Christina Schultheiss
Christina Schultheiß (born June 27, 1918 in Chemnitz as Christina Fiedler ; † March 26, 2016 in Triptis-Pillingsdorf ) was a German civil engineer who was best known for her commitment to the Protestant church. She was President of the Thuringian Regional Synod (1978 to 1990), a member of the Synods of the Federation of Evangelical Churches of the GDR (BEK), the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany and a board member of the Conference of Evangelical Churches Governments of the GDR (KKL).
Life
origin
Christina Schultheiß was the daughter of the Chemnitz-based entrepreneur Karl Fiedler, who works in civil engineering and concrete road construction, and his wife Luise. The parents were members of the Confessing Church around Dietrich Bonhoeffer and opponents of the National Socialist ideology. She grew up together with her two sisters in a high family.
School, training and work
Christina Schultheiß first attended elementary and high school in Chemnitz from 1923 to 1932 and, at her mother's insistence, completed an apprenticeship as a dressmaker from 1932 to 1935 and then studied fashion design for two semesters at the European Masters Academy in Munich . She then moved to her father's company and worked there as a technical worker until 1945.
Karl Fiedler's company was partially broken up in 1935 by the SS Economic Administration Main Office and parts of the family assets were confiscated when Karl Fiedler refused to employ Jewish forced laborers in his factories. During the war against the Soviet Union , large parts of the company's industrial vehicle fleet were expropriated by the SS in 1941 and taken to Russia. Karl Fiedler then relocated his business activities to Czechoslovakia , where he operated a quarry.
In 1952 Christina Schultheiß completed her studies as a construction technician and in 1961 she graduated as a road construction master. From 1952 to 1953 she headed the road construction in Camburg in Thuringia and from 1953 to 1979 the road construction in Stadtroda . Until 1984 she was chief road foreman and branch manager of the district directorate for roads in Gera.
From 1965 she was active in the Thuringian regional church (see politics). As President of the Thuringian Synod, she also worked in the areas of finance, forestry, agriculture and church construction.
From 1991 she ran a road and civil engineering company, the business closure took place in 1998 for reasons of age.
Private
From 1939, Schultheiß was married to the police officer and Wehrmacht officer Erhardt Schultheiß († 1953). The couple had a son and a daughter. She was known for her mobility and autonomy well into old age, regularly drove a car until her 95th birthday and did the housework and gardening herself until her death.
politics
Christina Schultheiß was initially a member of the church parliament of the Thuringian regional church from 1965 and was elected president of the regional synod in 1978. Furthermore, from 1969 she was a member of the Synods of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, and from 1972 a member of the board of the Conference of Evangelical Church Governments in the GDR . Schultheiss was acknowledged as the “Mother Courage of Thuringia” and as a woman “who never minced words”. In her ecclesiastical offices she asserted herself against men, and also considered contradiction against a bishop and high officials to be appropriate. Her practical understanding and sense of reality “has often brought us pastors back down to earth”, “She was a gift for our church”, says former Bishop Werner Leich . A personal concern was her fight for the ordination of women theologians, and she demanded “More self-confidence please!” From the women.
Christina Schultheiß always tried to defend the independence of the church against the GDR state. It received national attention when, on March 6, 1978, at the first top-level meeting between state and church under the leadership of the GDR State Council Chairman Erich Honecker, she referred to the many injustices against the citizens. The meeting is considered to be one reason for the increasing self-confidence of the East German Christians, which later was one of the decisive factors for the peaceful revolution in the GDR.
Honors
Christina Schultheiss was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1992.
Web links
- Mother Courage of Thuringia, obituary In: Meine Kirchenzeitung , July 30, 2018
- “Mother Courage of Thuringia” is 95 years old , EKM, Erfurt Press Office, June 26, 2013
- "Mother Courage of Thuringia" died in Pillingsdorf, obituary In: Ostthüringer Zeitung , March 31, 2016
- Deposition of the container on the 100th birthday of Christina Schultheiß in Tanna In: Ostthüringer Zeitung , June 28, 2018
- Christina Schultheiß In: Official Journal of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. May 15, 2016, accessed January 14, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Address book of Chemnitz, 1936, Trade and Cooperative Register, p. 38: C. Fiedler Bauunternehmung GmbH Blankenauer Str. 63; Managing Director: Karl Fiedler - Part 2, List of Residents, p. 62: Fiedler, Karl, Baumstr, Admiral-Scheer-Str. 36 II, T (41661) .
- ↑ Anke Silomon: Claim and Reality of the “Special Community” . the East-West Dialogue of the German Protestant Churches 1969–1991 (= work on contemporary church history / B ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-525-55747-1 , p. 755 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b "Mother Courage from Thuringia" turns 95 years old , EKM, Erfurt press office, accessed on January 14, 2019
- ↑ Mother Courage of Thuringia, obituary in: Meine Kirchenzeitung, July 30, 2018.
- ↑ Constructive, frank discussion with the chairman of the State Council. New Germany , March 7, 1978 (Source: chronik-der-mauer.de)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mayor, Christina |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fiedler, Christina (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German church politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 27, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chemnitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 26, 2016 |
| Place of death | Triptis-Pillingsdorf |