Günther Hinnenthal

Günther Hinnenthal (* 21st April 1903 in Cologne-Ehrenfeld ; † 9. May 1945 in Budweis ) was a pastor of the Confessing Church and has during the persecution of the Jews in the time of National Socialism helped at least one to Christianity converted Jews from deportation to preserve. - In the extensive Gestapo files there is often the note: "He is a fanatical supporter of the Confessional Church, in this fight he is in the forefront."

Life

He was initially a member of the " Wandervogel " - the idealism of the youth movement led him to the decision to become a pastor. The vicariate followed the study of theology . During the vicariate in Barmen he represented the German pastor in Amsterdam for several months. The ordination took place in 1930. He was thereafter pastor in Bärweiler in Sobernheim to January 1934th

He married in 1932 and the marriage had five children.

From 1933/34 Günther Hinnenthal was a member of the Nahe Brotherhood of the “Confessing Church”. From January 1934 to December 1937 he was pastor in Meisenheim .

Disciplinary proceedings

A Meisenheim presbyter complained to the consistory in 1934 and 1935 about the reading out of appeals from the Confessing Church and the failure to read out appeals from the consistory and the Reich Bishop. From June to October 1937 there was a leave of absence from service due to disciplinary proceedings on charges of infidelity, which were discontinued in December 1937. Nevertheless, the legal committee of the old Prussian church province of Rhineland punished him "with a transfer" for "lack of loyalty to the consistory".

During the period of leave of absence, during which he was not allowed to stay at home, a complaint was made to the Stapo control center in Stettin because he had “campaigned for the confessional front and held church services whose sermons were anti-state”. The assumption here is that during this time he was in hiding in the illegal preacher's seminary in Finkenwalde near Stettin (headed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

Punishment transfer

The punitive transfer took him to Pfalzfeld / Hunsrück. Here a complaint was made for violating the "Heimtückegesetz". In early 1938 he was appointed by the presbytery of the Ev. Parish Kaldenkirchen / Niederrhein elected pastor of the church. On August 4, 1938, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Hitler with 9 other priests from the brotherhood. In May 1939 and March / April 1940, investigations into denigrating the EK badge followed, and in September / October 1940 investigations into circumventing the post censorship by sending a letter to France.

From 1941 to the beginning of 1942, he helped Pastor Veit, who testified to this after the war, to save a “Jewish Christian” from deportation. Further help for Jews or converted Christians is not documented, but also not ruled out, as he constantly commuted to Venlo in the Netherlands to give religious instruction there and to help the evangelical community. In the "History of the City of Kaldenkirchen" reports to the Gestapo reported that citizens were suspected of having helped "the illegal emigration of Jews to Venlo". From the beginning of 1942 Günther Hinnenthal was no longer allowed to travel to and from Venlo every day.

Military service and death

At the end of 1942 he was to be drafted for military service. Political concerns were raised against his use as a war pastor and he was used as a medic. Letters found in the archives of the Evangelical Church Community in Kaldenkirchen indicate that he was also active as a paramedic in pastoral care. He did not return from the war. He was missing for a long time. After his death became known, a street was named after him in the Catholic town of Kaldenkirchen .

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• Church archive of the EKiR in Düsseldorf, personnel file H 250 Hinnenthal
• Main State Archives HSA Düsseldorf, Gestapo file RW 58 No. 9287 - with more than 100 pages about G. Hinnenthal
• Archive of the Protestant parish Kaldenkirchen