Günther Albin Säuberlich

Günther Albin Säuberlich (* July 20, 1864 in Kleinliehaben , † July 6, 1946 in Leipzig ) was an Evangelical Lutheran missionary in Africa .

Live and act

Günther Albin Säuberlich was the second of five children of the cantor Gustav Traugott Säuberlich and his wife, Franziska Theodore Henriethe, b. Kirst, born in Kleinliehaben on July 20, 1864.

School education

In 1870 he started school with his friend, the farmer's son Berthold Heyder, in the one-class elementary school with 30 to 40 children, in which their father was a teacher, in Kleinliehaben. At Easter 1877 he went to secondary school in Rudolstadt , which he attended until 1880. Then he lived in his parents' apartment until 1883 and supported his father in the village school. During this time he deepened the piano and violin playing in Stadtilm . In 1881 he passed an exam to become a school candidate in Rudolstadt .

Vocational training

In 1883 Günther Säuberlich was appointed by the school authorities in Rudolstadt as an assistant teacher in Weisbach near Leutershausen , following the intercession of the teacher in Großliehaben . In a letter of October 15, 1883, he informed his friend that profound changes were imminent. From Easter 1885 he was in the mission house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Neuendettelsau near Nuremberg . He studied here for three years .

As a missionary in Africa

The aim was to teach German Lutheranism to young men in Africa . He passed the exam and received ordination in Hersbruck and Reichenschwand on August 2, 1888 . Then the trip went to East Africa . On September 9, 1888, he reached the Jumba mission station . Three missionaries trained in Neuendettelsau were active in the region from this time on. They had to learn the languages ​​common in the region in order to be able to communicate. Only then did the work according to the gospel begin , he told his friend in Kleinliehaben. The renunciation of habits from home was necessary in order to work according to the living conditions of the local population. In January 1891 he and the missionary Christoph Niedermeyer prepared for a caravan to the center of the Wakambaland. In February 1891 they founded another missionary station near Ikutha. The way from Jumba to Ikutha took 20 day trips. They had to overcome all possible obstacles of nature in this area. In the midst of the thickest darkness of paganism , the two missionaries built a stone house as a mission building. Still, the Wakamba did not want the word of God . With the medical knowledge they opened up the natives and with the protection exercised against the tribe of the Maasai . It remained tidy until the spring of 1896. He founded a school. In 1893 nine boys between the ages of 6 and 15 came to school. In August 1896, Säuberlich left East Africa and went home on vacation. A young Wakamba youth, chief's son Bario, had gone with us. That was a great experience for the residents of the Deuberegion . On June 8, 1897, Säuberlich married Elisa Mohr from Schwarza near Rudolstadt in the church in Thälendorf . He traveled back with his wife in October 1897.

From 1897 to February 1898 he worked in Mbungu, then until May 1899 in Ikutha. His wife gave birth to their son Ernst Paul on May 29, 1898 in Ikutha. He died on June 29, 1899. On May 16, 1899 the missionaries G. Säuberlich and Fickert went with 200 porters from Ikutha on a journey inland to establish a station in Mulango. It was ready to move into on November 1st. Several buildings and a cistern were built . The problem was the nutrition in the area because of a bad harvest. The population of the area and caravans lived on the food of the missionaries. On March 15, 1900, Fickert fell ill with blackwater fever . They were neatly transferred to Kilimanjaro . Now he was alone with his wife at the outpost. But a young missionary came along. In May 1905 he was on home leave. From December 1906 the Säuberlichs were back in Mulango. It was only after six years that it was vacation again. With the outbreak of the First World War , re-importation into a British colony was no longer possible.

In Germany again

During the World War he did temporary work in Zwötzen , later in a cripple home Alteneichen in Stellingen near Altona . In 1917 he took over the management of the mission publishing house in Leipzig . Until his retirement on July 1, 1934, Säuberlich worked in the secretariat of the Leipzig Mission .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Bauer, Rolf Hörnlein: Ein Kleinliebringer Missionar in East Africa In: History and stories - 900 years Deube Verlag Harfe-Prientmedien, Bad Blankenburg, 2005, pp. 445–464 Without ISBN