Gotthilf Schenkel

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Gotthilf Adolf Schenkel (born July 19, 1889 in Udupi , State of Karnataka , India ; † December 10, 1960 in Esslingen am Neckar ) was a German theologian and politician ( SPD ).

Youth and Studies

Schenkel was born in India as the son of a missionary from Karlsruhe-Durlach . However, he grew up in Germany and studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen after school . There he became a member of the Nicaria Tübingen student union. From 1914 to 1918 he was in the military. Then he became vicar and then city pastor in Zuffenhausen . In 1926 he was promoted to Dr. theol. PhD.

Pastoral service and persecution under National Socialism

As a member of the SPD from 1926, he resolutely opposed National Socialism in the Third Reich . He was therefore arrested in March 1933 and taken to the Heuberg concentration camp. However, he was released again on the intervention of the regional bishop. After a few weeks in secret, Schenkel became the first pastor in Germany to lose his office and was given retirement. However, the regional bishop appointed him as an official administrator in the vacant parish of Unterdeufstetten in the Crailsheim dean's office near the Bavarian border. During the Second World War, Schenkel also provided the two parishes of Rechenberg and Wört, and later also the parishes of Wildenstein and Bernhardsweiler. On the part of the National Socialists, he was exposed to repeated attacks and harassment. After the end of the Second World War, Gotthilf Schenkel was officially confirmed as pastor in Unterdeufstetten. In 1947 he was given the parish of Oberesslingen , which he held until his appointment as minister of education. At the same time he was also a teacher of ethics at the Technical University of Stuttgart .

Post-war political offices

In 1951 he was appointed Minister of Culture of the State of Württemberg-Baden and after the establishment of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 1952 he was its first Minister of Education under Prime Minister Reinhold Maier . He participated in the founding of the country as an elected member of the Constituent Assembly. In 1953 he gave up the office of minister of education. From 1952 until his death in 1960 he was a member of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg for the state constituency of Esslingen . He was always directly elected there. His successor in this mandate was Walter Hirrlinger . From 1956 he was a member of the cultural policy committee of the state parliament.

Schenkel was also a member of the municipal council of the city of Esslingen and, from 1959, in the district council of the Esslingen district .

Others

Schenkel also appeared as a writer. He wrote several books and essays on theological subjects.

In 1919, Schenkel was accepted into the Freemasons' association in the “To the 3 Ceders” lodge in Stuttgart. In 1933 he had to resign due to the Nazi seizure of power. In Esslingen, Schenkel had been a member of the local Masonic lodge "Zur Katharinenlinde" since 1947 , and in 1956 he was elected Master of the Chair ; until 1959 he held this office. At that time he worked under the code name Brother Erasmus.

In 1956 he was involved in founding the Association of Friends and Sponsors of Wilhelma e. V. involved, of which he was chairman from 1956 to 1960.

He was married to Käthe geb. Henke and had three children.

In 2014, the city of Esslingen named a hitherto unnamed footpath at the Ebershaldenfriedhof in Oberesslingen in Dr.-Gotthilf-Schenkel-Weg .

Also in 2014, Schenkel's mother lodge “Zur Katharinenlinde” donated a prize in his name. The "Dr. Gotthilf Schenkel Prize for Humanity" was awarded to Ms. Elke Walkenhorst-Mayer, on behalf of the Association of Citizens for Berber e. V. in Esslingen am Neckar.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ District Archives Esslingen EN 2.1 Bu. 72
  2. ↑ Gotthilf Schenkel Freemason ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , On the homepage of the Lodge Zur Katharinenlinde (accessed on August 20, 2016)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.freimaurer-esslingen.de
  3. ↑ Resolution minutes of the Esslingen City Council from November 17, 2014
  4. ↑ Unselfishly committed to the weaker - Esslingen - Eßlinger Zeitung. Retrieved August 20, 2016 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schenkel, Gotthilf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schenkel, Gotthilf Adolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and politician (SPD), MdL
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Udupi , India
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1960
Place of death Esslingen am Neckar