Friedrich Peter (Bishop)

Friedrich Franz Peter (born October 4, 1892 in Merseburg , † April 17, 1960 in Gronau ) was a German theologian , Protestant pastor and bishop . He was a member of the German Christians .

Live and act

Peter was the son of an accountant and studied Protestant theology in Greifswald and Halle after attending the public school and the Royal Cathedral High School in Merseburg . As a volunteer during World War I , he was decorated several times. As a 28-year-old he supported the Kapp Putsch as a platoon leader of the right-wing Freikorps "Maerker" .

Peter was finally appointed vicar in Eckartsberga and ordained pastor in 1921 . After a time as assistant preacher in the Pfeiffer'schen Anstalten in Magdeburg-Cracau , he became pastor in Jessen (Elster) and Arnsdorf , where he also kept in touch with patriotic-ethnic circles. In 1926 he became pastor at the Segenskirche in Berlin . In 1927 he became the Federal Pastor of the Eastern Federation in the Evangelical Young Men Work . During this time he was already working for the goals of the NSDAP , which he joined in 1933. The "Führerlexikon" noted approvingly "since 1929 an open commitment to the Führer".

In 1932 Peter helped found the church movement of German Christians. In August 1933 he became senior consistorial advisor in the Old Prussian Evangelical Church Council in Berlin and from October of that year until 1936 provincial bishop of the church province of Saxony . On September 13, 1933, at the 9th German Diakonentag, he demanded: "Diakonia, like the SA is the soldiery of the Third Reich, must be the soldiery of the Church."

There was strong opposition to Peter's administration as bishop, especially from the Confessing Church ; since the end of 1934 he was increasingly isolated. This development and targeted disempowerment led to his recall as bishop and transfer to the Berlin Cathedral on July 1, 1936 . Because of the resistance of the cathedral council (the parish council of the cathedral parish), he did not perform church services or official acts, but received his salary until he was drafted into the armed forces and traveled through the country with lectures. In 1939 he declared his collaboration with the Institute for Research and Elimination of the Jewish Influence on German Church Life . Peter took part in the war as a major and was taken prisoner.

Although Peter was released from the pastor's office in 1948, he retained his spiritual rights. He received employment contracts in the Evangelical Church of Westphalia , first in Oeding and since 1953 in Gronau (Westphalia).

Fonts

• Beyond error and misfortune. Weekend contemplations . East German Youth Association, Berlin 1928.
• In holy allegiance. The history of the Ostbund Ev. Young men's clubs 1906/1931 . East German Youth Association, Berlin 1931.
• When the dice fall! A book of gospel and politics . East German Youth Association, Berlin 1931.
• Family and people in the light of God's word. 18 theses on the synchronization of theological thinking . In: Men in the making. Monthly sheet for Protestant youth leadership 39 (1933), pp. 41–47.
• Sermon by Bishop Friedrich Peter on his introduction to the office of bishop of the province of Saxony in Magdeburg Cathedral on February 4, 1934 . Evangelical-Social Press Association for the Province of Saxony 1934.
• The cathedral of the Germans. Sermon in the celebration of God on July 3, 1940 in the German Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin . Berlin 1940.

literature

• The German Leader Lexicon 1934/35 . 1934.
• Martin Onnasch : About ecclesiastical power and spiritual authority. A contribution to the history of the church struggle in the church province of Saxony 1932-1945 . Dissertation, Halle 1979, also Lang, Frankfurt a. M. u. a., 2010.

Web links

• Literature by and about Friedrich Peter in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich ; Frankfurt / Main 2003, p. 454.
2. ↑ Hans Prolingheuer : We went astray , Cologne: 1987.