Gertrud Schäfer (theologian)

Pastor Gertrud Schäfer, Jena

Gertrud Schäfer (* July 24, 1897 in Roda ; † June 26, 1987 in Jena ) was one of the first Protestant pastors in Thuringia. Women were ordained in the Thuringian Evangelical Church from 1928 onwards, but initially only for the service of special pastoral care. Gertrud Schäfer belonged to the first year of ordination. She initially worked in Jena as a hospital and prison chaplain and as a religion teacher.

Parents, school, studies. Social and Christian character

Gertrud Schäfer was born on July 24, 1897, the second of five children in Stadtroda (then: Roda). Her childhood was largely shaped by the work of her father, the medical director of what was then the “state insane asylum” in Stadtroda, and by the rectory household of her grandparents in the same place. Her whole family was closely related to the patients. From 1912 Gertrud Schäfer attended the municipal lyceum (today the integrated comprehensive school "Grete Unrein" ) and after graduating from high school in 1917, she worked as a lens inspector in the Jena Zeiss factory. They keep friendly contacts with individual colleagues and their families until the end of their lives.

After half a compulsory year of work, she began to study philology, religion, German and history at the Jena University in 1917 , was very interested in the theory of relativity and attended natural science lectures by Professors Julius Schaxel and Felix Auerbach . The meetings of the “ International Women's League for Peace and Freedom ” in the Auerbach house, which she often attended, are important to her . In 1918 she continued her studies in Berlin and wrote a. a. a seminar paper on "Christianity and Communism" with Professor Paul Tillich . Impressed by the life and teaching of the theologian, she switched to the theological faculty. She became a member of the "Social Working Group East Berlin" founded by Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze and held Bible studies and women's evenings in the working-class neighborhoods of Berlin.

In 1919 Gertrud Schäfer returned to Jena University and supported a. a. the formation of an “academic-social working group” from which the Evangelical Women's Work in Thuringia later emerged. She got to know the Blumhardt parish family , whose holistic healing of the sick was to shape her later pastoral work. In Jena she was also motivated by the theologian Friedrich Gogarten . Through him she got to know the Swiss theologian Karl Barth - the father of the Barmer Declaration , which was decisive for her later path.

One of the first theologians

As the only woman at the theological faculty, Gertrud Schäfer passed her state examination in 1921, although the university professors advised her to "rather become a deaconess". It was possible to convince the Jena pastors "of the necessity of a female theological worker", and Gertrud Schäfer became a clinic pastor at the dermatology clinic. She held women's evenings and Bible studies, gave religion and confirmation classes in the Jenaplan School founded by Peter Petersen and in the curative educational institutions of Johannes Trüper and later also in the Jena Children's Clinic headed by Jussuf Ibrahim . In addition, through the “Social Working Group” around Adolf Reichwein, she is active in church prison work and in caring for the released. On December 16, 1928, she was ordained together with two others as one of the first theologians in Thuringia. In the Thuringian Evangelical Church, women were also ordained from 1928, but initially only for the service of special pastoral care.

Working in resistance. Confessing Church

A difficult time began for Gertrud Schäfer with the beginning of National Socialist rule: She was the only one in the Jena theologian who belonged to the Confessing Church (BK). Many Jews belonged to her large circle of friends and acquaintances. The Evangelical Girls Association and Evangelical Women's Work in Thuringia, which were related to the BK, were banned. In her small apartment on Ebertstrasse in Jena, people came together who were connected to Martin Niemöller , whom Gertrud Schäfer knew from her time in Berlin, or who belonged to the BK. One area of ​​work after the other was withdrawn from her and hospital pastoral care was prohibited. In 1938 she was the only one from the Jena pastors who refused to take the "oath of loyalty to the Führer and Reich". She obeyed only one thing: Jesus Christ. So she left the Ev. Regional Church of Thuringia and went to Erfurt as a vicar , which belonged to the Church of the Old Prussian Union. There, too, she was actively connected to members of the BK and cultivated intensive ecumenical relationships. At first she was active in evangelical women's work. During the Second World War, when many pastors were drafted, they were entrusted with the supply of six villages around Erfurt. Nevertheless, she went to the Jena Children's Clinic for confirmation and religion classes every week. Ibrahim did not tolerate any “ German-Christian ” influence in his clinic. Gertrud Schäfer was able to stay connected to Jena.

Work for evangelical women's work and pastoral work

After the war, Gertrud Schäfer worked in Erfurt in rebuilding women's aid and in pastoral care. But she was soon called: both to Hesse to rebuild prisoner care and to Jena. She returned to Jena in 1946 for family reasons and became a hospital chaplain. She held women's evenings and confirmation hours in the parishes. She was able to look after prisoners for three years, after which she was prohibited from doing this by the state. In 1949 she was appointed parish vicar by the Thuringian regional church .

Together with her friends, Hedwig Pfeiffer and Adelheid Eitner, she rebuilt the Protestant work for women and girls in Thuringia. A training center for female catechists was opened in Jena on Inselplatz, which Gertrud Schäfer helped to shape and accompany due to her experience and intensive occupation with theological-pedagogical work. It was not until 1965 that Gertrud Schäfer was given the title of “pastor”. Mind you, this happened before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia decided to ordain women in the general pastoral office in 1969 . In 1966 Pastor Gertrud Schäfer retired, but she continued to be active. She died on June 26, 1987 in Jena. She was buried in her parents' grave in Stadtroda.

Aftermath

Since 2001 the senior center “Gertrud-Schäfer-Haus” in Jena has been named as part of the Diakonie Ostthüringen.

literature

• Dagmar Maeß: Pastor Gertrud Schäfer 1897–1987. On praying and doing what is just among people (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). In: Gisela Horn (Ed.): Design and Reality. Women in Jena 1900 to 1933 (= building blocks for Jena city history. Volume 5). Hain, Rudolstadt, ISBN 3-89807-022-0 , pp. 345-354.
• Sabine Ries: Shepherd, Gertrud. Ev. Theologian, parish assistant, pastor . In: Rüdiger Stutz, Matias Mieth (ed.): Jena. Lexicon on city history . Tümmel Verlag, Berching 2018, ISBN 978-3-9819706-0-9 , p. 538 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Resolution of the city council on honorary citizenship of Prof. Ibrahim. Official Journal of the City of Jena, 2001, vol. 11, 1/01, p. 5 (PDF; 345 kB)
2. ↑ Christoph Kähler: Speech on the occasion of the presentation of the Hanna Jursch Prize 2005
3. ↑ Gertrud Schäfer Haus senior center