Erich Schnepel

Erich Adolf Max Wilhelm Schnepel (born March 30, 1893 in Felsberg , † May 21, 1986 in Biedenkopf ) was a German Protestant pastor . He became known as a mission inspector (leading missionary assistant) at the Berlin City Mission from 1919 to 1945 and as a theological author, especially as the author of letters from East Berlin and from Grossalmerode .

Life

Schnepel grew up in Kassel because his father was transferred to the court there as a civil servant, and attended grammar school until he passed his final exams. As a high school graduate he became a devout Christian and decided to study theology . From 1911 he studied first in Tübingen with Adolf Schlatter , then in Halle with Karl Heim , Martin Kähler and Wilhelm Lütgert , where he joined the German Christian Student Association (DCSV) . He was permanently influenced by Wilhelm Philipps at summer youth camps. After his participation in the First World War , the Berlin City Mission deployed him as an inspector and evangelist in east Berlin from 1919 . His ordination took place on February 2, 1919. Like his colleague Hans Dannenbaum , Schnepel joined the Confessing Church under City Mission Director Walter Thieme (* November 18, 1878, † April 27, 1945) . After Thiemes was deposed or forced to resign by the Nazi regime , his deputy, Schnepel, who had proven himself to be an avowed Christian during the fighting with the Gestapo in 1939 , temporarily headed the Berlin city mission as spiritual director .

In 1945 he became an American prisoner of war after he had been drafted again by the Wehrmacht as a former officer in the First World War in early May 1940 . After his release from captivity in the autumn of 1945, Schnepel was able to take up a pastorate in Großalmerode through previous municipal elections after Bishop Dibelius , Berlin, had released him for service as parish priest in the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck . He stayed here until his early retirement at the beginning of February 1956. However, he continued to live and volunteer there until he moved in 1964 to his son, Pastor Theo Schnepel, and his family in what is now the Marburg district of Wehrda .

Erich Schnepel first came into contact with the Parish Prayer Brotherhood (PGB) founded in 1913 in 1920 and, as a voluntary steward of this “child of the awakening ” , organized free time, so-called parish preparation times, in what was then the Mark Brandenburg . At the first PGB meeting after World War II , in 1946, it was decided to make Schnepel secretary. He took over this task with the consent of the Hessian bishop Adolf Wüstemann and praised the pastoral set-up times he organized in Berlin and elsewhere with participants from the former GDR before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 as the most beautiful thing in this activity. At the beginning of the 1950s, Schnepel took care of the construction of a Protestant “home” in Grossalmerode , which became an “ Academy for questions relating to the construction of the community of Jesus Christ ” and a meeting place between West and East . Schnepel and his wife always felt like the "gift recipients", especially when they came together with the pastor couple across the former German-German border. The Berliner Stadtmission received “home rights” through its former deputy chairman Erich Schnepel in his office in Großalmerode, especially in the post-war period, when it was “cut off from all of its friends by the borders of the occupation zones”. The pastor of Großalmerode, Schnepel, was an active volunteer member of the board of the Association for Berlin City Missions until the 1950s.

On the occasion of Erich Schnepel's 75th birthday in 1968, a reception was held in the foyer of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church for the jubilee, at which Bishop Scharf congratulated him and presented him with a book as a gift.

Awards in the First World War and a combatant in the Second

• Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class
• Austrian Military Merit Cross III. class
• Wounded Badge 1918
• Cross of Honor for Front Warriors (EfF)

The Iron Cross 1st class was awarded to the "Leutnant der Reserve, Pfarramtskandidat Erich Schnepel from Kassel" in 1917 and that in Class II in 1915. In the 1970s, Schnepel described his severe injury towards the end of the First World War "as a" zero point of existence "At the gate of death" and combined its preservation with a testimony of faith. In August 1914 Schnepel was voluntarily soldier, in January 1915 promoted to private, in March 1915 to non-commissioned officer and in September 1915 to lieutenant. From 1917 Schnepel was appointed company commander and Seriously wounded at the end of the same year He added to the description of the last day at the front as a wounded man with high blood loss and being transported back by comrades in World War I by describing his gratitude that he was “given his life again”.

Author of war experiences

At the beginning of the Second World War, Schnepel gave his approval to Furche-Verlag for the booklet he had written with the title: My Way to the Bible. College student. Soldier. Christ could be brought out as a " field edition ". In his confession as a Christian in the First World War, published in it, Schnepel did not hide the fact that the war between 1914 and 1918 "collapsed" at the time and that the end of the war led him to "East Berlin", where he brought the message of the Bible to the "workers" living there wanted to. In this 1939 war edition for the soldiers of the Wehrmacht, the publisher also announced the occupation of the author “Pastor and Mission Inspector of the Berlin City Mission” as well as his home address at the time in Berlin-Karlshorst , Frankestrasse 35.

Letters from the east of Berlin

In a multi-colored advertising leaflet for the new publications in 1936, the Furche-Verlag summarized the content of Schnepel's "Letters from the East of Berlin", which reflected his evangelistic activities under the social conditions at the time: "A small combat group, usually comprising about 10 people, bravely breaks into the thick, suffocating atmosphere of East Berlin. One does not only have to fight against stupidity and silent hostility towards Christianity, no, it goes through very serious external dangers. But a breach is made in all the resistance, an alley is opened for the message of Christ. And the triumphal march leads further into the Brandenburg villages. Everywhere people who can be found, and again and again with the ambassadors the awareness that they are under higher guidance. The letters that Erich Schnepel writes to his Freischar from the east of Berlin are modern pastoral letters that clarify the path to be followed in new ways, in which joy and also sadness about failures find their lively echo, in which the order of life the church of Jesus begins to emerge. "

Called up to the Wehrmacht

In 1940 Schnepel received an invitation to be drafted as a lieutenant in the reserve, despite his severe wounding in the previous World War, and this was followed by a call-up to a repeat course for officers in Landsberg an der Warthe from May 26 of the same year. After completing the course, Schnepel had to begin his military service in a replacement battalion of the Wehrmacht in Strausberg . Through the mediation of a captain of the reserve unit, he became adjutant of a battalion commander in Berlin until he became company commander in Belzig , Brandenburg . After the assassination attempt on Hitler , it was decided to transfer all Wehrmacht officers who had served at the same location for more than two years. Schnepel fell under this rule. Schnepel used his home leave in March 1945 in particular to carry out the last confirmation in the east of Berlin in the "Advent Chapel" on Grosse Frankfurter Strasse, which was partially destroyed by bombs.

Captivity and return to the old Hessian homeland

As "visible preservation" Schnepel rated the fact that his unit was able to get into American captivity a month later. Although the battalion was surrounded by Russian tanks six kilometers away on April 22, 1945, its troops were able to cross the Elbe west of the Mecklenburg city of Ludwigslust to be taken prisoner by American soldiers.

During the conquest of Berlin in 1945, Red Army troops began setting up a restricted area in the Berlin district of Karlshorst , which also included Frankestrasse. The affected residents had to leave their apartments and houses within 24 hours. Schnepel's wife Maria left Berlin and went to Kassel via Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains, where her son Theo arrived on July 2, 1945 from captivity in the Neuvandsburg Deaconess Mother House of the German Diaconal Association . On October 4, 1945, Erich Schnepel's imprisonment ended and he found his wife and son in his old Hessian homeland.

After experiences from two world wars, Schnepel took the view: “Anyone who has experienced war cannot be a friend of war. It is bitter for him that he cannot abolish war. "

Fonts (selection)

Erich Schnepel has written 78 books as an author. He left no dogmatic works. The experiences of the world wars and the work at the Berlin City Mission in the east of Berlin led him to a very personal approach to Jesus, around which his lectures and exegetical works revolve. He was influenced by revival preachers and missionaries such as Georg Müller , Hudson Taylor , Dr. Baedecker , Lord Radstock and above all Murray with the book "Jesus himself . He got to know Elias Schrenk and John Mott personally .

A selection of his writings:

• A mission church in the east of Berlin, Berlin 1934
• My way to the Bible , Berlin 1935, Tübingen 1938 and edition for the GDR : Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Berlin (East) 1958
• The path of the congregation of Jesus in the first four centuries , Berlin 1936
• Letters from East Berlin: The Reality of Jesus and His Congregation , Berlin 1936
• Builders of God: To the authenticity of the service for Christ , Berlin 1936
• As a Christian and company commander in World War I: the Christian's experience at the front , Berlin 1938
• Christ in the Roman Empire: The Way of the Church of Jesus in the First 4 Centuries , Berlin 1939
• Letters from East Berlin, Berlin 1939
• Builders of God: An interpretation of 1 Corinthians 3 , Berlin 1939
• Life force and unity of the church of God: An interpretation of 1 Corinthians 1, 4-17 , Berlin 1940
• The unity of the community of Jesus Christ, represented by the question "Church and community": A contribution to the ecumenical question , Seewis im Prättigau , 1948
• Christ - the sole foundation for faith, cult and life: a fundamental reflection on the basis of the Epistle to the Colossians , Stuttgart 1950
• Words of Life [broadcasts; Multi-part work], Stuttgart 1950/1951
• The Revelation of John [multi-part work], Stuttgart 1952, 1955, 1957, 1960
• How God makes world history , Gladbeck (1954)
• Broadcast from the broadcaster Luxemburg [multi-part work], Stuttgart 1956
• The work of Christ in us and through us: 2nd Corinthians , chapters 1-5 , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Berlin (East) 1957
• Jesus Christ , the solution to problems: Romans , Chapter 5 , Stuttgart 1961
• The chance of life: Letter to the Romans, Chapter 6 , Stuttgart 1962
• Jesus in the early Middle Ages , Wuppertal 1963
• A life in the 20th century [multi-part work]: Part 1 1900 - 1930; Wuppertal, 1965; Part 2 1930 - 1965, Wuppertal 1966 and 1976, ISBN 3-417-00575-2
• I discovered life , Stuttgart 1968
• The book with the seven seals. Our future after the revelation of Johannes , Bad Liebenzell 1970
• The center: Pastoral studies on the Epistle to the Colossians , Marburg an der Lahn 1976; ISBN 3-920345-65-7
• My life has content: current sketches from the 20th century , Wuppertal 1977, ISBN 3-417-20255-8
• Charismatic Congregation: Theory or Reality , Wuppertal 1977; ISBN 3-417-00670-8
• Current community: life issues of. Christian community , Marburg an der Lahn 1978, ISBN 3-88224-045-8
• Erich Schnepel tells about his life and speaks about the topic ʺYou your Bibleʺ; The annual team of the mission troop sings Good News ; Großalmerode (1978). DNB 1007844604

Four book titles of Schnepel's publications were discussed in detail in the Theologische Literaturzeitung in 1951: Letters from East Berlin and from Großalmerode. The struggle for the life of the community of Jesus Christ in the present , Christ in the Roman Empire. The way of the church of Jesus in the first four centuries , Christ in the early Middle Ages. The way of the church of Jesus from 400-800 and Christ - the sole foundation for faith, cult and life. A fundamental reflection based on the letter to the Colossians . Herbert Krimm concentrated on Schnepel's experiences in his evangelistic work as a leading employee of the Berlin City Mission , especially in the early 1930s and in the Third Reich . Particular attention was paid to the contemporary historical references of the author in the new and subsequent editions, which he was able to bring in as a “mature pastor”. For example, the reviewer quoted the writer Schnepel with his knowledge, which he had already gained under the Nazi regime : "How can people lead us astray through incorrectly interpreted Bible words if we do not have a clear view of the New Testament lines!" Theologian and deaconry scientist Krimm deepened the quote through his personal experience: "Your own experience is the yardstick for the historical event and helps to a positive or negative evaluation."

Web links

• Church Archive Center Berlin; Personal files (1914–1939): Erich Adolf Max Wilhelm Schnepel

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guide through the Protestant Church and the ecclesiastical love work in Berlin. Edited and edited by the Evang. Association for church purposes, connected with the Berlin main association for internal mission . 24th edition, year 1920, self-published by the Evangelical Association, commission publisher of the Evang. Vereinsbuchhandlung GmbH, Berlin, (1920), p. 160
2. ↑ Erich Schnepel: Letters from the East of Berlin and from Grossalmerode: From the struggle for the life of the community of Jesus Christ in the present. Verlag Junge Gemeinde, Stuttgart, [Multi-part work], vol. 1 1953, vol. 2 1950 (new series)
3. ^ Address book for Kassel 1889; Schnepel, Emil, District Court Assistant, Untereustädtischer Kirchplatz 8 ; later he became a secretary to middle civil servants at the Kassel District Court .
4. ^ Catalogus Professorum Halensis, Wilhelm Lütgert
5. ↑ parish almanac for Berlin and Brandenburg province. Published by the Evangelical Consistory of the Mark Brandenburg. Self-published. Berlin 1920, p. 315: Section VI. Ministers of the outer and inner mission.
6. ↑ K. Keim, O. Reschke, G. Wehner: Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi regime 1933 to 1945 . Vol. 8; 2., erg. U. edit 2012 edition, "tra f o" publishing group , Berlin (2012) pp. 56f. ISBN 978-3-89626-908-9
7. ↑ Joachim Schmitsdorf: Foreword to the new edition: Erich Schnepel: Jesus im Römerreich , Bethanien Verlag, Oerlinghausen 2012, p. 7; ISBN 978-3-935558-41-9
8. ↑ 75 years of the Berlin City Mission . Edited on behalf of the Board of Directors: Max Dietrich , Berlin, 1952, pp. 16 and 59
9. ↑ Erich Schnepel, in: Diener Jesu Christi. Well-known personalities report from their lives. Eds. Kurt Heimbucher / Traugott Thoma, Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Bad Liebenzell, 1984, pp. 131-136; ISBN 3-88002-232-1 .
10. ↑ Erich Schnepel, in: Diener Jesu Christi. Well-known personalities report from their lives. Edited by Kurt Heimbucher / Traugott Thoma, Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Bad Liebenzell, 1984, p. 131
11. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century. Part 2. 1930-1965 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal (1966), p. 98ff.
12. ↑ Theo Schnepel: ... until he comes. A contribution to the mother house diakonia from sermons and speeches by Theo Schnepel on the occasion of his 65th birthday . Ed. Volker Steinhoff, Francke-Buchhandlung GmbH publishing house, Marburg an der Lahn (1985); ISBN 3-88224-424-0
13. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century. Part 2. 1930-1965 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1966, p. 124 ff.
14. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century. Part 2. 1930-1965 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal (1966), p. 136 ff.
15. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century. Part 2. 1930-1965 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal (1966), p. 147.
16. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century. Part 2. 1930-1965 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal (1966), pp. 125f.
17. ↑ 75 years of the Berlin City Mission . Edited by order of the board of directors: Max Dietrich, Berlin, 1952, p. 22
18. ↑ Illustration with descriptive caption in: God loves this city. 100 years of the Berlin City Mission. 1877-1977 . Editor: Berliner Stadtmission. Editing of the anniversary publication: Siegfried Dehmel; P. 80
19. ↑ Hessenland. Hessisches Heimatblatt. Journal for Hessian history, folklore and local studies, literature and art . Founded by F. Zwenger, 31st year. Kassel, 1917, No. 11/12. Printing and publishing by Friedrich Schneel; June double issue 1917, p. 188
20. ↑ Hessenland . Hessisches Heimatblatt. Journal for Hessian history, folklore and local studies, literature and art. Founded by F. Zwenger, 30th year. Kassel, 1916, No. 1. Printed and published by Friedrich Schneel; First January issue 1916
21. ↑ Schnepel, Erich: My life has content , Wuppertal (1977), p. 87; ISBN 3-417-20255-8 . All four awards are listed by Father Erich Schnepel in: Parish manach for the ecclesiastical province of Mark Brandenburg. Published by the Evangelical Consistory of the Mark Brandenburg. As of April 1, 1939 (changes after going to press taken into account if possible) . Verlag Trowitzsch & Sohn Berlin, 1939, p. 440.
22. ↑ Erich Schnepel: As a Christian and company commander in the world war. The Christian's front experience . Im Furche-Verlag, Berlin (1940), p. 3 (opening credits) and P. 16
23. ^ First residential address in the north-east of Berlin, Lebuser Straße 3;
24. ↑ Schnepel, Erich . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1920, Part I, p. 2513. “NO 18, Lebuser Str. 3 III. Floor".
25. ↑ Erich Schnepel: My way to the Bible. College student. Soldier. Christian. Field output. Furche-Verlag, Berlin, 1939, p. 2 and p. 16
26. ↑ Frankestrasse 35 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1939, Part IV, Karlshorst, p. 2214. "Schnepel, E., Pfarrer".
27. ↑ September 1936. The new publications of the Furche-Verlag , printing: Offizin Haag-Drugulin in Leipzig (orange-colored leaflet with four printed pages, including a detachable order form, here p. 2 above). - Schudi Collection 45
28. ↑ Erich Schnepel: A life in the 20th century . Part 2. 1930-1965. R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1966, p. 48f; the ruins of the church was in 1945 with the renaming of the Big Frankfurter Straße by the magistrate of Berlin (East) removed
29. ↑ Erich Schnepel: Under Hitler's dictatorship personal leadership by Jesus . In: Kurt Heimbucher, Traugott Thoma (ed.): Diener Jesu. Personalities report from their lives. Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Liebenzell 1984, ISBN 3-88002-232-1 , pp. 131-136
30. ^ Jörg Morré, Stefan Büttner: Soviet legacies in Berlin and Brandenburg . Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86153-802-8 , p. 16 “Sperrgebiet Karlshorst”;
31. ↑ City map excerpt with the restricted area and the street name Frankestraße (renamed in 1976: Rudolf-Grosse-Straße ). In: Jürgen Daube: On the history of the post in the Berlin district of Karlshorst . ISBN 978-3-9810679-9-6 , p. 19.
32. ↑ Schnepel, Erich: Letters from the East of Berlin and from Großalmerode. The struggle for the life of the community of Jesus Christ in the present . Second volume, new series, Verlag Junge Gemeinde, Stuttgart (1950), pp. 104 and 107ff.
33. ↑ Erich Schnepel: My life has content . Wuppertal 1977, ISBN 3-417-20255-8 , p. 12.
34. ↑ Books and Author Info .: Erich Schnepel with details of three publishers in which books by him have been published. ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
35. ↑ Verlag “Junge Gemeinde”, Stuttgart, New Series, Vol. 2 (1950) 143 pages
36. ^ 4th edition, Verlag "Junge Gemeinde", Stuttgart (1950), 98 pages
37. ^ 2nd edition, Verlag "Junge Gemeinde", Stuttgart (1949), 142 pages
38. ^ Verlag "Junge Gemeinde", Stuttgart (1950), 125 pages
39. ^ So the entry in Kürschner's German Literature Calendar ( KLK ) ; Source: German Biographical Index. 3rd cumulative and extended edition , Munich, 2004, p. 5215, keyword Schnepel, Erich , 1950 registered in KLK vol. II p. 1172; ISBN 3-598-34176-8
40. ^ Theological literary newspaper . Monthly for the entire field of theology and religious studies. Founded by Emil Schürer and Adolf von Harnack . With the assistance of Professor D. Ernst Sommerlath , Leipzig. Edited by Professor D. Kurt Aland , 7th year 1951, No. 4, column 236