Helmut Frenz

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Helmut Frenz (born February 4, 1933 in Allenstein ; † September 13, 2011 in Hamburg ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran bishop , theologian , refugee officer and human rights activist .

Professional activity

Frenz studied Protestant theology and became a Lutheran pastor ordained . In 1965 he was commissioned by the EKD to go to Concepción in Chile and work in the episcopal office as provost of the Evangelical Lutheran Church there. After completing this service in 1976, he became Secretary General of Amnesty International in the Federal Republic of Germany . This was followed by an office as parish pastor in Norderstedt . After some time he was appointed head of studies at the Evangelical Academy in Bad Segeberg and qualified as a professor . The North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church appointed him as a refugee commissioner on the basis of his proven commitment to the human rights of persecuted people and emigrants . From 1999 to 2005 he held the office of Commissioner for Refugee, Asylum and Immigration Issues at the President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament .

Political activity

Frenz's theological character made him aware of the Christian's obligation to social and political responsibility at an early stage. He took part in the work of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK), which was founded in Prague in 1958 . As a result of his stay abroad in Chile, he was increasingly confronted with the problems of a socially divided country, and he experienced the coup in Chile in 1973 and the associated acts of violence against democrats. Immediately after the establishment of the military dictatorship in 1973, he worked together with the other Evangelical Churches and the Catholic Church to protect those people whose fundamental human rights were violated. The “Committee for Peace” (Comité Pro Paz) emerged as an ecumenical institution , from which the Catholic “Vicariate of Solidarity” (Vicaría de la Solidaridad) later emerged. Frenz's support for the persecuted meant that on October 5, 1975, while he was in Geneva , he was banned from re-entering Chile by the Augusto Pinochet regime . As early as June 1975, his partisanship against Pinochet led to a split in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile and the establishment of the regime-loyal Iglesia Luterana en Chile (ILCH), which represented the majority of Lutherans of German origin in Chile.

Frenz's work for the persecuted, which has become internationally known in Germany, led to the appointment of Amnesty International's first Secretary General of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1976. In this function he raised his voice several times to remind the churches of their responsibility for human rights. At a study conference in 1978 on the subject of “Church and human rights - for example Paraguay ”, he called on church leaders to move from complaining about the oppression of the poor to complaining about violating human rights, using Latin America as an example . Although the church reacts to violations of human rights with protest and help for those affected, it is not politically active enough to overcome unjust power structures like in Paraguay.

During his time as Amnesty's general secretary, he gave a sermon in the Thomas Church in Hemer as part of the TV program Gottesdienst on ZDF . He also addressed the history of the city of Hemer as the location of Stalag VIa during the Nazi regime and pointed out the church's obligation to learn from the history of injustice, which is closely linked to the church's attitude at the time.

From 1987 until his death, Helmut Frenz was a board member of the Hamburg Foundation for the Politically Persecuted , which enables the politically persecuted to have temporary asylum in Hamburg.

At a general meeting of shareholders of Mercedes AG in Argentina in 2004 , he confronted the assembled DaimlerChrysler board of management with the fact that the directors of this company were indifferent to the plight of the Daimler employees persecuted and murdered under the dictatorship.

When Pope Benedict XVI. Visited Brazil in 2007 , Frenz accused the Catholic Church in Brazil of not standing close enough to the huge army of the poor and landless. In the cities people ran away from the church in droves. The Pentecostal churches and liberation theologians, on the other hand, showed much more solidarity with the people in their daily struggle for survival.

Honors

  • Nansen Refugee Prize 1974
  • Medal of Honor of the Chilean Parliament for commitment to human rights 2001
  • Honorary Citizen of Chile 2007
  • Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of ARCIS in Chile in 2008

Works

  • Voice of the silent: On the commitment to human rights . Ed., Helmut Frenz, Gütersloher Verlagshaus Mohn, Gütersloh 1980 (2nd edition 1983). ISBN 3-579-01003-4 kart.
  • Guatemala . The long way to freedom. Hammer, Wuppertal 1982. ISBN 3-87294-198-4 .
  • El Salvador . Massacre in the name of freedom. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1982. ISBN 3-499-15027-1 .
  • The farmers of Solentiname paint the Gospel - with meditations by Helmut Frenz. Burckhardthaus-Laetare-Verlag, Gelnhausen 1982.
    • L'Evangile peint des paysans de Solentiname. Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris 1983 (French edition).
  • Cracks in Paradise: Philippines Today: Human Rights & Resistance . From Task Force Detainees of the Philippines. Edited by the Ecumen. Study Group Philippines. With e. Vorw. By Helmut Frenz, Wuppertal 1984. ISBN 3-87294-235-2 .
  • Beyond propaganda: the human rights situation in Central America . Ed. Christian Initiative Romero. With e. Foreword by Helmut Frenz. [Editor: Roger Peltzer] Ed. Nahua, Wuppertal 1987. ISBN 3-923329-37-7 .
  • Your house is my refuge: prayers of escape, persecution and saving asylum; the old psalms in new language. Publik-Forum, Oberursel 1995. ISBN 3-88095-078-4 .
  • Mi vida chilena: solidaridad con los oprimidos LOM, Santiago 2006. ISBN 9-56282-807-7 .
  • "... and I won't back down." Chile between Allende and Pinochet. A pastor and human rights activist remembers. Gustav-Adolf-Werk, July 2010. ISBN 3875931092 .

literature

  • Dieter Maier: A fighter for human rights. Helmut Frenz (1933–2011) fought as a pastor against the Pinochet dictatorship . In: Latin America News . Vol. 39 (2011), issue 449 (November 2011), pp. 56-57.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report from the cathedral radio: Ex-bishop and former Amnesty boss Helmut Frenz died ( Memento from September 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ https://www.oikoumene.org/de/member-churches/evangelical-lutheran-church-in-chile
  3. ↑ http://www.ibka.org/ir/142f.html
  4. ↑ http://www.kthier.de/KT10/id70.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendung/interview_dlf/623235/
  6. ↑ Chile: Human rights activist Frenz becomes an honorary citizen
  7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Frenz, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Evangelical Lutheran bishop, theologian, refugee commissioner and human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Allenstein
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 2011
Place of death Hamburg