Hans Otto Hahn

Hans Otto Hahn (born February 18, 1936 in Erbach (Odenwald) ; † November 3, 2003 ) was a German Protestant theologian , Vice President of the Diaconal Work of the EKD and Director of Bread for the World .

Life

Born in 1936 in Erbach im Odenwald , Hahn studied theology in Marburg and Heidelberg and was ordained pastor of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau in 1963. In 1956 he joined the Christian student association Marburger Wingolf . After working in the pastor's office, he first became a scholarship officer in the main office of the Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Church in Germany in 1966 and then from 1969 director of the Ecumenical Diakonia division with the Protestant aid organization Bread for the World and Vice President of the Diakonisches Werk. In addition to managing “Bread for the World”, Hans-Otto Hahn was also responsible for “Churches Help Churches”, the scholarship program, for “Hope for Eastern Europe” and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. He participated in numerous international and national committees. In the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) he headed the World Service Department. Hahn was one of the founding fathers of ACT (Action by Churches Together - churches help together), a worldwide ecumenical network of churches and partner organizations that jointly coordinate their relief efforts for people in need. The LWF is one of the founding members of ACT, which is based in the Ecumenical Center in Geneva.

Awards

• 1984: Honorary doctorate from the Lutheran Thiel College in Greenville , Pennsylvania, USA
• 1988: Order of Merit First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1992: Honorary doctorate from the Academy of Theology in Madras , India
• 2000: Large Federal Cross of Merit

Works

• The world is his church. Sermons. ISBN 3-89511-060-4 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Otto Hahn in the catalog of the German National Library