Evangelical aid organization

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The Evangelical Relief was after the Second World War, an organization of the Evangelical Church in Germany .

aims

St. Martinus Church in Hamburg-Eppendorf, built in 1949 as an emergency church
Care of refugee children in Urdenbach 1950
Distribution of CARE packages in 1954 together with the Inner Mission

In view of the hardship in post-war Germany, the aim was to encourage every congregation and every congregation member to actively help. For this purpose, main offices and the central office in Stuttgart were established in the regional churches . The relief organization took care of the problems of refugees , the construction of apartments (settlement work), the construction of old people's and apprentice homes and emergency churches.

For emigrants, the central office for evangelical emigration support under its leader Ferdinand Schröder provided assistance.

history

The Evangelical Relief Organization was founded at the end of August 1945 at the Conference of Church leaders in Treysa . The initiator and first director from 1945 to 1951 was Eugen Gerstenmaier , who was also appointed chairman of the Protestant settlement agency. From 1945 to 1948, as a result of the Potsdam Agreement of August 2, 1945, millions of displaced persons and refugees poured into Germany. In view of the material and moral need, helping these refugees was the greatest challenge to the church's post-war aid in the Evangelical Relief Organization. The priority was to set up emergency reception centers in order to be able to offer the displaced persons reasonably tolerable accommodation. Well-known projects were the construction of the Espelkamp refugee settlement on the site of a former ammunition plant and the Stukenbrock social work , which began in the barracks of a former prisoner-of-war camp. From 1945 to 1949 around 55,000 people, 5000 of them full-time, worked for the relief organization. It achieved an important effect as an organization for distributing foreign donations. The relief organization distributed 62 million kilograms of food and clothing. In the British zone of occupation , the relief agency was responsible for 50% of the distribution of the CARE packages , in the American zone for 34%. The aid organization looked after young people with meals for children and schools as well as youth camps and cures: in 1947, 168,500 participants took part in 3,450 youth camps. There was a tracing service to enable families to be reunited. At the end of 1947 his central file contained 10 million personal data.

Between 1946 and 1953, the Evangelical Relief Organization, under the direction of Otto Bartning, launched two series church programs. First, 43 emergency churches were built, followed by other smaller church buildings in three types: community centers , diaspora chapels and church houses .

After the war, the Evangelical Relief Organization also campaigned for internees . These were former National Socialists in higher positions, suspected war criminals and concentration camp personnel . The aid measures also included legal aid for the indictments before the arbitration chambers in the context of denazification . Many former internees then became active in the relief organization themselves. In January 1948, it also issued a memorandum in support of the internees who were supposed to be extradited to the countries of the war opponents as alleged war criminals.

In 1957, the Inner Mission and the Evangelical Relief Organization were merged into one work, the Inner Mission and the Aid Organization, which was merged into the Diakonisches Werk of the EKD .

literature

  • Dietmar Merz: The Evangelical Relief Organization in Württemberg from 1945 to 1950. Epfendorf 2002.
  • Kurt Nowak: History of Christianity in Germany. Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-38991-0 .
  • Gerald Schwalbach: The Evangelical Aid Organization Westphalia (1945–1950) - The hour of the churches and the impulse for aid organizations in the post-war period. In: Udo Krolzik (Ed.): Future of Diakonie - Between Continuity and New Beginning. Bielefeld 1998, p. 181 ff.
  • Martina Skorvan: The Aid Organization of the Evangelical Church and its refugee work in Hesse 1945–1955. Historical Commission for Nassau, 1995, ISBN 3-922244-99-8 .
  • Johannes Michael Wischnath: Church in Action. The Evangelical Relief Organization 1945–1957 and its relationship to the Church and Inner Mission. Goettingen 1986.

Web links

Commons : Evangelisches Hilfswerk  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Gerald Schwalbach, "Der Kirche den Blick widen!", Karl Pawlowski (1898–1964) -diaconal entrepreneur on the borders of the Church and Inner Mission, Bielefeld 2012, p. 323ff.
  2. ^ Immo Wittig: Otto Bartning. Architect of the Himmelfahrtkirche Berlin-Wedding. In: Festschrift “50 Years of the Ascension Church in May 2006”, published by the Evangelical Church Community at Humboldthain. P. 21
  3. ^ Heiner Wember: re-education in the camp. Internment and punishment of National Socialists in the British zone of occupation in Germany. Essen 1991, ISBN 3-88474-152-7 (Düsseldorf writings on the modern history of North Rhine-Westphalia; Volume 30), p. 221f., P. 271.