German Huguenot Society

The German Huguenot Society (DHG) is a registered association that was founded in 1890 as the German Huguenot Association to maintain the Huguenot tradition in Germany .

history

Henri Tollin, 1833–1902, French ref. Pastor in Magdeburg, founder of the German Huguenot Association

Jochen Desel (left) hands over the office of President to Andreas Flick on September 19, 1999

It was mainly thanks to the initiative of the preacher of the French Reformed parish of Magdeburg , Henri Tollin (1833–1902) and the Berlin magistrate Richard Béringuier (1854–1916) that on September 29, 1890 in Friedrichsdorf am Taunus the German Huguenot- Association (DHV) could be founded. In 1998 it was renamed the German Huguenot Society (DHG).

The association was intended to support the work of the French Reformed parishes in the German Refuge , which were still numerous at the end of the 19th century , and to illustrate the Huguenot tradition to the individual Huguenot descendants. The history sheets, which Henri Tollin and his successors as editors began to publish at irregular intervals in 1892, were primarily used for this purpose.

The number of members of the newly founded association grew from initially 26 people and institutions to 490 in 1899. After the end of the First World War, the Huguenot descendant Leopold Cordier (1887–1939) took over the chairmanship of the association. As a professor of theology in Giessen , he devoted himself particularly to theological issues and the activation of the Huguenot faith. So we owe him u. a. a Huguenot songbook and a treatise What did France lose with the Huguenots? During the time of National Socialism he belonged to the Confessing Church as an opponent of the regime. However, there were also members of the Huguenot Association who listened to the slogans of National Socialism .

The Second World War and the subsequent division of Germany into zones of occupation brought the association's activities to a complete standstill. It is mainly thanks to the Flensburg association member Richard Fouquet (1880-1965) that the German Huguenot Society was practically re-established in 1950 in Friedrichsdorf am Taunus. The journalist Emil Constantin Privat (1900–1976) became chairman and Richard Fouquet his deputy. In the phase after the re-establishment, both tried to achieve international understanding and friendship with the French Huguenots. During the Second World War, in his capacity as editor-in-chief of the Deutsche Zeitung in the Netherlands a . a. Written condescendingly about de Gaulle . In 1955 the association had 431 members again.

As a lieutenant colonel a. D. Friedrich Centurier (1916–1984) was elected President of the German Huguenot Society in Berlin in 1971, he devoted himself intensively and successfully to recruiting members and was already able to enjoy "an astonishing growth of the association" at the Huguenot Day in Landau / Pfalz in 1973 state, which at that time had around 1,200 members.

On the Hugenottentag in Kassel in 1985 in the memory of the flight of the Huguenots after the adoption of the Edict of Fontainebleau by Louis XIV . and their admission to German territories, Dean Jochen Desel (born 1929) was elected President. During his tenure he campaigned for the support of those in need in Africa in the spirit of Huguenot diakonia . The "Huguenots help campaign", led by board member Hans W. Wagner from Kassel, institutionalized the aid measures.

Desel's particular concern was to establish the association at a permanent location. In 1989 it was possible to renovate a former tobacco factory in the Huguenot town of Bad Karlshafen an der Weser with the help of public funds and to open it as the German Huguenot Center with a lecture by Professor Rudolf von Thadden from Göttingen. In the three-storey building which found office of the company, a Huguenot Library and a genealogical research center space enough. The German Huguenot Museum was opened on two floors, and Jochen Desel became the honorary museum director.

The current incumbent President of the German Huguenot Society, Pastor Andreas Flick from Celle , began his work after his election by the general meeting in 1999 in Bad Karlshafen. He has the task to cope with in times that have become more difficult for clubs in many respects. He endeavors to clarify and make understandable the reformed belief of the Huguenots in a rapidly changing world. As the editor of the Huguenots magazine , he reached out to members and non-members with a modern layout and a targeted selection of articles. In addition, he developed contacts with the university sector and with foreign Huguenot societies.

Principles

The purpose of the association is among other things:

Preservation and promotion of the Huguenot tradition in Germany
Research into the history, theology and genealogy of the Huguenots
Deepening the Franco-German friendship
Cooperation with Huguenot institutions and communities at home and abroad
Help for the poor and refugees (Diakonie)
Promotion of understanding between peoples , nations and religions in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance

President

1890–1902 Henri Tollin, Magdeburg
1902–1922 Charles Correvon, Frankfurt am Main
1923–1935 Leopold Cordier , Giessen
1936–1937 Peter Lorenz, Berlin
1937–1945 Albert Freiherr Dufour von Feronce , Berlin
1950–1971 Emil Constantin Privat, journalist, Bad Godesberg
1971–1984 Friedrich Centurier, Göttingen
1985–1999 Jochen Desel, Hofgeismar
since 1999 Andreas Flick, Celle

Library

Membership magazine of the German Huguenot Society

As a special library , publications on Huguenot topics and the Reformed tradition are collected. After reunification, the association's old library was transferred from Berlin to Bad Karlshafen and integrated into the Karlshafen holdings. The library includes an international collection of journals and articles. a. is used by students at the University of Göttingen and Kassel. 12,000 media are currently available. The library is connected to the archive with bequests from members, text and picture collections, some of which still have to be indexed.

Genealogical research center

In the German Huguenot Center there is a genealogical research center, which is used in particular by Huguenot descendants in search of their ancestors. A genealogical working group of the society under the direction of the board member Dierk Loyal answers genealogical inquiries and expands the Huguenot database, in which up to now approx. 300,000 data records have been recorded. In Bad Karlshafen, there are copies of almost all the French Reformed church registers from the German refuge that have been digitized.

publishing company

The German Huguenot Society has its own publishing house , which is looked after from the office in Bad Karlshafen. The following publications are published:

Huguenots . Membership magazine that appears quarterly. The magazine was founded in 1929 as Der Deutsche Huguenot and renamed Huguenots in 1998 .
History sheets of the German Huguenot Society . So far 49 volumes have been published, which are devoted to different topics from the areas of Huguenot history and theology.
Conference proceedings of the German Huguenot Days . Fourteen volumes were published from 1968 to 2005.

Huguenot Days

Poster for the 34th Huguenot Day 1985 in Kassel

Medal (obverse) for the 100th anniversary of the German Huguenot Association in 1990; Designed by Viktor Huster

Medal (back) for the 100th anniversary of the German Huguenot Association in 1990; Designed by Viktor Huster

Poster for the 35th Huguenot Day in Zweibrücken and Metz 1987

Huguenot days are held every two years in the Huguenot towns of the German Refuge.

place	year	particularities
1. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1890	Founding meeting
2. Berlin	1892
3. Maulbronn	1894
4. Berlin	1897
5. Frankfurt / Main	1899
6. Kassel	1902
7. Buckeburg	1905
8. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1909
9. Rohrbach / Hessen	1913
10. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1925
11. Berlin	1926
12. Stuttgart	1927
13. Magdeburg	1928
14. Hanau	1929
15. Achievement	1930	40th anniversary
16. Walldorf / Hessen	1932
17. Königsberg (Prussia)	1933	canceled for political reasons
18. Magdeburg	1934
19. Berlin	1937
20. Szczecin	1938
21. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1950	60th anniversary
22. Neu-Isenburg	1955
23. Heidelberg	1957
24. Marburg	1959
25. Bad Karlshafen / Weser	1963
26. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1965	75th anniversary
27. Kassel	1968
28. Berlin	1971
29. Landau / Palatinate	1973
30. Hamburg	1976
31. Obtain	1979
32. Hanau	1981
33. Bad Karlshafen	1983
34. Kassel	1985
35. Zweibrücken u. Metz	1987
36. Friedrichsdorf / Taunus	1990	100th anniversary
37. Berlin	1992	1. All-German Huguenot Day after the fall of the Wall
38. Celle	1994
39. Ludweiler / Saarbrücken	1996
40. Dresden	1998
41. Offenbach am Main	1999
42. Neu-Isenburg	2001
43. Emden	2003
44. Schwedt / Oder	2005
45. Hamburg	2007
46. Frankenthal (Palatinate)	2009
47. Kassel	2010	300 years of Karlskirche
48. Mannheim	2013
49. Bad Karlshafen	2015	125th anniversary

literature

Jochen Desel, Walter Mogk (ed.): 100 years of the German Huguenot Association. 1890-1990. History-persons-documents-pictures. Conference publication for the 36th German Huguenot Day from April 20-22, 1990 in Friedrichsdorf / Taunus . Bad Karlshafen 1990. ISBN 3-9802515-0-0
Jochen Desel, Walter Mogk (Ed.): Huguenot Almanach 1685-1985. Conference publication for the 34th German Huguenot Day from April 12 to 14, 1985 in Kassel . Bad Karlshafen 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Brandes: Henri Wilhelm Nathanael Tollin . In: History sheets of the German Huguenot Association, Vol. 11, Issue 8 a. 9. Magdeburg 1902.
^ Huguenot songs. 50 selected psalms , small edition Elberfeld 1924; large edition, Elberfeld 1925.
↑ Ursula Fuhrich-Grubert: A minority and their authorities. German Huguenots in the Third Reich . Bad Karlshafen 1995. ISBN 3-930481-02-2
↑ “Lebanon als Reflexspiegel”, DZN of November 17, 1943, p. 1. Cf. also “The Huguenots in Germany - Thoughts on a Work by Helmut Erbe”, DZN of May 25, 1941, p. 10 (EC Privat wrote there from "then culturally very highly developed France"). His biography in the commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the association is embellished and hides the time at the DZN (Jochen Desel, Walter Mogk (Ed.): 100 years of the German Huguenot Association. 1890-1990. History-people-documents-pictures Conference publication for the 36th German Huguenot Day from April 20 to 22, 1990 in Friedrichsdorf / Taunus. Verlag des Deutschen Huguenots Verein eV 1890, Bad Karlshafen 1990, ISBN 3-9802515-0-0 , p. 260).
↑ Jochen Desel (Ed.): German Huguenot Museum Bad Karlshafen. Museum guide . Bad Karlshafen 2010. ISBN 978-3-930481-32-3
↑ http://www.hugenottenbibliothek.de/jsphug/de/index.jsp?lang=de&id=1

[1] Brandes: Henri Wilhelm Nathanael Tollin . In: History sheets of the German Huguenot Association, Vol. 11, Issue 8 a. 9. Magdeburg 1902.

[2] Huguenot songs. 50 selected psalms , small edition Elberfeld 1924; large edition, Elberfeld 1925.

[3] Ursula Fuhrich-Grubert: A minority and their authorities. German Huguenots in the Third Reich . Bad Karlshafen 1995. ISBN 3-930481-02-2

[4] “Lebanon als Reflexspiegel”, DZN of November 17, 1943, p. 1. Cf. also “The Huguenots in Germany - Thoughts on a Work by Helmut Erbe”, DZN of May 25, 1941, p. 10 (EC Privat wrote there from "then culturally very highly developed France"). His biography in the commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the association is embellished and hides the time at the DZN (Jochen Desel, Walter Mogk (Ed.): 100 years of the German Huguenot Association. 1890-1990. History-people-documents-pictures Conference publication for the 36th German Huguenot Day from April 20 to 22, 1990 in Friedrichsdorf / Taunus. Verlag des Deutschen Huguenots Verein eV 1890, Bad Karlshafen 1990, ISBN 3-9802515-0-0 , p. 260).

[5] Jochen Desel (Ed.): German Huguenot Museum Bad Karlshafen. Museum guide . Bad Karlshafen 2010. ISBN 978-3-930481-32-3

[6] ttp://www.hugenottenbibliothek.de/jsphug/de/index.jsp?lang=de&id=1