feelings should be respected and who should be won over by persuasiveness, and the church organization with its leadership, which they wanted to isolate and fight as "reactionary forces". The new concept was tried out at the Protestant Church Congress in Leipzig in 1954 - and failed in the interests of the Politburo. The cautious “new course” towards the church ended after two years; the introduction of youth consecration, previously formulated in the policy document, was forced as a new rite of passage instead of confirmation . The church leaders saw this as a provocation and thereupon once again underlined their position that children cannot be confirmed with the youth consecration.

Signing of the military chaplaincy contract by Otto Dibelius (left)

GDR interior minister Karl Maron and CDU chairman Otto Nuschke demanded a political declaration of loyalty from the churches in 1955 and an end to the “wintering” in anticipation of the end of the GDR; the churches responded with an allegation of breach of the constitution, which SED functionaries described as provocation. As on behalf of the EKD Dibelius on the 22 February 1957 military chaplaincy contract signed with the Federal Republic, the SED spoke of the "military Church" and increased the repression; Arrests, particularly against student communities, have started. A journalistic campaign that lasted for years was directed against Dibelius. After a church-state conversation on July 21, 1957, many church representatives distanced themselves from the military chaplaincy contract and the allegation of breach of the constitution, as well as from their previously critical reservations about socialism.

Individual cases of conflict have been resolved and prisoners released. In the core area of ​​the conflict, however, education and commitment to dialectical materialism, the SED tightened its line. The relationship between church and state leadership remained bad and tense. Meanwhile, numerous church representatives tried to find a way to reconcile themselves with the regime and to accept it as God-given authority according to Romans 13 - Dibelius contradicted in 1959 in a well-known statement on the term “authority”, which did not apply to the GDR. An EKD position paper underlined this view. The SED reacted sharply. When the Kirchentag in Berlin was planned in 1961, it was no longer allowed to take place in East Berlin for fear of politically undesirable behavior. In contrast to previous years, Christians from the GDR hardly ever visited this event - four weeks later the borders were closed.

Relaxation, "Church in Socialism"

After the wall was built in 1961, the EKD was split up organizationally in order to be able to continue operations. Bishop Dibelius was refused entry to the GDR. The perception of the episcopal tasks for the eastern region was transferred to the Cottbus superintendent Günter Jacob in 1963 , since neither the bishop of the Berlin-Brandenburg church, which encompasses the eastern and western regions, nor Kurt Scharf, who was appointed for the eastern ecclesiastical administration, could exercise their function. The SED accepted Jacob because he recognized the socialist state - his appointment amounted to a disempowerment of the radically west-oriented Dibelius. In the church, however, there were still strong forces that, for example in the "Ten Articles", critically dealt with the conditions in the GDR - the SED tried to separate them by exerting influence. Nevertheless, it was possible in this way, for example, in 1964 to introduce alternative service (" construction soldier ") to compulsory military service.

After the government broke off relations with the EKD in 1958, massive agitation against the merger began in 1967, calling for the end of the all-German church. Also due to the difficult cooperation due to the restricted border traffic and with the aim of a stronger cooperation with each other, the East German regional churches decided in 1969 to found a new umbrella organization, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR (BEK). A lasting bond with the EKD, however, was contained in the BEK order due to important church votes. With the détente at the beginning of the 1970s and the end of the Ulbricht era, the new church federation was officially recognized by the state a few years later.

In the 1970s, representatives of the Protestant Church coined the formula of the “Church in Socialism”. Bishop Albrecht Schönherr formulated at the Synod of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR in 1971:

"We don't want to be the church alongside, not against, but in socialism."

The formula postulated a clear engagement with socialism in the GDR - in contrast to the widespread opinion within the church in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was still assumed that the GDR would "hibernate" until the GDR quickly disappeared. As a commitment to socialism, however, the formula was not intended by most of those who used it.

In addition, there were further agreements between state and church - the occasion was the self-immolation of Pastor Oskar Brüsewitz on August 22, 1976. The aim was to improve the overall situation with regard to the exclusion of Christians and the independent participation of the church in society. As a result, far-reaching concessions were made to the church, which secured its status in comparison to previous decades and protected it from arbitrariness. In one crucial point, however, education policy, the SED did not give in.

Peace Movement and Change

The symbol " swords to plowshares " of the GDR peace movement

A GDR specific was created after 1961 when the churches advocated the approval of alternative military service without a weapon ( construction soldier ). In the years that followed, the exchange of experiences with conscientious objection and the demand for civilian alternative service played a central role, for example at the Königswalde peace seminars that have been held since 1973 . With the introduction of military instruction as a compulsory subject in the 9th and 10th grades in 1978, the church peace movement encompassed other, also traditionally shaped, parish groups and there were official objections from the churches. They saw in this an incompatibility with the proclaimed peace policy of the GDR and the Helsinki Final Act signed by the state leadership . The objections did not abolish military training, but non-participation had no further consequences.

The debate about military training and the subsequent nuclear armament policy from 1979 (so-called "retrofitting") marked the beginning of the peace movement in the GDR, which was mainly organized by church sponsors. Young people in particular joined this movement: peace groups were formed; Songwriters spoke to young people in church rooms; Youth days were organized. The use of the symbol " swords to plowshares " led to disputes with the government, which saw it as an attack on their doctrine of "armed peace". In the course of the policy of détente between state and church, the latter only had to assure that they would do everything possible during the meeting on the church premises to contain displeasure about real socialism . A ban on the events was not issued. In order to achieve this, the church presented itself as a "valve" to vent the discontent of the population and to calm the situation. Even groups as remote from the church as punks were accepted into individual parishes and played their concerts in churches, as otherwise they could not find any rooms for them. In April 1989 the 19 churches and ecclesiastical communities of the GDR formulated “what must be done to save the earth” as a result of three ecumenical assemblies for justice, peace and the integrity of creation .

Monday demonstration in Leipzig, 1989

A growing number of those wishing to leave the country now demanded assistance and assistance from the church, which thus came into conflict with the policy of détente it supported towards the GDR government. The church repeatedly assured that the activities were not directed against the socialist state. But under the impression of glasnost and perestroika , there were more and more political initiatives, in which church representatives were also involved. In the mid-1980s, the peace groups discussed topics such as environmental protection and emigration. The environmental library in East Berlin became an important meeting point for environmental and peace activists; a Stasi raid in 1988 was strongly condemned by the church, which covered the partly opposition activities. For the SED the level of tolerance towards the church had been reached, Erich Honecker spoke of “counterrevolutionary actions” under the roof of the church. But the evolving reform movement could no longer be stopped. In Leipzig, the Monday peace prayers organized by grassroots groups arose in the Nikolaikirche , which became the starting point for the reform debate in 1988/89. On this basis, the Peaceful Revolution unfolded , which ended the existence of the GDR. The Central Round Table in the GDR in 1989/1990 were convened and moderated by representatives of the churches.

Catholic Church

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Opening service of the Catholic meeting in Dresden 1987

The Catholic Church in the GDR could not define itself as a church under socialism and described the situation of Christians in the GDR with the image of life in a "strange house". In it she expressed the fundamental difference between church and state due to ideological differences. Cooperation between the Catholic Church and the State was therefore ruled out. The GDR was recognized by other states, but not by the Catholic Church (Vatican). The dioceses in central Germany were legally preserved beyond the inner-German border in east and west; for practical administration, see Episcopal Office . The Catholic diocese of Berlin was never divided under canon law. Apostolic administrators with the rank of bishop were appointed for the jurisdictions of Erfurt-Meiningen , Görlitz , Magdeburg and Schwerin , which belong to other dioceses . In the sermon at the closing mass of the Dresden Catholic Meeting in 1987, the chairman of the Berlin Bishops' Conference alluded to the Soviet star as a symbol of the communist or socialist worldview:

“The land between the Oder, Neisse and Werra is God's land, for which we are responsible. And the people in this territory are children of God for whom we have to stand up. We acknowledge our world mission in this land, as the Psalm puts it: 'Our lot has fallen on this wonderful land.' We don't want to follow any other star than that of Bethlehem. "

- Joachim Cardinal Meisner

Evangelical Free Churches

In addition to the regional Protestant churches, a number of Protestant free churches were also able to survive in the GDR . The two largest free churches in the GDR were the Methodist Church with around 35,000 members / friends and the Association of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR with around 20,500 members. Furthermore, there was the Evangelical Brothers Unity (Moravian Brethren Congregation), the Free Evangelical Congregation , the Seventh-day Adventists and the Mennonites . The latter in particular recorded a greater loss of membership; so the number of parishioners decreased from 1,100 in 1950 to 287 in 1985. The cooperation between the aforementioned free churches was mainly on the Association of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR, the Brethren also a special status in the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR had . Despite their small size, the free churches of the GDR developed a relatively high level of activity. The Methodists maintained their own hospitals in Halle, Karl-Marx-Stadt and Leipzig. Since 1952 they also had a theological seminar in Bad Klosterlausnitz . The Baptists also had their own theological institution in Buckow . Due to their small number of members, the free churches of the GDR were not perceived in public in the same way as the much larger regional churches, which contributed to the fact that the infiltration by unofficial employees of the Ministry for State Security was less. The areas of conflict with the regime were similar, however. Mention should be made, among other things, of membership in state-controlled children and youth organizations, participation in youth consecration , pre-military training in military instruction and the position on conscription and construction soldiers .

In the fall of 1951, the Ministry of the Interior drafted a draft to ban the Mennonites, but it was no longer implemented.

Denominational minority churches

There were three so-called denominational minority churches (also known as old denominational churches ) on the territory of the GDR . The Evangelical Lutheran (Old Lutheran) Church was the largest among them with 7500 members. The 27 parishes were assigned to three superintendent's offices and were looked after by 25 pastors and vicars. The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church had around 3500 members in 15 parishes with a total of 37 preaching places. In 1983 eight students studied at the church's own Lutheran Theological Seminary in Leipzig, which was also used by the Old Lutheran Church, supervised by three lecturers. For Churches Evangelical Reformed churches in the GDR were only three communities that had their centers in Dresden, Leipzig and Bützow. In Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), the Reformed congregation in Leipzig had a branch congregation.

Religious instruction

The conflict over social influence between church and state was particularly fought in the field of education policy. Both saw school education as a key authority for influencing society: for the church it was a traditional form of Christian participation in social life, for the GDR government the school was the central socialization authority of a changing society. Since the economic situation has now developed further, these should also produce a “new man” in the sense of dialectical materialism - for which school education offers the best framework.

In 1946 in the Soviet occupation zone in the now propagated “democratic unified school”, denominationally separated religious education lost its status as a regular subject . The procedure was justified with a necessary separation of state and church in school. The Christian communities should instead organize their doctrine of the faith only in a self-organized manner. In the 1949 Constitution , this was underlined and guaranteed in Articles 40 and 44:

“Religious instruction is a matter for the religious communities. [...] "

- Article 40

“The right of the church to give religious instruction on the premises of the school is guaranteed. Religious instruction is given by those selected by the Church. Nobody should be forced or prevented from giving religious education. Parents decide on participation in religious instruction. "

- Article 44

From 1953, there was an extensive dispute over religious education with the state. Because even the constitutional guarantee of religious instruction organized by the church did not prevent further restrictions by the GDR bureaucracy. In 1958, the then minister for popular education, Fritz Lange , issued a decree “to ensure order and continuity in the educational process of general schools”, the so-called Lange decree. A two-hour compulsory break between class and extracurricular activities, which included non-regular religious instruction, was ordered on the grounds that students were overstrained. That this was specifically directed against the church can be seen in the exception regulations for Thälmann pioneers and school working groups. At many schools, especially rural ones, the decree made organization so difficult that religious instruction was no longer possible. In addition, all advertising for religious education was prohibited in the decree and the provision of classrooms was limited to primary schools. This effectively repealed the provisions of the 1949 Constitution.

repression

The repressive action against members of Christian churches and religious communities differed greatly, depending on the current political situation between church and state.

  • Certain professional careers, predominantly in civil service or in managerial positions, were largely closed to Christians or members of a church. In other areas such as the post office or the Deutsche Reichsbahn they were exposed to considerable pressure.
  • Schools and training centers could threaten young people with non-admission to the extended high school or to study if they did not give up contact with the church.
  • People who were active in the church and church employees were frequently monitored by the Stasi and, in some cases, put under pressure ( decomposition ) through targeted, informal measures . It was particularly popular to discredit unpopular clergy in the church and to have them disciplined by the church. The Stasi also succeeded in recruiting or placing unofficial employees in the churches themselves , including influential members of parish councils and synods. In some cases the churches developed defensive strategies against this recruiting. Among other things, Heinrich Rathke , regional bishop of Mecklenburg, advised his synodal to declare immediately that they would inform the bishop and to give a "greeting from the bishop" if the recruitment attempt continued. He even appeared a few times at such conspiratorial meetings, which put an end to the recruitment attempts.
  • Like all other newspapers, the church newspapers were also subject to censorship . They could only be subscribed to. There was no public sale of church newspapers to postal newspaper kiosks in the GDR.
  • The churches were urged to focus exclusively on religious issues.

Famous pepole

literature

  • The representative of the state of Saxony-Anhalt to come to terms with the SED dictatorship, Annette Hildebrandt, Lothar Tautz: Protestants in times of the Cold War. The Wittenberg Kirchentag for the Luther anniversary in 1983 in the focus of the state security . Mitteldeutscher Verlag 2017, ISBN 978-3-95462-878-0
  • Sonja Ackermann: Christian women in the GDR. Everyday documents of a dictatorship in interviews. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-374-02325-8 .
  • Veronika Albrecht-Birkner: Freedom within limits. Protestantism in the GDR (= Christianity and contemporary history . Vol. 2). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2018, ISBN 978-3-374-05343-8 .
  • Marlene Becker: It is in our hands to shape the future. Church struggle in the GDR 1945–61. Oldenburg contributions to GDR and DEFA research, entrance to the full text
  • Thomas Boese: The development of state church law in the GDR from 1945 to 1989. With special consideration of the relationship between state, school and church. Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden 1994, ISBN 3-7890-3408-8 .
  • Gregor Buß: Catholic priests and state security. Historical background and ethical reflection . Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2017, ISBN 978-3-402-13206-7 .
  • Horst Dähn, Joachim Heise (ed.): State and churches in the GDR. On the status of contemporary historical and social science research. In: Johannes Wirsching (Ed.): Contexts. New contributions to historical and systematic theology, Volume 34. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-631-39088-2 .
  • Rahel Frank: Realer, more exact, more precise ?: The GDR church policy towards the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg from 1971 to 1989. Schwerin 2004, ISBN 3-933255-18-X .
  • Reinhard Henkys (ed.): The Protestant churches in the GDR. Contributions to an inventory. Kaiser, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-459-01436-9 .
  • Martin Höllen (Ed.): Loyal distance? Catholicism and Church Politics in the Soviet Occupation Zone and GDR - A Historical Overview in Documents. Self-published, Berlin 1994ff.
  • Reinhard Höppner: Stay where God has put us. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-374-02207-3 .
  • Hubert Kirchner (ed.): Free churches and denominational minority churches. A manual. (on behalf of the Theological Study Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR) Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-374-00018-5 .
  • Ralf Koerrenz , Anne Stiebritz (Ed.): Church - Education - Freedom. Open work as a model of a mature church. Paderborn 2013, ISBN 978-3-506-77616-7
  • Claudia Lepp: Unity taboo? The East-West Community of Protestant Christians and the division of Germany 1945–1969. Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-55743-4 .
  • Björn Mensing, Heinrich Rathke : Humanity, civil courage, trust in God. Evangelical victims of National Socialism and Stalinism. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-374-02057-7 .
  • Rudolf Mau: Protestantism in East Germany (1945-1990). (Church history in individual representations IV / 3) Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-374-02319-3 .
  • Martin Otto: Felt state church law. State church law in the GDR between the “Church in Socialism” and the opposition. In: Journal for Protestant Church Law , Volume 56 (2011), pp. 430–452, ISSN  0044-2690 .
  • Detlef Pollack: Church in the organizational society. On the change in the social situation of the Protestant churches in the GDR. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-17-013048-X .
  • Trutz Rendtorff (Ed.): Protestant Revolution? Church and theology in the GDR. Ecclesiological requirements, political context, theological and historical criteria. Lectures and discussions at a colloquium in Munich. 26.-28. March 1992 (AKIZ B, 20). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, ISBN 3-525-55720-5 .
  • Bernd Schäfer: State and Catholic Church in the GDR (= writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research . Vol. 8). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1998, ISBN 3-412-04598-5 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Forestry of the Eastern Evangelical Churches: between 1945 and 1991, Fred Ruchhöft and Kurt Winkelmann Foundation, BoD - Books on Demand, 2012
  2. ↑ Klaus Siewert: Before the cart of ideology: GDR German and German in the GDR . Münster 2004, p. 321.
  3. ^ A b Peter Maser: Faith in Socialism. Churches and religious communities in the GDR. Berlin 1989, pp. 13-20.
  4. ^ Gerhard Krause, Gerhard Müller (ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie. (TRE). De Gruyter, Berlin 1993, p. 601.
  5. ^ Joachim Heise: Church policy of the SED and the state . In: Günther Heydemann, Lothar Kettenacker (ed.): Churches in the dictatorship: Third Reich and SED state. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, ISBN 3-525-01351-5 , p. 136.
  6. ^ Rudolf Mau: Protestantism in East Germany (1945-1990). Leipzig 2005, pp. 21–31.
  7. ↑ "The aim of our educational work is to make party members known [dialectical materialism]." Wilhelm Pieck: On the letter from Pastor Arthur Rackwitz of October 22, 1947. In: Frédéric Hartweg (ed.): SED and Church. A documentation of their relationships. Vol. 1, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, p. 51ff.
  8. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, p. 35.
  9. ↑ Otto Dibelius: Letter to Prime Minister Grotewohl of April 20, 1950. In: Manfred Falkenau (Ed.): Kundgebungen. Words, declarations and documents of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR. Vol. 1, Hanover 1995.
  10. ^ Wilhelm Pieck: Provocation of the Anglo-American secret service by means of the Protestant church leadership. In: Hartweg: SED and Church. 1995, p. 57ff.
  11. ↑ Mielkes service instructions from September 17, 1952. In: Gerhard Besier, Stephan Wolf (ed.): Pastors, Christians and Catholics. The Ministry for State Security of the former GDR and the churches. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1991, p. 150f.
  12. ^ The GDR in retrospect: Politics, economy, society, culture , Helga Schultz, Hans-Jürgen Wagener (eds.), Ch. Links Verlag, 2007, p. 61. ISBN 3861534401
  13. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 46-50; For documents see Hartweg: SED and Church. 1995, pp. 80-91; more in detail in Ellen Ueberschär: Young community in conflict. Evangelical youth work in Soviet occupation zone and GDR 1945 - 1961. Stuttgart 2003.
  14. ↑ Excerpt from Minutes No. 15/54 of the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED on March 17, 1953, decision point church issues. In: Hartweg: SED and Church. 1995, pp. 150-155.
  15. ↑ See Detlef Urban, Hans Willi Weinzen: Youth without Confession? 30 years of confirmation and youth consecration in the other Germany 1954–1984. Berlin 1984.
  16. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 55-67.
  17. ^ Later published in Otto Dibelius: Obrigkeit. Stuttgart 1963.
  18. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 67-78.
  19. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 79-84.
  20. ↑ For the positioning of the SED leadership in relation to the EKD, cf. Hartweg: SED and Church. 1995, pp. 498-507.
  21. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 92-101.
  22. ^ Mau: Protestantism. 2005, pp. 130-136.
  23. ↑ Anke Silomon: "Swords for Plowshares" and the GDR. The peace work of the Protestant churches in the GDR within the framework of the peace decades 1980–1982. Göttingen 1999.
  24. ↑ The Desert Years of the Church; by Joachim Cardinal Meisner. Bishop Otto Spülbeck's sermon at the Katholikentag Cologne 1956. In: Die Welt. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  25. ↑ The figures refer to 1983. Compare Hubert Kirchner (Ed.): Free churches and denominational minority churches. A manual. (on behalf of the Theological Studies Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR) Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-374-00018-5 , p. 49, p. 110.
  26. ↑ Harold S. Bender, Diether Götz Lichdi, John Thiessen: Germany . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  27. ^ Holger Kremser: The legal status of the Protestant churches in the GDR and the new unity of the EKD . Mohr Siebeck, 1993, ISBN 3-16-146070-7 , pp. 150-151 .
  28. ^ Free churches in the former GDR. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, accessed on August 5, 2012 .
  29. ↑ Imanuel Baumann: When the draft for a ban on Mennonites in the GDR was already drawn up . In: Hans-Jürgen Goertz and Marion Kobelt-Groch (eds.): Mennonite history sheets 2016 . Mennonite History Association, 2016, ISSN  0342-1171 , p. 61-79 .
  30. ↑ The figures given below refer to the year 1983. For this section, see Hubert Kirchner (Ed.): Free churches and denominational minority churches. A manual. (on behalf of the Theological Studies Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR) Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-374-00018-5 , pp. 127–167.
  31. ↑ See Nikolaus Hueck: Learning community in the state of education. Religion and Education in the Protestant Churches in the GDR. Gütersloh 2000.
  32. ↑ "The change in man, his conceptions and attitudes, his consciousness and his morality is the greatest historical achievement that socialism produces". Margot Honecker in a lecture at the 8th Pedagogical Congress of the GDR 1978, quoted from: Karl-Heinz Günther u. a .: The education system of the German Democratic Republic. Berlin 1983, p. 12.
  33. ↑ §2 in the law for the democratization of the German school . from May / June 1946.
  34. ^ Church yearbook for the Evangelical Church in Germany. No. 85, Gütersloh 1958, p. 163f.
  35. ↑ Frank: More real, more exact, more precise? 2004, p. 314.
  36. ↑ Frank: More real, more exact, more precise? 2004, pp. 315-331.
  37. ↑ Frank: More real, more exact, more precise? 2004, pp. 129-175.
  38. ↑ Frank: More real, more exact, more precise? 2004, p. 235.