Erhard Doebler

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Erhard Doebler (* 4th August July / 16 August  1882 greg. In Riga , Livonia Gouvernement , Russian Empire ; † May 22, 1919 in Riga, now Latvia ), with full name Erhard Adolf Doebler , Latvian Erhards Deblers , was a German-Baltic clergyman and educator. He is considered a Protestant martyr and is recorded on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

The dates in this article are based on the Julian calendar for the period up to 1918 unless otherwise noted.

Life

Youth and education

Erhard Doebler lost his parents, who were Protestant Reformed, at an early age. His youth were correspondingly difficult; nevertheless he was said to have a sunny disposition. During his school days he converted to the Lutheran faith of his own accord. He was so gifted that he was able to support himself by giving private lessons during his time at the Riga City High School. He passed his Abitur in July 1902.

Then he studied from 1902 to 1908 at the University of Tartu theology . He was not averse to the usual pleasures of his student days, but he did his studies conscientiously. After that, for financial reasons, he was initially a German teacher in the Caucasus . To do this, he passed his senior teacher exam.

In 1909 he followed a request from the Lutheran preacher in Rostov to hold church services as vicar in Novocherkassk . The Lutherans there were visited only a few times a year by pastors from Taganrog and Rostov and were thus in a situation similar to that of many Protestant Christians in the diaspora in the interior of Russia.

From 1910 he was a German senior teacher at the Marien Institute in Riga, and he also taught religion. He was considered educationally talented and was popular with the students; but he wanted to become parish priest.

Pastor in Riga

Erhard Doebler was ordained on February 5, 1912.

In November 1913 he was appointed rector of the Marien-Diakonissenanstalt, to which he also served as pastor.

In 1915, despite his young age, he was elected senior pastor at the Jakobikirche . He found the task a challenge. The words come down from his inaugural sermon:

"What I want to announce to you today and as long as it is granted to me - it is always the one and always the one - Jesus Christ, - from His fullness alone we can become grace for grace, we can accept blessings for blessings ... so that we may grow up in Him and through Him, to the height of the filiation of God to which we are all called. "

The sentence can be seen as Doebler's motto in life. The sermon was particularly important to him, he also made intensive efforts to organize the children's worship service, and he also expanded the welfare of the poor. He tried to win as many people as possible for church work. With every official act he tried to inspire people for God.

He confirmed Marion von Klot and arranged for the St. Jakobi congregation in Riga to set the poem "I don't know the way either, you know it", written by Hedwig von Redern in 1901 , to a melody by the English composer John Bacchus Dykes from 1868 for which Marion von Klot became known as a singer.

Exile and return

Later in World War I , on February 13th, July / February 26,  1916 greg. , Erhard Doebler was expelled from the military to the interior of Russia for the duration of the state of war. Doebler chose Charkow as his whereabouts . In the Governor's opinion, however, he was too close to the front and was therefore sent to Saratov , where there were many exiles who were classified as less dangerous. The others came to Siberia. It was only in Saratov that he was informed of the reason for his banishment at his request: an “indomitable German attitude”. At the place of exile, Doebler helped the local pastor as a preacher for the other exiles and now found the time to write a devotional book. It was published under the title "Rest a little". Here, too, he tried to keep in touch with his home church.

After the February Revolution in 1917 he was allowed to return to the Baltic States, but not to Riga. So he moved to Dorpat . On September 3, 1917, Riga was occupied by the German army. Doebler tried by all means to get together with his wife through the front lines to his Riga community. He finally achieved this by going from the Estonia Governorate across the ice-covered Sound to Ösel . From there he took a small boat to the Courland Governorate and from there traveled to Riga, where he again served his community, with which he was able to develop an ever closer relationship.

At the end of the war, the German Baltic Federation was constituted with the aim of maintaining the state order and representing the interests of the Baltic Germans in Courland, Livonia and Estonia. Doebler was a member of the founding board.

The German withdrawal was a catastrophe for him; in the Latvian War of Independence that followed, the Bolsheviks approached , which caused many to flee. That was out of the question for Doebler. He wanted, as he put it, to be like the good shepherd who wouldn't flee when the wolf came either. It was clear to him that he would be arrested, since he had been politically active during the German occupation and had taken a clear position against the Bolsheviks in his sermons.

At the time of the Bolsheviks

After the Bolsheviks occupied Riga, Erhard Doebler was able to serve his community for two more months. He tried to make the best possible use of the time, especially since his community was ravaged by hunger, epidemics, resettlements, house searches, arrests, and executions. During the difficult times the parishioners fled into their faith; Doebler therefore even expressed gratitude to the Bolsheviks, because they had driven people back to God. Every day at dusk he held morning prayers in the Jakobikirche to give the congregation the desired source of strength. On Sundays, the seats in the church were completely occupied. The fourth Sunday after Epiphany was outstanding, on which Doebler preached on the text “Hallowed be your name” after the building had been used by the Bolsheviks for a meeting. In his sermon he spoke out against them

“Cool and wise reflection that commands silence. Witnesses, we must confess and not only protest against all desecration of the name, but also ensure that His name is sanctified through us. "

Doebler delivered his last sermon on March 2, 1919. He spoke about carrying the cross:

“Once the cross has revealed to us the whole wonderful mystery of the glory of Jesus, then Jesus reveals the mystery of the cross to us by giving us the instruction >> take up your cross and follow me << - but we should not carry it dragging along, complaining about the inevitable. The word: >> you have to carry it << must become >> I want to carry it << for everyone, because salvation is in the cross; if that is the ultimate meaning of every cross, what unmistakable blessings can be found in the cross of our day. "

Arrest and pre-trial detention

On March 4, Erhard Doebler's expected arrest took place after the pastorate had been searched for several hours. When he was arrested, he called out to his wife, Alma Doebler:

“Greet the congregation and tell them that I did not talk to them about carrying the cross for nothing; I now want to wear it manfully myself. "

He was in custody for the first two weeks on Elisabethstrasse. He could only drink water there; every day he received only a thin slice of bread. He developed a starvation stomach . He had to sleep on the floor, crowded with other prisoners. There were no interrogations, but there were daily death threats. He was not allowed to keep his New Testament; He was forbidden to worship, so he kept them secretly at night. He entertained the other prisoners with lectures and board games, and he was also active as a pastor.

In the central prison

On March 20, Erhard Doebler was locked in an unheated and wet cellar outside the city in the Riga Central Prison. Then he was put into a large, airy cell where he met Pastors Alfred Geist , Hermann Bergengruen , Theodor Hoffmann and August Eckhardt . All the hostages of the Bolsheviks were imprisoned here. Doebler alternately held devotions for his fellow prisoners. Both of them studied the psalms together in the original Hebrew. The other prisoners appreciated Doebler's cheerful manner and his strong trust in God. His friendliness even aroused the sympathy of some guards and turnouts. Therefore he was able to enter into an extensive correspondence with his wife; when he was brought to work he could sometimes speak to her.

So he wrote on March 25th:

“I feel strong mentally. Of course, hours of depression are not missing, but they are overcome. What a wonderful, sustaining power is faith! "

And on April 18th:

“I can see this time as nothing other than God's judgment. Will it achieve what it wants or does it have to be pushed even harder? God grant that he can soon say: >> It is enough! << "

Doebler succeeded in comforting some of his fellow prisoners. The imprisonment deepened his faith. Psalm 126 was his favorite psalm . He was convinced that he would belong to the "dreamers" named there. From the next cell in which the women were housed, he and the other prisoners, Marion von Klot, heard the above-mentioned song "I don't know the way either, you know it" in the evening. The prisoners expected an amnesty on May 1st, but this did not materialize. They were torn between hope and fatefulness.

On May 10th, Doebler wrote that morning and evening services were being held daily in all cells.

On May 18, he wrote:

"The main thing remains that we are green and blooming and that we can bring in ripe sheaves with a thankful heart."

Further excerpts from Doebler's captivity letters can be read in Oskar Schabert's Baltic Martyrs Book (link to the online version under “Literature”).

execution

On May 22nd, the prison was about to be stormed by a raid troop of the Baltic State Armed Forces , about which the prisoners knew nothing. Shortly before the Bolsheviks withdrew from Riga, the commissars entered the cell heavily armed and forbade any movement or word. Then some nobles were brought out. The iron door was closed again. After a moment of affected silence, August Eckhardt prayed aloud for those who had been removed. Before the end of the prayer the door was opened again. Now the pastors had to step out. Doebler and 32 fellow prisoners (see the list below) were led in an orderly manner through the long corridors under heavy guard to the prison yard. Survivors reported that the death row inmates spoke farewell and kissed each other. Erhard Doebler asked the head clerk:

“Shoot me, you are an old soldier and will hit well. Greet my wife, she shouldn't cry but pray. "

Soldiers of the Red Army, who formed the guards, were posted in the courtyard and now shot all those who were deported.

Immediately afterwards the soldiers and commissioners fled. A little later, an armored car from the Landeswehr made its way to the prison, and the prisoners' relatives followed him into the courtyard. They were shocked by the sight they saw.

One of the prison guards who was present at the execution later expressed his appreciation of the bravery with which, in his opinion, Doebler had gone to his death. Doebler's letters were published by his wife in 1925. His last sermons appeared under the title “God our strength”.

Works

  • God our strength: Sermons from the time of the Bolshevik rule until his arrest , C. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1920
  • Letters from the Bolshevik prison (Riga 1919) , C. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1925
  • Rest a little

Honors

For Erhard Doebler, the Riga Jakobigemeinde donated a plaque of honor opposite the pulpit of the Jakobikirche. After the building was handed over to the Roman Catholic Church in a referendum in 1923, the plaque was moved to the cemetery chapel.

Doebler is mentioned on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Notes. in the Rigaschen city sheets , No. 27, July 4th 1902 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  2. ^ At the Stadtgymnasium in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 125, July 6, 1902 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  3. ↑ Novocherkassk. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 285, December 9, 1909 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  4. ↑ Novocherkassk. Ecclesiastical. in the Düna newspaper , No. 286, December 10, 1909 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  5. ↑ On the Rector of the Marien-Diakonissenanstalt in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 267, November 19, 1913 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  6. ↑ "I don't know the way either": Song of the Month February 2013 of Ev. Christ Church in Hangelar
  7. ^ Alfred von Hedenström: Riga War Chronicle 1914-1917. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 249, October 26, 1918 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  8. ↑ Leading article To all Germans in the Baltic States in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 258, November 7, 1918 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  9. ↑ Pastor Erhard Doebler † in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 3, May 27, 1919 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
  10. ↑ Viktor Grüner: The St. Jakobi Church in Riga in the Baltic Monthly , January 1, 1928 ( Doebler | issueType: P )
personal data
SURNAME Doebler, Erhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Doebler, Erhard Adolf; Deblers, Erhards
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Evangelical Lutheran pastor, martyr in Latvia
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1919
Place of death Riga