Evangelical Church Alstaden
The Evangelical Church Alstaden is a hall church from the era of historicism in the village of Alstaden an der Ruhr , today a district of the Ruhr area town of Oberhausen . It was built from 1902 to 1905 with a mixture of neo-Gothic and neo- renaissance elements and was initially the church of the Evangelical parish of Alstaden. Since July 1, 2007, the Alstaden church has been one of three parish churches of the new Evangelical Emmaus parish in Oberhausen, which also includes the Lirich Paulus parish and the Buschhausen Luther parish .
location
The church is located in the green, surrounded by other buildings of the community, at the intersection of Alstadens main street, Bebelstraße, with the Rehmer, right in the center of the village. Her address is Bebelstraße 230.
History of the parish
Alstaden was one of the last areas in the Ruhr area to be Christianized . For a long time there were many ecclesiastical properties in the village, but never had its own church because it did not belong to the surrounding monasteries ( Essen Abbey , Werden Abbey ). The closest churches were the Petrikirche in Mülheim and, for the residents of Heiderhöfen, those in Meiderich. Around 1591, the Reformation prevailed in the Broich rule , to which Alstaden also belonged. Since then, Alstaden has been predominantly Protestant.
The Protestant school on Kewerstraße, built in 1841, was the first local school whose first teacher was Georg Kellermann. Bible studies and church services were also held here by Mülheim pastors. With the population growth in the western Ruhr area caused by industrialization, the parish of Oberhausen I (today the Christ parish ) was founded in 1858 . A part of the Alstaden now belonged to this new community, while the rest stayed with Mülheim. In 1887 the parish of Styrum was established, to which the Alstaden Protestants belonged three years later in 1784. 1253 Protestants belonged to the parish of Oberhausen.
Beginnings
Initially, the Evangelical Club House built by the “Evangelical Men and Youth Association” on Flügelstrasse (today CVJM Alstaden an der Lahnstrasse) formed the center of community life, but shortly after it was established, the Alstaden people asked for their own pastor's office to be set up. In 1891 a church building association and in 1899 the evangelical men's association were founded. From the spring of 1901, the Alstadener organized a fortnightly service in the hall of the Wolsbeck restaurant under the direction of the main teacher König.
On December 1, 1901, Alstaden received its own parish and the right to set up its own pastoral office in accordance with a decree of the Royal Consistory of the Rhine Province. On February 26, 1902, Friedrich Fohrmann was elected the first pastor in Alstaden, who held this office until 1910. In addition to sermons and casuals, his tasks included teaching at the Protestant elementary school on Kewerstraße.
In December 1902 the presbytery decided to build a church and commissioned the Düsseldorf architect Moritz Korn , according to whose design the church was built between 1904 and 1905 and consecrated on June 1st. The construction costs, including the property, amounted to around 118,000 marks.
time of the nationalsocialism
During the period of National Socialism was in the presbytery election 1933 Alstaden only the list of German Christians , the supporters of Nazism to choose from, therefore put all presbytery members. The new church master was Hugo Döll, the local group leader of the NSDAP . Pastor Schuster, however, was on the side of the Confessing Church . After a sermon directed against the German Christians by Pastor Schusters in November 1933, Kirchmeister Döll read out a declaration with which he announced Schuster “relentless opposition”. Thereupon the district synodal committee tried to dismiss Döll for "gross breach of duty", but failed because of the resistance of the Evangelical Consistory . In February 1934 four presbyters sided with the Confessing Church. The remaining German Christians, who still made up the majority in the presbytery, decided that from now on a pastor from the German Christians should preach on the first Sunday of the month. The presbytery arranged for the assistant preacher Friedrich Schmitz, who was also a German Christian, to be assigned to Alstaden.
Finally, on the Sunday of the Dead in 1934, the tension between the two parties escalated: Schuster was prevented from entering the church by Döll, while Pastor Schmitz tried to start the service inside the church. After a short time the Confessing Congregation unanimously left the church and held a short service on the forecourt; they agreed to meet for the main service in the evening, but this never took place due to the lack of police protection. The consistory then recalled Pastor Schmitz from Alstaden; however, Döll was encouraged to remain church master and to remain in his position, even after the presbytery was dissolved. In the short term, the community of Alstaden threatened to leave the Rhenish regional church before Döll gave in and gave up his office as church master. In 1936 Pastor Schuster retired.
The conflict between German Christians and the Confessing Church continued for the next few years. In addition to the parish church committee set up by the consistory, which from then on took control of Alstaden according to the will of the German Christians, there was an “illegal” presbytery that led the Confessing Parish of Alstaden as a “parish within the parish” and appointed its own pastor to Alstaden.
Pastor Richard Sauerbier came to the church in 1936 and succeeded Pastor Schusters as the leader of the Confessing Congregation. Both groups, the Confessing Congregation (under Sauerbier and the presbytery) and German Christians (under Pastor Schmitz and the Congregational Church Committee) held services, confirmation classes and events. Although the parish church committee was nominally the only legitimate body in Alstaden, the presbytery was able to prevent Friedrich Schmitz from being appointed pastor. In 1939 the Confessing Church sent Pastor Pfotenhauer to Alstaden as an assistant preacher, but he was drafted into military service in May 1940 . Pastor Schmitz was also called to serve at the front a month later. Thereupon the consistory tried in July 1940 past the presbytery to appoint a pastor in Alstaden. Pastor Kneist was a German Christian and did not invite the Confessing Congregation to his trial sermon: only 17 visitors turned up. The presbytery told him that he was not wanted in Alstaden. After a few more attempts at preaching, Kneist left resigned in January 1941. The consistory saw the last chance to at least ensure order in the community of Alstaden, the legalization of Pastor Sauerbier. In April 1942, Richard Sauerbier was therefore officially appointed pastor of Alstaden.
During the Ruhrkessel on April 1, 1945, Sauerbier was seriously injured by an artillery shell and died eight days later in the Concordia tunnel. On April 11th, with great sympathy from the community, he was buried in Alstaden cemetery, just two hours before the Americans liberated Alstaden .
Younger story
Large parts of the church were destroyed in the Second World War. In May and June 1945 the rubble was cleared from the building and the church was given a roof again. In 1946 the municipality rented buildings from the Alstaden colliery, in which the Rolandshof kindergarten was set up. New choir windows were installed in 1950. A year later the Alstaden Evangelical Youth Home was inaugurated, and in 1956 the new parish hall was completed. In 1961, at the urging of the regional church, the new rectory east was built.
In 1967 the Alstaden church was renovated into a sermon church as part of an interior renovation , and the altar has stood on the long side ever since. A year later, the west parsonage was rebuilt , also at the insistence of the regional church. 1974 was created alongside the existing parishes West and East with the introduction of the pastor Purba the district center . The Rolandshof kindergarten was given up in 1976 and the community built a new building on Stubbenbaum, which was given the name Karibu Sana ( Swahili for warm welcome ) due to the partnership with the community of Mbwashi in Tanzania .
In 2001 Pastor Schrooten left the parish and his position was no longer filled. Therefore, the district center was dissolved and its area was reassigned to the districts West and East . On July 1, 2007, the Ev. Parish Alstaden with the Paulus parish in Lirich and the Ev. Parish of Buschhausen to Ev. Emmaus parish of Oberhausen together. The Alstaden area has about 5000 members and is divided into two parishes, each with a pastor. However, the north of Alstaden from Alstadener Strasse already belongs to the Lirich municipality.
architecture
The Evangelical Church in Alstaden was built as a hall church by the Düsseldorf architect Hermann vom Endt . Pilasters divide the long sides, the triplet windows of which are divided into two zones. A gable roof bent in the south covers the nave, which has a semicircular east end with a conical roof. To the south of the main nave of the hall church there is a "side aisle" that can be divided off as a side hall. Around 1900 it was not uncommon to integrate the confirmation hall into the church in order to save the costs of building an additional parish hall.
The four-story, squat-looking tower with stone triangular gables, which is closed by a rhombus helmet, is unusual. In its position on the south-east corner of the church, it is barely visible from the street. The reason for this appearance lies in the history of the church. In 1905, a lack of funds prevented the complete implementation of the Endts project: Originally, another, much higher tower was planned on the strikingly unadorned west wall of the church facing the main street Bebelstrasse. Instead, a picturesque half-timbered porch with several gables for the portal, a staircase to the gallery and the organ's bellows were temporarily built.
In 1950 Egbert Lammers created new glass pictures to replace the old choir windows destroyed in the war.
For a long time, the interior design of the church was problematic. The choir was not visible from the front benches in the aisle or on the gallery. It was decided in 1967 to turn the inside. According to a design by the architect Heinrich Otto Vogel (Trier), the altar was now placed on the north wall, the benches were turned and the organ was moved into the apse . The space under the gallery was separated and converted into a weekday chapel. The half-timbered porch on the west side was demolished.
Furthermore, the interior was given a rustic clinkering with high round arched panels and high -quality modern principles . The choir windows by Egbert Lammers were now placed high up in the west wall, the old choir windows were bricked up instead. Since then, the entrance to the church has been on the south side.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Evangelical Emmaus-Kirchengemeinde Oberhausen: The history of the parish area Alstaden 1933-1945. Retrieved April 2, 2015 .
- ↑ Evangelical Emmaus-Kirchengemeinde Oberhausen: The history of the parish area Alstaden 1945-1960. Retrieved May 10, 2015 .
- ^ A b Evangelical Emmaus parish Oberhausen: The history of the parish area Alstaden 1960-1980. Retrieved May 10, 2015 .
- ^ Evangelical Emmaus parish in Oberhausen: The Alstaden kindergarten "Karibu Sana". (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 5, 2015 ; accessed on May 10, 2015 . 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.
- ↑ Evangelical Emmaus-Kirchengemeinde Oberhausen: The history of the parish area Alstaden 1980-2001. Retrieved May 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Evangelical Emmaus parish in Oberhausen: The Alstaden parish. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; Retrieved April 2, 2015 . 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.
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 32 " N , 6 ° 49 ′ 59.1" E