Christfried Berger

Christfried Berger (born January 7, 1938 in Posen , † November 19, 2003 in Berlin ) was active as a Protestant theologian in the GDR in the field of ecumenism .

Life

Christfried Berger studied Protestant theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin from 1956 to 1961 . After ordination in 1963, he was the first pastor for alternative military service in the building units of the NVA . He built up the illegal convention of former construction soldiers in the GDR and was therefore under observation by the MfS .

From 1966 to 1976 he was pastor in Berlin- Schmöckwitz and then senior consistorial councilor and department for ecumenism, mission and diakonia of the Evangelical Consistory of the Church Province of Saxony in Magdeburg . From 1979-80 he worked in the dialogue department of the World Council of Churches in Geneva . In 1985 he became director of the Ecumenical Missionary Center of the Berlin Mission Society and from 1989-90 moderated the working group on foreigner policy at the Central Round Table . From 1992 until his retirement in 1997 he headed the Ecumenical Missionary Institute of the Berlin Ecumenical Council.

The husband of the Brandenburg commissioner for foreigners, Almuth Berger , remained managing director of the International Convention of Christian Congregations and spokesman for the Association of Foreign Language Churches and Missions in Berlin.

Fonts

• When the synagogues burned. Kristallnacht and Church 1938-1978 (Ed.), Berlin 1978
• Geneva interim balance sheet - workshop reports from employees of the World Council of Churches (ed.), Berlin 1981

literature

• Short biography for:  Berger, Christfried . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .