Eberhard Natho

Eberhard Natho (born June 24, 1932 in Dessau ) is a Protestant theologian and was the church president of the Evangelical Church of Anhalt from 1970 to 1994, based in Dessau.

Live and act

Eberhard Natho was born into a family of pastors in Dessau. His Christian commitment leads to his relegation from high school. Natho graduated from the church college in Potsdam Hermannswerder (KOS) and studied theology at the University of Greifswald from 1954 to 1958 .

After the first theological exam, he completed the vicariate in Roßlau (Elbe) in 1958 . After the second theological exam, he was ordained a pastor in 1960 .

From 1961 to 1971 Eberhard Natho was a parish priest in Güsten and held a mandate in the city council, first for the Kulturbund (KB), then for the GDR CDU .

In 1989 his theological honorary doctorate took place at the University of Halle .

In 1970 Natho became a member of the Presidium of the Evangelical Church in Anhalt and in the same year was elected Church President of this Church in succession to Martin Müller . At the same time he took over the office of parish priest at St. George's Church in Dessau.

For 24 years he held this position of leading clergyman in Anhalt, which in other regional churches corresponds to that of bishop . In 1994, Helge Klassohn succeeded him as President of the Evangelical Church in Anhalt. In 1994 Natho retired.

Other functions

• 1979–1982 Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church of the Union in the GDR
• 1981–1990 Chairman of the Working Group on Christian Churches in the GDR.

literature

• Hagen Findeis, Detlef Pollack (Ed.): Self-preservation and self-loss. Bishops and representatives of the Protestant Church in the GDR about their lives; 17 interviews . Links-Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-86153-202-6 .
• Roger Sitter, Ehrhart Neubert :  Natho, Eberhard . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Eberhard Natho , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 25/1995 from June 12, 1995, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)