Diakonisches Werk Bayern

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The logo of the Diakonie Bayern

The Diakonisches Werk Bayern of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria eV - Regional Association of the Inner Mission (DWB) is the social work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . As the second largest welfare association in Bavaria, Diakonisches Werk Bayern represents the interests of its members and the people entrusted to them towards politics, society, the media, the public, the church and other social actors.

facts and figures

Almost 86,000 people (as of January 2017) work full-time under the Kronenkreuz in Bavaria and around 20,000 people do voluntary work in more than 3,000 institutions. The "Diakonische Werk Bayern of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria eV - Regional Association of the Inner Mission" based in Nuremberg (and a branch in Munich) is the second largest welfare association in Bavaria after Caritas and forms with it and the four other associations of Free welfare in Bavaria the state working group for free welfare in Bavaria (LAGFW). The more than 1,300 members include church parishes, child, youth, disabled and elderly care providers and various counseling services. These are large diaconal organizations such as the Diakoniewerk Neuendettelsau , the Rummelsberger Diakonie (formerly Rummelsberger Anstalten ), the Diakonie Hochfranken, the Augsburger Diakonissenanstalt or the Inner Mission Munich , which with several thousand employees are often among the largest employers in the respective region , but also small diaconal associations with only a few employees. The most well-known areas of Diakonie work in Bavaria include telephone counseling , train station missions and federal voluntary service . Due to the increasing number of refugees in recent years, this field of work has become enormously important in the facilities and services of the Bavarian Deacons. The number of places in youth welfare services in which unaccompanied minors (UMs) or unaccompanied refugee minors (UMFs) are looked after more than doubled in 2014–2016.

On behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Diakonisches Werk Bayern carries out the annual " Bread for the World " campaign in Bavaria. There are also large collections in spring and autumn to finance the purposes of the association.

While the Diakonische Werk Bayern is financed by membership fees as well as funds from the regional church and the public sector, the organizations and institutions of Diakonie Bayern are primarily financed by the cost bearers (such as the supra-local social welfare providers) and the funds. The Diakonie in Bavaria acts on the basis of the subsidiarity principle . Fundamental to the relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is the Diakoniegesetz, which was passed in 2006 at the Diakonie Synod in Bad Alexandersbad.

working area

There are over 100 different work areas under the umbrella of Diakonie in Bayern. They range from offers for old people to community service. The most important are:

  1. Elderly assistance (e.g. nursing homes, meeting places)
  2. Work and unemployment (e.g. employing company, youth work aid)
  3. Education and training of employees
  4. Accompanying and promoting young people in the federal voluntary service and voluntary social year (after the suspension of compulsory military service and, as a result, community service)
  5. Help for people with disabilities (e.g. advice centers, schools, training and integration, housing offers)
  6. Family help (e.g. women's shelters, advice centers for marriage, family and life issues and pregnancy conflicts)
  7. Help in particular social difficulties (e.g. assistance to the homeless, care for those released from prison, train station mission)
  8. Health, hospitals, hospice work
  9. Youth welfare (e.g. inpatient, semi-inpatient and outpatient child and youth welfare, kindergartens, child and youth social work)
  10. Nursing (Diakonie welfare stations)
  11. Migration (e.g. advice for migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, repatriates, emigrants)
  12. psychiatry
  13. Help for addicts (advice centers, specialist clinics and rehabilitation)
  14. Telephone counseling

Structure, task

Diakonie in Bayern is organized as an association with the office in Nuremberg. According to the statutes, the 1,300 members of the Diakonisches Werk Bayern eV elect the "Diakonisches Rat", the association's supervisory body. The Diaconal Council appoints the president (in other diaconal regional associations "regional pastors") and up to five other board members. In addition to managing their respective specialist departments in the office, the board of directors is also responsible for supervising the affiliated legal entities according to the statutes. The Diakonisches Werk, in turn, is a member of the Federal Association of Diakonia, the "Evangelical Work for Diakonia and Development". According to the statutes "it coordinates and promotes diaconal work ... in Bavaria." It "represents the diaconal work and the legal entities united in it" vis-à-vis the church, politics, the payers, the media and others. As a regional association, Diakonisches Werk Bayern does not maintain its own facilities - unlike other regional diaconal associations.

Biblical basis

"Diakonie is an expression of life and essence of the Church". This is how the Diakoniegesetz of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria formulates it. According to the Protestant understanding, diakonia is just as unthinkable without a church as a church without diakonia.

In its actions, diakonia generally appeals to the idea of man being made in the image of God , as formulated in the account of creation (Gen 1:27). From this follows the commitment for the neighbor, specifically for the "weak". This becomes clear in various psalms , such as Psalm 82: 3, but also with the prophets. In addition to Isaiah (57, 15), Amos (4,1; 8; 4) should be mentioned in particular. There are also clear references in the Pentateuch , for example in Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24.

The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30) is central to the diaconal self- image in the New Testament . The Samaritan, who cares for those who have fallen under the robbers, does not only stand for spontaneous helping diaconal action. At the same time, the readiness for professionalism and for the connection between assistance and the associated costs becomes visible when the patient is handed over to a landlord for care against payment. In Matthew 23 it becomes clear that the commitment to social justice, for the poor and the sick as well as for the "widows and orphans" mentioned in the Old Testament are, in Jesus' view, compelling consequences of belief in God. In the early Christian congregation in Jerusalem, diakonia can also be proven, including the office of deacon . Diakonia primarily means supporting poor and sick parishioners.

history

overview

100 years of Diakonenanstalt Rummelsberg: German postage stamp from 1990

The result is the diakonia in the 19th century in response to the social consequences of industrialization. In 1848, at the suggestion of Pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern from Hamburg , the " Inner Mission " was created. He wanted to create an instrument to fight poverty and impoverishment in the big cities. Together with the Franconian pastor Wilhelm Löhe, Wichern is one of the founding fathers of Diakonie in Germany, and to this day both the regional association of Bavarian Diakonie and some of the institutions use the term “Inner Mission” in their names.

In the beginning, diaconal action focused on people with disabilities as well as children and young people. In 1850 the first diaconal institutions were established in Erlangen, Hof, Martinsberg and other cities in Bavaria. In 1854, Wilhelm Löhe founded the Diakoniewerk Neuendettelsau near Ansbach , which is still one of the largest diaconal organizations in Bavaria today. With the deaconess , a profession also emerged, the calling becomes a profession. The deaconesses shaped the image of diakonia for many decades.

In 1890 the "Landesdiakonenanstalt" (State Deacon Institute ) was founded in Nuremberg, today's " Rummelsberger Anstalten ". With the deacon , the male counterpart to the deaconess is created. In the “Third Reich”, the services of the Inner Mission, as the diaconal institutions called themselves at the time, were subordinate to the Bavarian regional church out of concern about the “conformity”. However: Inner Mission institutions also partially allow the euthanasia program of the National Socialists and the murder of “their” disabled people.

In order to alleviate the hardships in the times after the Second World War , the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) founded the “Evangelical Relief Organization” in 1945. 13 years later, in 1958, the relief organization and the Inner Mission merged to form the Diakonisches Werk - initially as a comprehensive Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Church in Germany, later as individual regional associations - including the Diakonisches Werk Bayern.

The Awakening Movement

Various currents shape the Protestant church at the beginning of the 19th century: The revival movement is decisive for the history of diakonia. Men like August Hermann Francke (1663–1727) or Philip Jacob Spener (1760–1825) want to bring the biblical message back to life and challenge people in Germany to make a clear decision about their faith. The word of the sermon should again be understood by everyone, and everyone should make his decision for God. From this movement come those women and men who do charitable work. For them, religious renewal has priority over charitable action, but charity is also an attempt to win people back to the gospel. These ideas shape the social-charitable concept of the awakening movement. And something else is changing: The need of people is no longer seen only as a personal, God-given fate, but is also attributed to reasons such as a lack of job opportunities and a lack of life prospects.

As a result, attention is also turning to new groups of people: children and adolescents, orphans or people with disabilities, the sick, the poor and the socially disadvantaged. It is therefore not surprising that the "rescue house movement" - rescue houses take in orphans and young people without family ties - marks the beginning of diaconal work. The pioneers of the rescue house movement are Christian Heinrich Zeller (1779–1860), who founded the first rescue house in Beuggen in Baden in 1820, and Johannes Daniel Falk (1768–1826), who campaigned for homeless children and in 1823 established the Lutherhof near Weimar.

Similar to the other German states, the first diaconal institutions in Bavaria can be traced back to the initiative of individual members of the revival movement, whose Bavarian centers are Nuremberg and Erlangen. There - in the evangelical core area of ​​Bavaria - awakened citizens and pastors meet for missionary meetings or religious meetings, for example at the "German Christianity Society" in Nuremberg. The first Bavarian rescue house for boys was also built in Nuremberg in 1824. Karl Georg von Raumer , who has lived in Nuremberg since 1823, founded the "Educational Institute for Poor and Neglected Boys". In the same year, Raumer also took over the management of the Dittmarschen Educational Institution, which was a few years older, but lost all of his pupils again by 1826 due to his upbringing ideas that were moved by arousal. By founding the educational institute for poor and neglected boys, however, he followed the example of Zeller and Falk. How close the connection to Zeller is is shown by the fact that the first housefather of the rescue house in Nuremberg is provided by the “Voluntary Poor Teachers and Poor Children's Asylum” in Beuggen. Karl von Raumer received a professorship for mineralogy and natural sciences in Erlangen in 1827 and continued his diaconal work there. An educational institution for girls has existed here, also since 1824, which was founded by the women's and virgin association founded by Philippine Puchta and Maria Ackermann in 1822. The association finances its work through auctions, donations and other activities.

The rescue houses in Erlangen and Nuremberg are the first facilities in Bavaria that can be assigned to the evangelical “charity” in the sense of the later “inner mission”. Based on this, other diaconal activities develop, such as the (parity) rescue house in Bayreuth founded in 1841, which is supported by the local poor welfare council and the Jean Paul Association.

1848: the year of the revolution

The year of the revolution of 1848 seems to be a good opportunity for various church circles to unite the various Protestant regional churches into a common Protestant church in Germany - a project that later failed. In the autumn of 1848 a church convention was called in Wittenberg, which would later become of great importance for the internal mission in Germany. Although the topic of “love activity” was not originally on the agenda, Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881) from Hamburg managed to bring his issue up for discussion.

In Hamburg, Wichern had experienced the consequences of the social changes, and in response to this founded the “Rauhe Haus”, an institution for “neglected children and young people” who were given the opportunity to get an education there. A few years later, Wichern founded the Johannes-Stift in Berlin, a diaconal institution that also exists to this day. In an impromptu speech that has become famous, Wichern formulates the program of the “Inner Mission in Germany”, which he recorded in a memorandum the following year. One of the central sentences was "Love is mine as faith".

Following the Kirchentag, the “Central Committee for Inner Mission” was founded, which met for the first time on November 11th and 12th, 1848 in Berlin and whose statutes were discussed and adopted in January 1849. In the future, he will take over the representation of diaconal initiatives and institutions of the Inner Mission throughout Germany, network them and coordinate their activities.

Another pioneering achievement of the time is thanks to Theodor Fliedner (1800–1864). Since 1822 he has been working in Kaiserswerth near Düsseldorf, an impoverished diaspora community. On a collection trip that took him to England via the Netherlands, he gained manifold impressions of the social situation there. He also met Elisabeth Fry (1780-1845), who has been campaigning for female prisoners in England since 1817. Inspired and impressed by the experiences of his trip, Fliedner set up an asylum for released female prisoners in 1833. In 1836 he opened a hospital and began training “Protestant nurses”. This is the hour of birth of female diakonia in Germany. The Fliedner model of deaconess training finds many imitators in Germany and spreads rapidly with the establishment of new parent houses.

Establishments in Bavaria

Encouraged by the success at the Wittenberg Kirchentag, Johann Hinrich Wichern travels through Bavaria in June 1849, having previously visited other German states. In this way he wants to make known and promote his conceptions and ideas about the task of the Inner Mission. His concept provides that the diaconal and social work is taken over by voluntary associations, which are located in the area of ​​the church, but are not supported by the respective regional church. Rather, the work of the associations from the outside should serve the renewal of the church. Wichern travels through the most important Bavarian cities. He reported on his impressions from Würzburg, Erlangen, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Munich. In June 1849 he expressed himself euphorically: “... I am currently busy here with the conquest of Bavaria for the Inner Mission. So far I have given eight public lectures in Würzburg, Zeilitzheim, Erlangen, Nuremberg and the Zeilitzheim conference has joined [the Central Committee] ... In Erlangen everything is won for the cause itself, men and all faculties, etc. I hope there ... also initiated [to have] the establishment of a fraternity [with a rescue facility], maybe the same in Nuremberg. "

Following Wichern's advertising trip, various diaconal institutions were founded all over the Franconian regions. This is how rescue houses such as the Trautberger House near Castell are built, and the Puckenhofer Brothers Institute is built in Erlangen, which is also connected to a rescue house that was founded in 1850 in Schallershof. The brothers' institution was designed by the Erlangen city vicar Julius Schunck (1822–1857) based on the model of the Rauhen Haus in Hamburg.

The “Fliegende Blätter” of the Rauhen Haus reported on the successes in Bavaria - a regular publication for friends, supporters and donors published by Wichern - in 1849 on the Inner Mission in Bavaria: “I am delighted to take this opportunity to meet you to be able to share some pleasant notes from Bavaria. You know that our country has so far been almost a terra incognita for internal mission. It is true that there is no lack of individual institutions and efforts ... but in comparison to our so blessed neighboring country Württemberg, or the larger part of northern Germany, the above claim can hardly be invented as too strong. "

The diaconal work of Wilhelm Löhe

One of the fathers of diakonia in Bavaria: Wilhelm Löhe

At the beginning of his journey through Bavaria, Wichern wrote very positively about his successes, but he soon encountered resistance from the circle around the Franconian pastor Wilhelm Löhe . Born in Fürth in 1808, Löhe became a pastor in the Franconian village of Neuendettelsau in 1837. He remained in this position until the end of his life in 1872. Wilhelm Löhe and his circle of friends, usually Lutherans, followed the activities of Johann Hinrich Wichern very closely. He himself had got to know the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg from his own experience on the occasion of his visit in 1848, when Wichern was not present. The strict Lutherans saw in Wichern's work a threat to their Lutheran creed. In addition, Löhe aimed at a closer involvement of the Protestant parishes. He was initially hostile to the association-like diakonia in the sense of Wichern. He writes to a friend about Wichern: “I'm aiming at Wichern. Perhaps you trust me to have a sense of the need that surrounds us everywhere, and you may also believe that I do not like to be absent where there is something to be done to alleviate the need. Nevertheless, Wichern's plan is a tricky and dangerous one. The works should not be stopped, but the plan is wrong. "

A visible sign of the opposing position represented by Wilhelm Löhe is the unification of the previously loosely assembled circles of Lutherans to form the "Society for Inner Mission in the sense of the Lutheran Church" on September 12, 1849. In retrospect, Löhe again explains the motives that motivated him to move. “I admit that when I founded the Society for Inner Mission and later the Deaconess House, I initially had no other intention than to support my home areas in matters of inner mission and the deaconry of the United Current (meaning Wichern! ) to put in the way. "

In Neuendettelsau, Löhe founded the first deaconess institution in Bavaria on May 9, 1854, which developed into a center of diaconal work in Bavaria. After training as a deaconess, the sisters work in villages and towns in Bavaria (and beyond) in hospitals, kindergartens or in community work as well as in institutions for people with disabilities, senior citizens' facilities and welfare education in Neuendettelsau. The deaconess costume becomes a hallmark of diaconal work.

Almost at the same time, the second Bavarian deaconess institution was built in Augsburg. It started work on October 15, 1855, initiated by the local St. Johannis branch association.

A common roof: The Conference for Inner Mission

In various German states, mergers took place in the period after 1848 that brought together the individual institutions and associations, but without dissolving their independence. In Bavaria, however, the formation of a superordinate umbrella organization for the individual associations and institutions of the Diakonie and the Inner Mission took place very late.

On the part of the “Central Committee for Inner Mission” in Berlin, permanent clergymen were sent to various German states in the 1860s to advertise the work of Inner Mission and Diakonia and to make them known. One of them, Pastor Johann Eesekiel , visited Bavaria in 1863. One of the goals of his trip is to find suitable personalities who represent the "Central Committee" in Bavaria and at the same time initiate a merger of the various Bavarian diaconal associations and organizations. He finds it in the person of Karl Buchrucker (1824–1899), who has been a pastor in Nördlingen since 1863. During this time, Buchrucker emerged primarily with religious education work and earned a recognized reputation in this area through numerous publications.

In Nördlingen, Buchrucker also takes on the work of the “Inner Mission”, with which he came into contact during his studies in Erlangen through the local poor association. In Nördlingen he also got to know the work of the Neuendettelsau deaconesses, because a day nursery was set up there in 1859 on the initiative of a friend of Wilhelm Löhe. Deaconesses from Neuendettelsau have taken care of the children. In this way Buchrucker came into contact with Wilhelm Löhe's Diakonie.

In the spring of 1864 the Nördlinger pastor made himself available to represent and became the official agent of the Berlin Central Committee.

When it comes to bringing together the individual diaconal institutions, Buchrucker is initially very hesitant. He does not want to widen the gap between the circles around Wilhelm Löhe in Neuendettelsau and the supporters of Wichern's Inner Mission, who have their spiritual center in Erlangen, by taking a one-sided approach. Tensions between the two directions have existed since Wichern's trip through Bavaria in 1849.

In the following months, however, he succeeded in convincing the various groups to join forces in the form of a loose conference. The “Society for Inner Mission”, in which the circles around Löhe had formed, assures that they will support the merger without, however, participating in it. In a letter to Johann Hinrich Wichern in February 1866, Wilhelm Löhe made a personal statement about the planned merger of the Inner Mission institutions. “Everything you want and what can happen without establishing an organic connection, which contradicts the expressed basic idea of ​​the two societies for inner mission and female diakonia in the sense of the Lutheran Church, as we have had it in Bavaria for so long, we want to do. We ourselves wish from the bottom of our hearts that a gathering point for all sorts of messages and works of mercy should emerge. ”Löhe clearly expresses his position that the individual diaconal initiatives need a better information policy or an exchange with one another in order to intensify their own effectiveness.

The first meeting took place in October 1866 in Baiersdorf near Erlangen. Buchrucker emphasized in his opening address that this conference should be a loose association. The result is the “Conference for Inner Mission”, the preliminary stage of the later state association for Inner Mission. From now on, the Bavarian representatives of the Inner Mission will meet annually in the form of a walking conference to exchange and discuss various current issues. The example of the Augsburg Diakonissenanstalt shows how important this exchange of information is. In 1873, Buchrucker offered the director to present the Augsburg facility at the Conference for Inner Mission. He was shocked to discover that many participants were unaware of the existence of such an institution in Augsburg.

The establishment of the regional association for Inner Mission in Bavaria

The “Conference for Inner Mission” was replaced in 1886 with the establishment of the State Association for Inner Mission in Nuremberg. The aim is to create a fixed framework in which regular exchange should take place. In the future, the state association is to take on the corresponding coordination tasks for the individual institutions. The founding is not, however, a major new departure for the Inner Mission in Bavaria. Rather, it is the changed societal and social framework conditions that make such an organizational merger necessary. Just one year later, in 1887, 11 associations joined the regional association (Munich, Nuremberg, Kirchsittenbach, Ahornberg, Windsheim and Ingolstadt as local associations and Seibelsdorf, Markteinersheim, Hersbruck, Kreuzwertheim and Pappenheim as district associations). Hiring your own full-time clergyman, however, proves to be difficult for financial reasons. The position is taken over in 1890 by Pastor Ferdinand Reindel, who has worked in Nuremberg since 1888.

The regional association pursued three goals in its early days. The existing diaconal institutions, associations and services are to be coordinated from Nuremberg, and new areas of work are to be developed or promoted. And finally, you want to build your own deaconry.

Reindel was able to implement the latter as early as 1890: a deaconry institute was set up in Nuremberg, which in 1905 moved to Rummelsberg, in the municipality of Feucht. The work of the Landesdiakonenanstalt in Rummelsberg continued to grow in the following years and was an important part of the work of the regional association until 1947. Then the work of the Rummelsberger Anstalten is solved independently and by the regional association.

With the establishment of the State Association for Inner Mission, an association was created for the first time that tries to unite the various diaconal initiatives in Bavaria under one roof. With the exception of the Rummelsberger Diakonenanstalt, the affiliated associations and diaconal organizations remain legally independent institutions. Today the work of the State Association for Inner Mission is continued by the Diakonisches Werk Bayern.

Diakonie in the Weimar Republic: welfare arises

The history of Bavarian diakonia during this period must be viewed in the context of the overarching developments in Germany. The prerequisites and legal foundations that lead to the Weimar welfare state are set at the level of the Reich and implemented accordingly in the following instances.

The course was set for the massive expansion of state-organized welfare services during the First World War . The long war time, the new form of warfare with its material battles and the long positional battles lead to the mobilization of all forces. Everyone must make their contribution to this show of strength, because the burden of war does not seem to be able to be borne without the use of all resources. In order to involve the workers in this process, political and social concessions have to be made by the government. Many demands that would have only been marginally noticed during the imperial era are now being implemented at the instigation of the trade unions, such as the recognition of collective agreements.

In addition, the state acts more and more as a regulatory authority, such as in employment agencies. But municipal welfare is also being comprehensively reformed. In addition, there are various new social groups that need care. When a man is called up for military service, many families get into social and material hardship and are dependent on public support. A special war relief arises. Then there are the war victims with their physical disabilities or the war widows and orphans, people who got into an emergency through no fault of their own . In order to prevent these groups from sliding into traditional poor welfare, they are granted higher welfare benefits. There is also a mental attitude: unlike in the past, people's plight is increasingly being respected.

The new welfare services also lead to an increase in the areas of responsibility of the state, which thus already lays the roots of the future welfare state. The former welfare, which only considered certain sub-areas of emergencies, is experiencing a push of modernization. The Weimar Republic, which emerged from the German Reich after the end of the war and the 1918 revolution, took up these developments and formed the welfare state through the relevant legislation. The Weimar Constitution of August 11, 1919 also stipulates the separation of church and state. The Inner Mission, however, is not included in the church constitution.

The political upheavals of 1918 and 1919 also brought about decisive changes for the Bavarian regional church. Introduced by the fall of the monarchy, the new state constitution in Bavaria resulted in a separation of church and state, which came about legally through the constitution of the Lutheran regional church in 1920. Also in the negotiations between the Bavarian state and the church leadership, the diakonia is assigned to the internal church affairs, so that the concerns of the diakonie are only discussed in overriding points.

The fears that the new state could take over or restrict the work of church-based and independent welfare organizations prove to be unfounded. Rather, the right of all citizens to state welfare in emergencies requires that the state clearly involve the various charities. Since the mid-1920s, the work of the welfare associations, including the diaconal institutions, has received financial support from the state.

With the founding of the German League of Welfare Associations in 1925, consisting of the five large associations Caritas , Inner Mission, German Red Cross , the Association of Free Non-Profit Welfare Institutions in Germany (since 1932 Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband ) and the Central Welfare Office of German Jews, it comes to Establishment of an institution that should represent the interests of the individual associations to the authorities. The Caritas Association and the Inner Mission, represented by the Central Committee, played a decisive role in the creation. The future results of the negotiations between the German League of Welfare Associations and the state authorities therefore also affect all diaconal organizations, be they associations or institutions. These include the “Reich Ordinance on Duty of Care” (1924) and the “Reich Youth Welfare Act” (1922).

During the Weimar Republic, there was an immense expansion of the areas and fields of work in welfare work and thus also a strengthening and expansion of diaconal institutions - also in Bavaria.

The major diaconal institutions, the Neuendettelsau Diakonissenanstalt, the Augsburg Diakonissenanstalt or the Rummelsberg State Diaconal Institution, have been able to expand and intensify their diaconal work since the mid-1920s. Until then, they too will have to contend with the bad economic times and the inflation period and the resulting problems that have blocked or made important investments impossible. It is precisely the large institutions, usually the institutions, that benefit from the Weimar welfare state.

Dark Years: Diakonie in the Third Reich

The world economic crisis in 1929 had catastrophic consequences for the Weimar welfare state. Mass unemployment deprives social policy of the essential foundation - a functioning labor market. Unemployment peaked in 1930. Six million people are out of work. The state can no longer perform its support work appropriately and is more and more criticized. The facilities of the Inner Mission, which are now dependent on state payments, are also affected by this development. In addition, the bankruptcy of the “Devaheim”, the building society of the Inner Mission, has noticeably decreased trust in the services of the Diakonie. Thousands of small investors lost their savings in the so-called Devaheim scandal.

The emergence of the NSDAP around Adolf Hitler , which was able to win more and more votes in the Reichstag elections (1928, 1930, 1932) and became the strongest party in the Reichstag in 1932, is also closely observed in the circles of the Bavarian Diakonie and Lutheran regional church. Hitler met with approval from many leading figures in the church, in the pastors and also in the Inner Mission.

After Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor, the restructuring of the German state began. The Enabling Act passed on March 23, 1933 forms the legal basis for this; the socio-political pluralism is abolished.

In the area of ​​the church, too, Hitler's policy provides for a restructuring. The 28 Protestant territorial churches in Germany are to be merged into one imperial church. Hitler found support for this course from the German Christians , a movement within the various Protestant regional churches that formed in Berlin in spring 1932. In their guidelines they have also set the goal of a uniform regional church. In 1933 the office of Reich Bishop is to be introduced for the Protestant Church. For this position, Hitler designated the Königsberg military pastor Ludwig Müller . In order to maintain independence from the state, the regional churches put forward an opposing candidate in the person of Friedrich Bodelschwingh, who, however, withdrew his candidacy after various differences, so that in September 1933 Ludwig Müller was elected Reich Bishop. Nevertheless it does not succeed in enforcing the conformity of the Protestant Church. In many parishes and regional churches, movements are formed that do not accept the policy of harmonization and from which the Confessing Church later develops.

The Diakonie institutions face the danger of being brought into line by the “ National Socialist People's Welfare ”. The NSV was founded in Berlin in 1932 with the aim of supporting party comrades in need. After taking power in 1933, the leader Erich Hilgenfeldt succeeds in expanding the NSV into a nationwide organization in just a short time. The "German League of Independent Welfare Care" was also brought into line during this period. In January 1934, the NSV presented a draft of an agreement between the two organizations, which in March would lead to the establishment of a Reichsgemeinschaft under the leadership of the NSV.

For the institutions of the Bavarian Diakonie these efforts to harmonize represent a serious threat. There is a risk that fields of work will be handed over to the NSV or expropriations. In order to anticipate these developments, the Inner Mission in Bavaria is seeking rapprochement with the Bavarian regional church. As early as May 1933, Hans Lauerer, Rector of the Neuendettelsau Diakonissenanstalt, formulated a declaration that subordinated the Inner Mission to the regional bishop. The independent diaconal institutions are thus placed under the legal protection of the regional church "almost like a stroke of a hand". On June 28, 1934, the regional church issued regulations for internal mission, which placed this process on legal ground. But since most of the diaconal institutions are independent, those who want to place themselves under the care of the regional church must declare this in writing to the church leadership. The three large institutions, the Neuendettelsau Diakonissenanstalt, the Augsburg Diakonissenanstalt and the Rummelsberger Anstalten do this, with the exception of the Hensoltshöhe Community Deaconess Mother House .

In this way, the diaconal institutions in Bavaria can consolidate and secure their existence, so that the largest sponsors and the regional association continue to exist during the time of National Socialist rule.

The hopes for a cooperation between the Inner Mission and the NSV are not fulfilled. In many areas of work there are massive restrictions, such as the Protestant school system. Massive interventions are also being made in the area of ​​raising children. In the Hitler Youth and in the Association of German Girls , there were movements in competition with the Christian youth associations. Many of the Protestant kindergartens are taken over by the NSV.

New beginning: the time after 1945

The time after the end of the war in 1945 and the end of the National Socialist dictatorship is characterized by several factors. The foundation of the “ Evangelical Aid Organization for Germany ” will shape the further development of diakonia throughout Germany . In addition, there are the efforts of the individual diaconal institutions to reorganize and rebuild their work. New structures must also be found at the state level. In the first post-war period, the diaconal institutions tried to repair the damage caused by the war. A number of buildings were badly damaged or destroyed by the bombing. In addition, there is the damage caused by the misuse. Many of the buildings underwent a change in use during the war and after the war. Schools were used as hospitals. Resettlers from Bessarabia or South Tyrol move into the nursing homes in the area of ​​handicapped assistance, which have become free after the disabled and sick people have been transported to the killing centers. The Hitler Youth's Kinderland dispatching facility has also moved into the premises of the Inner Mission. The return of the buildings to their own acquis is a priority for diaconal institutions.

In addition, there is the great emergency situation in the population. Evacuees and refugees need support and help. The loss of large areas in the former German eastern regions and the associated displacement give rise to further social problem areas. Bavaria alone took in almost two million displaced people in the post-war period. Caring for the evacuees, those returning home, the displaced and the refugees is becoming a hallmark of the work of the Evangelical Relief Organization. Even before the “Aid Organization of the Evangelical Church in Germany” was founded in August 1945, the “Aid Organization of the Inner Mission in Evang.-Luth. Church in Bavaria ”. The relief organization unfolds its effectiveness through the collection in the "sacrifice weeks", which exist to this day, and in the distribution of relief goods that were brought to Germany by foreign aid organizations after the end of the war. Because the churches have a special position. The fact that the churches - with the exception of the German Christian Movement - did not cooperate with the National Socialist government makes them the contact point for the Allies. In addition, the churches are the only organizations that still had an at least halfway functioning infrastructure system in order to initiate a fair distribution of the relief goods, which mostly come from abroad.

Under the first head of Eugen Gerstenmaier , the relief organization developed into a major organization in the years that followed, which stood alongside and in competition with the Inner Mission. This state of affairs was only ended by the merger in 1957. The Evangelical Church in Germany assigns the tasks of the aid organization to the “Central Committee for Inner Mission”. The now merged association starts its work under the new name “Inner Mission and Aid Organization of the Evangelical Church in Germany”. In 1965 the name was changed again: The Diakonisches Werk - Innere Mission and Hilfswerk of the Evangelical Church in Germany, now known for short as the Diakonisches Werk of the EKD.

In Bavaria, the merger of the Aid Organization for Inner Mission in Bavaria and the Inner Mission was determined as early as 1948. The restructuring of the “State Association for Inner Mission” to the “State Association of Inner Mission”, which began in 1947 and will be implemented in the following year, also helps to create the right conditions. With the transfer of the Rummelsberger Anstalten to its own sponsoring association, the legal requirements are created. The other institutions that the regional association has managed itself so far are now also subordinated to the Rummelsberg establishments, which are developing into one of the most important providers of diaconal work.

The state association should now only take on the tasks of a central association and establish the appropriate connections to the state government.

Diakonie in the Federal Republic

The development of diakonia in the second half of the 20th century was shaped by social policy at the federal level. The Federal Social Welfare Act and the Youth Welfare Act in 1961 described the role of the supporters of diaconal institutions and the position of those seeking help. Due to social change, but especially due to growing prosperity, social work experienced a strong expansion until the 1970s. Diakonia also played a part in this. Associated with this was an ever greater differentiation of diaconal offers. The state association of Diakonie in Bavaria, the Diakonisches Werk Bayern, counts over 100 different fields of work in the area of ​​Diakonie - from AIDS counseling to community service. There are advisory services for education, marriage, family and general life issues, day-care centers, day-care centers and youth welfare homes, schools and boarding schools , assistance for the disabled , care for the elderly, psychosocial assistance or the care of foreigners and asylum seekers.

At the same time, the face of diakonia is changing. Fewer and fewer women choose to join a diaconal community; the number of deaconesses has accordingly been falling for many years. New job profiles are emerging in the Diakonie area, and diaconal organizations are committed to helping the next generation with their own training centers. The growing together of Europe, the opening up of Eastern and Central Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union ultimately led to many diaconal organizations getting involved outside of Germany. They act in the tradition of their founders. Wilhelm Löhe sent deaconesses not only to America or France, but also to Eastern Europe.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statutes of the Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria - Regional Association of the Inner Mission eV in the version of October 14, 2014
  2. ^ Statutes of the Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria - Regional Association of the Inner Mission eV in the version of October 14, 2014
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g 200 years in the middle of life. A little history of diakonia in Bavaria. Published by the Diakonisches Werk Bayern, Nuremberg, 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Unknown Giant". History of Diakonie in Bavaria. Ed: House of Bavarian History, 2005.
  5. ^ Diakonisches Werk Bayern :: The history of Diakonie. Retrieved August 15, 2018 .