Ernst Berendt

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Ernst Berendt (born May 1, 1878 in Berlin ; † August 4, 1942 in Dachau ) was a German Christian resistance fighter against National Socialism , Protestant pastor and prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp .

Life

Memorial plaque on the house, Albertinenstrasse 20, in Berlin-Weißensee

Ernst Berendt was the son of the Protestant pastor Ernst Gottlieb Georg Berendt , who headed the "Bethabara Foundation" in Berlin-Weißensee (today the " Stephanus Foundation "). Berendt junior studied his father Protestant theology and became a minister ordained . After Berendt senior's death in 1919, he continued his father's work and took over the management of the foundation. In 1931 he had a home for small children built.

Ernst Berendt was of German nationality and joined the NSDAP at the end of 1932 . But then he refused Hitler salute and participated in the church struggle of the Confessing Church against the penetration of Nazi ideology in the church. Pastor Berendt was nine times at least imprisoned been and has persistently but unsuccessfully trying to protect the foundation from the grip of Nazi state. In his sermons and intercessions he sat down a. a. for Martin Niemöller , who was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

tomb

After his last arrest, his church council moved away from him and forced him to resign from the pastorate. Berendt fought unsuccessfully in petitions to the highest party authorities for his release. He was expelled from the NSDAP on May 21, 1941 and deported to Dachau concentration camp on the same day. Here Werner Sylten was his pastor . In the camp he was known for his compassionate and comforting pastoral care and sacrificedly helped his sick fellow prisoners. But his health deteriorated rapidly, and so he died on August 4, 1942 of exhaustion and heart failure .

Ernst Berendt's daughter Waldtraut lived with her husband Heinz Kaiser in Switzerland from 1960. In front of an international audience she gave lectures on the topic of “Never Forget”. She died in 2010 at the age of 87 in Kreuzlingen .

Ernst Berendt is buried on the Georgen-Parochial-Friedhof III in the family's hereditary funeral in Berlin-Weißensee. His grave is dedicated to the city of Berlin as an honorary grave .

Honor

There is an “Ernst-Berendt-Haus” retirement home in Berlin-Weißensee.

literature

  • Carsten Nicolaisen : Evangelical until death, German until death. Pastor Ernst Berendt jr. (1878-1942) . 2009.
  • Björn Mensing: Pastor and National Socialism . 2., through Edition. Rabenstein, Bayreuth 1999
  • Björn Mensing: Religious places of remembrance in the Dachau concentration camp memorial . German Kunstverlag, Berlin 2010.
  • Adalbert Metzinger : People in Resistance - Central Baden 1933–1943 (=  special publication of the Rastatt district archive . Volume 13 ). regional culture publishing house, Rastatt 2017, ISBN 978-3-89735-978-9 , p. 73-80 .
  • Joachim Bennewitz: Just a change of name? From the history of the Stephanus Foundation Weißensee . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 10, 1999, ISSN  0944-5560 , p. 34-40 ( luise-berlin.de ).

Web links

Commons : Ernst Berendt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Werner Oehme: Martyrs of Protestant Christianity 1933-1945. Twenty-nine life pictures . Berlin 1979, p. 81.
  2. ^ Thurgauer Jahrbuch: Obituary for Waldtraut Kaiser-Behrendt. Retrieved May 4, 2020 .