Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Pröhle
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Heinrich Pröhle (born January 31, 1870 in Rábakövesd, Eisenburg County , Austria-Hungary , † April 29, 1950 in Bratislava , Czechoslovakia ) was a Protestant pastor and pastor of the German Evangelical Church Community AB in Preßburg .
Life
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Pröhle came from a family that produced several important personalities. He was the grandson of the superintendent Heinrich Andreas Pröhle who was the pastor in Hornhausen . One of his uncles was the well-known writer Christoph Ferdinand Heinrich Pröhle .
A son of Heinrich Andreas Pröhle named Rudolf came to Hungary and settled in Eisenburg County, where he worked as an economic administrator. Rudolf Pröhle married Maria geb. Steiner. The sons Heinrich, Wilhelm (1871–1946; Orientalist) and Karl (1875–1962; professor of theology) emerged from the marriage.
Heinrich Pröhle received his first lessons from his father, then in the schools of Rábabogyoszló in Eisenburger County and Alsószeleszte. He attended grammar school in Ödenburg , also the local theological college. Then he went to the university in Halle . He was particularly influenced and shaped by the important biblical theologian Martin Kähler . On September 23, 1893, he was ordained pastor by Bishop Sándor von Karsay and on September 1, 1893, he was called to the post of assistant preacher in Güns . In the fall of 1897 he was appointed second and in September 1903 first preacher in this congregation.
On February 19, 1900 he married Sophie Schneller, a daughter of the Günser pastor Wilhelm Schneller. The couple were given three daughters and one son. Sophie Pröhle died of lung cancer in 1938.
On Ascension Day (June 1st) 1905, Pröhle was unanimously elected pastor by the German Evangelical Church Community AB zu Preßburg. He took up this position on September 24, 1905. At that time, three German pastors worked in Preßburg (Senior Carl Eugen Schmidt , later Pastor Wilhelm Rátz joined them), as the German Evangelical Community of Preßburg with (at that time) around 5000 members was one of the largest parishes in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary . Pröhle had a special talent and love for religion and confirmation classes, which is why he was elected consenior who oversaw religious classes in the senior council .
Professor of Theological Academy in Bratislava he read from 1910 until the end of World War I on catechetics and headed the Catechetical Seminar. In addition, from 1912 he edited the magazine Evangelikus Egyházi Élet (The Protestant Church Life ).
In recognition of his services to the church and his literary work, the Theological Faculty of the Elisabeth University in Fünfkirchen awarded him the title of Dr. hc
In 1939 the German Evangelical Church AB was founded in Slovakia . It was the time of National Socialism and the German Reich Church also exerted considerable pressure on the German pastors in Slovakia . How great the pressure was on the pastors is also shown in a document that Pastor Pröhle wrote. According to this document, one must have approached him to make a clear decision in favor of Germanness. His ancestors had immigrated from Germany to what was then the Kingdom of Hungary; however, most of the family had Magjarized themselves. After a sleepless night, Pastor Pröhle presented the following document on December 26, 1940:
“Lord, have mercy on me, your poor servant!
I am Hungarian and I will remain a Hungarian
that demands my gratitude, loyalty and honor.
At the same time I confess my German ancestry
without denying it, as unchangeable reality,
also out of gratitude, loyalty and honor. "
Apparently, however, it did not have any negative consequences for Pröhle, because he was able to continue his service as a German preacher until the end of the war and even beyond.
On September 23, 1943 Heinrich Pröhle was able to celebrate his 50th anniversary of ordination in a mental and physical freshness. He was given Holy Communion on this day by his brother and friend, Senior Carl Eugen Schmidt (1865–1948). The Second World War and its aftermath also left its mark on the German Evangelical Church Community of Pressburg. Most of the Germans (and Hungarians) living there were resettled on the basis of the Benesch decrees and had to leave the territory of the restored Czechoslovakia .
However, the three German Protestant pastors of the congregation Schmidt, Pröhle and Rátz were allowed to stay in Pressburg, as they were under the protection of their Slovak brothers. On December 31, 1949, Pastor Pröhle retired at the age of 80 and lived well looked after in the Diakonissenheim in Pressburg.
It is estimated that around 10–15% of Germans were allowed to stay in post-war Slovakia. A small part of them were Lutherans. After the German (and Hungarian) church services in Pressburg were banned for a while, a modest worship life gradually found a new beginning for the small remaining German congregation. First of all, the parishioners were looked after by the two pastors of the (former) German parish who had also stayed in Pressburg, D. Heinrich Pröhle, who was almost blind, and Wilhelm Rátz (1882–1952). Pastor Rátz maintained a lively correspondence with the parishioners who had emigrated to Germany. In a letter dated May 1, 1947, he reported to Germany: “…. We are still allowed to serve the two small remaining communities (German and Hungarian). The services are still very well attended. During the Easter holidays there were 500 people in each service, and a total of 800 souls were allowed to attend St. Donate the Lord's Supper. (...) Mr. Senior Schmidt is quite frail. His wife is not doing well either, her heart is failing. Rev. Pröhle feels comfortable in the deaconess house, but his dwindling eyesight worries him very much. "
On August 16, 1949, in the last year of his life, he wrote (in Hungarian):
"I believe that we put the greatest weight on our shoulders because we forget God's infinite grace and love."
A cold he caught at a funeral grew into pneumonia from which he never recovered. He died on April 29, 1950 in the deaconess home . The last surviving German pastor in Bratislava, Wilhelm Rátz, said goodbye to him in front of the small remaining German and Hungarian congregations. The funeral took place in the Gaistor cemetery . It was an impressive funeral, eight Protestant pastors, all in regalia, headed by the senior of the Slovak parish Július Adamiš , who also gave the funeral oration . The students of the theological faculty sang the funeral chants. Finally the coffin was buried in the family crypt of the Grüneberg family of manufacturers.
progeny
Prohle's descendants live in Hungary today.
The grandson Heinrich Pröhle (* 1936) is a well-known concert flutist . He was principal flutist with the Budapest Philharmonic Society and professor at the Budapest Music Academy.
Pröhle's great-grandson Gergely Pröhle (* 1965) is a well-known public figure in today's Hungary and a sought-after conversationalist in the German media. Between 1998 and 2000 he was permanent state secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, then between 2000 and 2002 Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to the Federal Republic of Germany , then (2003–2005) Ambassador in Bern ( Switzerland ). Since 2017 he has been the director of the Hungarian Literature Museum Petőfi in Budapest . He is also the country curator (secular head) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary .
Works
- A konfirmátió oktatás feladata, Békescsaba 1899
- Erzsébet magyar királylány és a keresztény hit, Pozsony
- Keresztény vallástan Luther Kis kátéja nyomán, Pozsony 1910
- A jövő egyháza és az egyház jövője, Sopron 1913
- Útravaló, Pozsony 1915
- Luther's Small Catechism explained, Bratislava 1927
literature
- History of the Protestant parish AB zu Pozsony-Preßburg, 2 vols., Pozsony 1906
- Adalbert Hudak : The Church of Our Fathers (Way and End of German Lutheranism in Slovakia), Stuttgart 1953
- Roland Steinacker - Desider Alexy: 350 years of the Evangelical Church in Preßburg , Stuttgart 1956
- Magyar életrajti lexikon (MEL) (Hungarian Biographical Lexicon), 4 vol., Budapest 1982, ISBN 963-05-2497-X
- P. Rainer Rudolf, Eduard Ulreich: Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon. Association of Carpathian Germans from Slovakia, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-927096-00-8 , p. 260.
- Evanjelická encyklopédia Slovenska (Evangelical Encyclopedia of Slovakia), Bratislava 2001, ISBN 80-968671-4-8
- Andreas Metzl: Workers in God's Vineyard, Life Pictures of German Protestant Pastors in and from Slovakia in the 20th Century , Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 80-88903-63-7
- Anton Klipp: On the history of Diakonie in Preßburg, in Carpathian Yearbook 2009, Stuttgart 2008 (pages 56–72), ISBN 978-80-89264-20-9
- Anton Klipp: Pressburg. New views on an old city. Karpatendeutsches Kulturwerk, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 .
- Andreas Metzl and colleagues: unforgotten piety. The last German Protestant parishes in Slovakia (= Acta Carpatho-Germanica XXII), SNM Museum, Bratislava 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon, p. 260
- ↑ The municipality Rábabogyoszló was merged in 1950 with the municipalities Felsőpaty and Alsópaty to form the municipality Rábapaty.
- ↑ Karsay of TETH , Sándor (1814-1902), Protestant Bishop * Raab (Győr, Hungary), March 15, 1814; † ibid, June 4, 1902. Son of a pastor. Studied in Ödenburg and Vienna (1833/34) Theol. In 1837 he became vicar, soon afterwards pastor in Mencshely (Kom. Veszprém) and in 1839 pastor in Tét (Kom. Raab). 1858 Senior of the Raab Lutheran. Seniorates. 1866–95 bishop of the luther. Church district across the Danube. In 1867 he also took over the parish in Raab. In addition to his official duties, K. directed his main attention to the development and promotion of elementary school teaching and to the improvement of the material situation of the pastor's and teacher widows and orphans. For this purpose he set up a pension fund. K. was a well-known speaker in the pulpit. W .: Several printed sermons; Általános és részletes tanmód. A protestáns népiskolai tanítók számára vezérfonalul (General and detailed teaching methodology. Guide for Protestant elementary school teachers), 1844; Beliczay Jónás életrajza (biography of JB), 1880; Agenda (Agende), according to with I. Czékus, 1889–90; etc. L .: Pallas 10; Szinnyei 5; Revai 11; Spiritual Hungary; Zoványi, Theologiai Lex., 1940. PUBLICATION: ÖBL 1815-1950, Vol. 3 (Lfg. 13, 1963), pp. 249f.
- ↑ a b History of the Protestant Church Community AB ..., Vol. 2, p. 55
- ↑ Evanjelická encyklopédia Slovenska, p. 289
- ↑ The document was kept by Mrs. Elisabeth Pröhle, Pastor Pröhle's daughter-in-law, who lives in Budapest, and released for publication.
- ^ Anton Klipp: Preßburg ..., p. 22ff
- ^ Anton Klipp: On the history of Diakonie in Preßburg, p. 70
- ↑ Hungarian original text: "Meg vagyok győződve, hogy a legnagyobb terhet mi magunk rakjuk vállunkra azzal, hogy Isten végtelen kegyelméről és szeretetéről megfeledkezünk." Quoted: Dr. Vendel Hambuch / Zoltán Karácsony: "A Pröhle család története" ("The story of the Pröhle family")
- ↑ Andreas Metzl: Arbeiter in Gottes Weinberg , p. 212
- ↑ Hungarian Petöfi Irodalmi Múzeum ; engl. Petőfi Literary Museum
- ↑ MEL , Vol. 2, p. 446
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pröhle, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pröhle, Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Protestant pastor and university professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 31, 1870 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rábakövesd, Eisenburg County , Austria-Hungary |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 29, 1950 |
| Place of death | Bratislava |