Erich Otto Kühn
Erich Otto Kühn (* 14. December 1902 in high Hausen / Neckar ; † 27. May 1979 in Mannheim ) was a German , a Protestant pastor , founder of Neckarauer works of charity and founder of the Johann Sebastian Bach-Gymnasium in Mannheim-Neckarau .
Origin and childhood
As the son of the main teacher Otto Kühn and his wife Maria, geb. Kolb, Erich Otto Kühn was born on December 14, 1902 in Hochhausen am Neckar. His father was the administrator of the main teaching position. A younger sister was born in Karlsruhe, where the father was transferred to the community school. Up to the age of five he attended the seminar preschool at the teacher’s seminar I and switched to the humanistic grammar school in Karlsruhe , where he passed the Abitur in 1921.
Education
He began his studies in Berlin and continued it in Greifswald. He studied at the theological faculty in Heidelberg from 1921 to 1922. There he joined the Academic-Theological Association in Wartburg , of which he also became a senior . He was particularly impressed by the teachers Martin Dibelius , New Testament, and Hans von Schubert , Church History and Old Testament. In the third semester he switched to the University of Greifswald , where he had to deal with orthodox theology. Outstanding professors were Kurt Deißner , New Testament, Gustaf Dalman , head of the later named Institute for Biblical Geography and Antiquity , Eduard von der Goltz , practical theologian.
On October 25, 1930, he married Gertrud Bernhard, who worked in the church welfare service in Heidelberg. This marriage resulted in three sons and two daughters.
time of the nationalsocialism
The fight with the National Socialists at his first parish in Linx near Kehl (1930 to 1934) brought him into conversation with the population because every Sunday the supplement of the “Führer” and the “ Hakenkreuzbanner ” (National Socialist newspaper) brought attacks against him. A member of the Baden Higher Church Council suggested that he be transferred so as not to jeopardize the negotiating climate between church and state. In 1934 he came to the Protestant parish of the Matthäus Church in Mannheim-Neckarau .
In 1939 he was drafted into military service. After the French campaign , before the attack on the Soviet Union, he was employed as a war priest in the 5th Infantry Division and later in the 5th Jäger Division .
In 1945 he returned to Mannheim-Neckarau after being captured in England. After the end of the war, he lost an eleven-year-old son to an explosive device in Heidelberg .
Mannheim-Neckarau time
After his return to Mannheim from the war, Kühn organized homecoming services and tried to find and release prisoners of war until 1954.
In order to lead the Neckarau community out of its partisan quarrels, Erich Kühn began to set up “Houses of Mercy”. Kindergartens, homes for people with disabilities, an old people's home and nursing school as well as the musical Johann Sebastian Bach grammar school with an attached boarding school were created under the name " Neckarauer Liebeswerke " and later under the umbrella "Association for Community Diaconia and Rehabilitation" .
For almost 40 years he was in charge of the parish of the Matthäus-Kirche Mannheim-Neckarau, for 14 years he was president of the " German East Asia Mission " from 1956 to 1970 alongside his pastoral office.
In the 1960s, founded Kühn as chairman of Akdemisch Theological connection Wartburg the dormitory for students of theology "Wartburg house" in the Lower Neckarstr. 21 in Heidelberg, which still exists today as a student residence. For his services he was elected honorary chairman of the Academic-Theological Association Wartburg .
In 1973 Erich Kühn retired and died on May 27, 1979 in Mannheim.
literature
- Der Brockhaus, Mannheim: 400 years of the city of squares - the lexicon . Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-7653-0181-7 , pp. 173-175.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Personal curriculum vitae of Erich Otto Kühn from 1976 (owned by his daughter, Mrs. Gertraud Neitzel, née Kühn).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kühn, Erich Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German, Protestant pastor, founder of the Neckarauer Liebeswerke and school founder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 14, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hochhausen |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 27, 1979 |
| Place of death | Mannheim |