Hans Puttfarcken

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Hans Puttfarcken (born December 18, 1902 in Düsseldorf , † December 10, 1971 in Wiesbaden ) was a German lawyer who was President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the highest decision-making body of German Protestants , between 1961 and 1970 .

Life

Studies, judge and opponent of National Socialism

After graduating from high school, Puttfarcken began studying medicine at a humanistic grammar school ; shortly afterwards he studied law at the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University in Breslau , which he continued at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . In 1927 he presented at the University of Breslau his promotion to Dr. jur. with a dissertation on the subject of the obligee's right to the proceeds from the auctioning of attached items that do not belong to the debtor and the claims of the owner of the item, in particular after a dismissed appeal .

A little later he also passed the first state examination in law in 1927 and after the second state examination in 1930 until the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939 he worked as a court assessor and judge for civil law matters at local courts in Upper Silesia and Upper Franconia . In September 1939 he was drafted for military service in the German Wehrmacht , where he last served as a sergeant . He then became a senior magistrate at the Wunsiedel district court . Puttfarcken was one of the opponents of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler's church policy within the Protestant Church .

Ministerial Officer and President of the Synod of the EKD

After the war Puttfarcken was first director of the District Court Limburg , then in 1946 joined as Councilor in the Hessian Ministry of Justice , and was there for several years Private Secretary of Georg August Zinn . Zinn was Prime Minister of Hesse from 1950 to 1969 and Minister of Justice between 1945 and 1949 and 1950 to 1953. Last time was Puttfarcken until his retirement in 1967 as Assistant Secretary Director of Human Resources of the Hessian Ministry of Justice.

At the same time he continued his involvement in the Protestant Church and was one of the leading members of the Kronberg Circle founded by Eberhard Müller in 1951 .

His presentation at the Evangelical Church Congress in August 1952 had previously been discussed in the Kronberg Circle; he made it clear that being a Christian and political responsibility belong together. He stated that “Christians have to take responsibility in the state, but they should beware of a 'deification of power'”. In the case of intolerable ideological conditions, for the Christian “his 'no' is the political contribution that God demands of him.” Puttfarcken left no doubt what he meant by that: in view of the “enthusiastic politics there is hardly any real political responsibility in the East still possible". An ideology prevails in the Eastern Zone, while in West Germany one has learned from the ideology that had prevailed until 1945.

On February 17, 1961 Puttfarcken was the successor of Constantin von Dietze elected President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany and this function has held for nine years until his replacement by Ludwig Raiser 1970. Next to him was with Kurt Scharf on February 17, 1961 also elected a new council chairman of the EKD.

When on January 17, 1963 council members of the Evangelical Church of the GDR discussed the holding of an all-German synod after the building of the Berlin Wall , Puttfarcken spoke out against the holding and justified this with, among other things, “that the victims were the brothers and sisters in the GDR ”.

After nine years of activity, he resigned his office as President and Synodal of the EKD in 1970 due to legal concerns, since the basis and capacity of the Synod to act due to the separation of the Evangelical Church in East and West Germany through the establishment of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR in 1969 the EKD had been dropped.

Publications

  • The right of the obligee to the proceeds from the auctioning off of attached objects that do not belong to the debtor and the claims of the object owner, in particular after dismissed opposition action , dissertation, University of Breslau, 1927.
  • Military contribution and Christian conscience , Frankfurt am Main 1952.
  • The Church in Modern Society , co-editor Helmut Coing , Frankfurt am Main 1956.

Background literature

  • Dietmar Schmidt: Hans Puttfarcken. Ministerialdirigent, President of the Synod of the EKD , in: Jürgen Bachmann (editor): Appointed to service. Life pictures of leading men of the Protestant Church in Germany , Osnabrück 1963, pp. 79–82.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Sauer: Orientation towards the West in German Protestantism ?: Ideas and activities of the Kronberger Kreis , 1999, ISBN 3-486-56342-4 , p. 75 with additional information
  2. ↑ Dirk Palm: “We are brothers!”: The Protestant Church Congress and the German Question 1949 to 1961 , 2002, ISBN 3-525-55736-1 , p. 155 f.
  3. ↑ Congratulations to President Scharf and President Dr. Puttfarcken. SPD press release No. 43.1961 of February 17, 1961.
  4. ↑ Claudia Lepp: Tabu der Einheit ?: the East-West Community of Protestant Christians and the Division of Germany (1945 to 1969) , 2005, ISBN 3-525-55743-4 , p. 403.
  5. ↑ Claudia Lepp: Tabu der Einheit ?: the East-West Community of Protestant Christians and the Division of Germany (1945 to 1969) , 2005, ISBN 3-525-55743-4 , p. 909.
personal data
SURNAME Puttfarcken, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and President of the Synod of the EKD
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1971
Place of death Wiesbaden