Gerlind Schwöbel

Gerlind Schwöbel (born December 24, 1926 in Sterkrade as Gerlind Zitelmann ; † April 12, 2010 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a Protestant theologian and writer. In 1954 she married Pastor Karl Schwöbel (1925–2007) and was dismissed from the vicariate service according to the laws of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) at the time. Only after a change in the law was she ordained a pastor on March 22, 1970 in the Frankfurt Katharinenkirche as one of the first married women in the EKHN . After her retirement in 1990, she concentrated on historical and biographical research, for which she received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2005 and an honorary doctorate from the theology department of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main in 2006 .

Life

Gerlind Zitelmann grew up as one of six children in a Protestant rectory. Her younger brother is the writer and theologian Arnulf Zitelmann . In 1944 she began studying theology at the against the will of their parents Giessen University , which she soon had to interrupt because of "important war activities" within the shots war conscripted  was.

After the end of the war, she initially worked in youth work and as a teacher for English and religion before she was able to continue her studies at the University of Marburg from 1946 . In 1951 she passed her theological state examination as the best of her class and was accepted for the second training phase at the Herborn Theological Seminary . After the second state examination in 1953, she succeeded the late Katharina Staritz as vicar for women's work in Frankfurt am Main . Because she was already engaged , she could not be ordained as a pastor or accepted into the civil service according to the EKHN's service law at the time. Even after she married Pastor Karl Schwöbel, she was not allowed to keep her employee position. In 1954, the church administration told her, “A pastor's wife belongs in her husband's congregation. Since you are both of a delicate constitution, it seems advisable that you, Ms. Schwöbel, use your main strength to help your husband at work! ”And dismiss her from office“ with God's blessing ”.

Gerlind Schwöbel continued to volunteer in women's work and from 1956 worked as a religion teacher in Frankfurt, Bad Nauheim, Bad Salzuflen and again in Frankfurt from 1965. After a change in the law, she was ordained a pastor on March 22, 1970 as one of the first married women in the EKHN, but received no pastor's position. In 1974 she was appointed lecturer for doctrine of faith, biblical studies and church history at the Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik in Frankfurt. It was not until 1983 that she was employed as a pastor in a part-time position, but not taken on as a civil servant.

Gerlind Schwöbel is the mother of two sons, including the theologian Christoph Schwöbel .

Works

After her retirement in 1990 she researched the history of Christian resistance fighters against National Socialism so that their biographies would not be forgotten. In 1991 she published the first biography of Katharina Staritz , in 1993 a biography of Hildegard Schaeder . In 2001 alone the conscience , a collection of biographies of women from Frankfurt appeared, 2002 Only hope kept me with reports from women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp . In 2004 she wrote a commemorative volume for the 200th anniversary of the Frankfurt philanthropist and in 2007, the last work, a biography of the pietist Eleonore von Merlau zu Merlau as a fictional dialogue with Philipp Jakob Spener  and Johann Jakob Schütz .

Honors

In 2002 the Evangelical Regional Association of Frankfurt awarded her the Philipp-Jakob-Spener-Medal . In 2005 she received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon for her biographical research, which “ snatched the courageous but quiet representatives of the Confessing Church from oblivion”. In 2006, the Theology Department of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt awarded her an honorary theological doctorate.

literature

• Stephan Krebs: pioneer of equality. Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, April 20, 2010, accessed on July 3, 2019 . 
• Wolfram Schmidt, obituary for Gerlind Schwöbel , in: sankt Katharinen June / July 2010 , community newspaper of the Evangelical Lutheran Sankt Katharinengemeinde Frankfurt am Main, 46th year, Frankfurt am Main 2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In 1969 celibacy for pastors in the EKHN was abolished. In: EKHN.de. November 15, 2018, accessed August 7, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Frankfurt and Frankfurter , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 27, 2005