Helmut Gollwitzer

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Helmut Gollwitzer (left) in conversation with the former Mayor of Berlin Heinrich Albertz (November 1967)

Helmut Gollwitzer (born December 29, 1908 in Pappenheim im Altmühltal / Bavaria ; † October 17, 1993 in Berlin ) was a Protestant theologian , writer and socialist . As a prominent student of Karl Barth , he was involved in the Confessing Church of the Nazi era , later in the " fight against atomic death " movement of the 1950s and the student movement of the 1960s . As a professor at the Free University of Berlin , he was a close friend and companion of Rudi Dutschke .

Life

Gollwitzer came from a Lutheran and national-conservative Franconian family. He was active as a student in the youth movement of the 1920s and then studied philosophy and Protestant theology in Munich from 1928 to 1932 , a. a. with Paul Althaus in Erlangen and Friedrich Gogarten in Jena . Karl Barth in Bonn became his most important teacher, who shaped his own attitude throughout his life.

From 1933 on, Gollwitzer was a sharp critic of the " German Christians " and since 1934 a member of the " Confessing Church " (BK). There he belonged to the wing of the so-called " Dahlemites " who, on the basis of the Barmer Theological Declaration of May 31, 1934, not only rejected state attacks on the Protestant Church, but also the racial policy of National Socialism as such. He was also increasingly critical of anti-Judaism within the BK.

After Barth had refused the official oath of Adolf Hitler and had to leave Germany as a result, Gollwitzer followed him to Switzerland and received his doctorate in Basel in 1937 with a thesis on the Old Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper in its analysis of Calvinism , represented by the Lutheran early orthodoxy. This made him one of the pioneers of the Arnoldshain Last Supper theses from 1957 and the communion of the Reformation churches. During the Nazi era, his historical-theological study was very topical because it questioned the theological divisions between Lutherans and Reformed people during the church struggle and showed that the Protestant church could speak with one voice across denominational boundaries and in one Spirit can and must act.

After Martin Niemöller , one of the leaders of the BK, was imprisoned in July 1937, Gollwitzer took over preaching and parish services at his pastor, the Sankt-Annen-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem . However, the local council kept Niemöller's position vacant, so that Gollwitzer did not become his official successor or representative. He also helped with the illegal training of the theological offspring of the BK. Since the November pogroms in 1938, he helped Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime to flee or leave the country. His contacts with resistance members in the Wehrmacht brought him several arrests and bans on speaking in 1940 . Since that year he was engaged to Eva Bildt , the daughter of the famous actor Paul Bildt . Because of her Jewish mother, however, he was banned from marrying by the National Socialists. Eva Bildt committed suicide on April 27, 1945, after her refuge in Zeesen was occupied by the Red Army and she witnessed rape there.

During the Second World War Gollwitzer was deployed as a medic on the Eastern Front. In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and was sent to a labor and re-education camp . It was only there that he found out about his fiancée's suicide. After his return from the Soviet Union at the end of 1949, he wrote a book about his experiences there, in which he dealt intensively with Marxism-Leninism with Soviet influences: "... and lead where you don't want to" . This authentic report appeared in 1951, quickly became a bestseller and translated into several languages. The then Federal President Theodor Heuss described it as a “great historical document”.

In 1950 Gollwitzer succeeded Karl Barth as full professor of systematic theology in Bonn, where he taught until 1957. In 1951 he married the Protestant theologian and community helper Brigitte Freudenberg (October 12, 1922 - October 1, 1986), a daughter of Adolf Freudenberg . The couple had no children.

In the 1950s he was strongly committed to German rearmament, especially against the nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr within the framework of NATO . With his lecture The Christians and the Nuclear Weapons from June 1957 he responded to the " Göttingen Appeal " of the physicists around Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and triggered a sustained ethical debate in the EKD , which continued well into the Catholic Church and ecumenism . With consistent application of the ecclesiastical and international law criteria for a just war , he came to the uncompromising rejection of all means of mass destruction.

The debate at that time threatened to split the Protestant Church: As a result, Gollwitzer was appointed to a commission that worked out a compromise with the “Heidelberg Theses” in 1959. The church must “recognize the renunciation of arms as a Christian way of acting” and “also recognize participation in the attempt to secure peace in freedom through the existence of nuclear weapons as a Christian way of acting that is still possible today.” This led against Gollwitzer's intention not to overcome, but to justify NATO's military deterrent concept.

From 1957 Gollwitzer taught at the Free University of Berlin in the newly founded Institute for Protestant Theology . In 1961 he was supposed to take over Karl Barth's chair at Basel University, but the Basel authorities vetoed it because of his “unclear” attitude towards communism. Gollwitzer stayed in Berlin until his retirement in 1975, where he also taught at the church university for a time. From the beginning he took an active part in the concerns of the critical students, whom he actively supported as one of very few university teachers. He was involved in the 1968 student movement , was friends with Rudi Dutschke and pastor of Ulrike Meinhof , and as a member of the International of War Resisters (IDK) campaigned against the Vietnam War and the arms race . Although student circles like to apostrophize him as a representative of the establishment , he was highly valued as a committed dialogue partner. A long and close friendship existed with Gustav Heinemann . From March 1979 he was a juror at the Third Russell Tribunal in Frankfurt-Harheim, which denounced human rights violations in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1980 he became a volunteer probation officer for Horst Mahler, who was released from prison .

Tomb of the Gollwitzer couple

He was buried next to his wife in the Protestant St. Anne's churchyard in Berlin-Dahlem . The funeral address was given by his longtime friend Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt .

Life's work

Gollwitzer's theological concern as “Luther's apprentice” is God's humanity. In the figure of Jesus Christ God became man, but not only for the individual, but for this world: That is why Gollwitzer understands theology as an eminently practical science, as a reflection on the life consequences of the Gospel. If he was initially concerned with overcoming denominational differences - he worked a lot on Luther and Calvin - this lost more and more importance in favor of his political involvement in current affairs. For him the Christian faith does not take place in spiritual or ecclesiastical private districts, theology does not take place in ivory towers, but “outside the door” ( Wolfgang Borchert ), namely with the poor, the abandoned and the victims of inhuman social systems.

Like the early Karl Barth, Gollwitzer thinks radically eschatologically : Jesus Christ has already brought the kingdom of God , which humans cannot create, into the world; God's revolution has already begun. It is therefore impossible for Christians to come to terms with the status quo and stay out of the social and political conflicts of their presence. However, they cannot simply identify with one of the given “parties”, since according to the gospel they always have to be the most radical “vanguard” of change.

This is where Gollwitzer's independent socialism comes into play: The promised future of God corresponds in the present to a position of the Christian who critically "undermines" the given economic and social order, overturns and changes it in the direction of more just, more social conditions, since it affects the poor here and there cannot offer a future now. Thus, under today's conditions, the Christian follows Jesus himself, who led and exemplified this struggle for “liberation for solidarity” (Gollwitzer's book title) with the poor under the conditions at that time. The freedom that God's grace gives us does not consist in holding on to privileges, but in serving and sharing with the poor. Faith, for example, means cooperation “in the humanization of human society towards the kingdom of God, of truly human society”.

While Gollwitzer took this view early on - the Christian participates in the construction of a humane society in analogy to the Kingdom of God and in conflict with inhumane systems - a strong anti-capitalism was added in the 1960s through the intensive dialogue with the student movement: it has now arrived to a radical criticism of the supposedly inhumane capitalist social system, in which he impartially took up elements of the Marxist criticism of political economy. Since around 1970 Gollwitzer was known for the clear thesis, which in German Protestant theology is almost exclusively represented by him: "Socialists can be Christians, Christians must be socialists" (quoted from Adolf Grimme ).

honors and awards

Fonts

  • Coena Domini. The ancient Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper in its examination of Calvinism, presented in the early Lutheran Orthodoxy. 1937. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-459-01754-6
  • "We are allowed to hear ..." Sermons (= Theological Existence Today, Issue 66) Chr. Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1939.
  • Jesus' death and resurrection (according to the account of Luke). Third edition, Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1953.
  • ... and lead where you don't want to. Report of an imprisonment. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1951; 5th edition, Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 1994, ISBN 3-579-01125-1 .
  • A little guide to the study of Marxism-Leninism (with Gerhard Lehmbruch ). Publications Office of the Federal Ministry for All German Issues, Bonn 1956.
  • Thinking and believing. A dispute [with Wilhelm Weischedel]. 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1965.
  • The Marxist criticism of religion and the Christian faith. Tübingen 1967, ISBN 3-579-03900-8 .
  • Crooked wood - upright gait. On the question of the meaning of life. 1st edition. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1970, 10th edition, 1985; ISBN 3-459-01184-X .
  • The capitalist revolution . Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1974; TVT-Medienverlag, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-929128-15-2 .
  • Demands for conversion: contributions to the theology of society. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-459-01044-4 .
  • Liberation for solidarity. Introduction to Evangelical Theology. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1978; 2nd edition 1984, ISBN 3-459-01554-3 .
  • Gollwitzer Breviary, compiled and edited. by Wolfgang Brinkel and Heike Hilgendiek. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-459-01753-8 .
  • Sketches of a life. Found from scattered personal testimonies and connected by Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt , Wolfgang Brinkel, Manfred Weber. Gütersloher Verlag-Haus, Gütersloh 1998, ISBN 3-579-02228-8 .
  • Nothing is lost. 1908 to 1993. Edited on behalf of the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace and the Berlin Dahlem parish by Wolfgang Brinkel, Lamuv, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-88977-380-X .
  • Selected works in 10 volumes. Edited by employees of the Institute for Protestant Theology at the Free University of Berlin, Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-459-01782-1 (cassette);
Vol. 01: Joachim Hoppe (Ed.): Nevertheless, I always stick to you ... Sermons from the church struggle 1937-1940. ISBN 3-459-01772-4 ;
Vol. 02: Peter Winzeler (Ed.): The existence of God in the confession of faith. ISBN 3-459-01773-2 ;
Vol. 03: Peter Winzeler (Ed.): Man, you are in demand. Reflections on the doctrine of God. ISBN 3-459-01774-0 ;
Vol. 04: Andreas Pangritz (Ed.): ... that justice and peace kiss. Essays on Political Ethics Vol. 1. ISBN 3-459-01775-9 ;
Vol. 05: Andreas Pangritz (Ed.): ... that justice and peace kiss. Essays on political ethics, Vol. 2. ISBN 3-459-01776-7 ;
Vol. 06: Christian Keller (Ed.): Reversal and Revolution. Essays on Christian Faith and Marxism, Vol. 1. ISBN 3-459-01777-5 ;
Vol. 07: Christian Keller (Ed.): Reversal and Revolution. Essays on Christian Faith and Marxism, Vol. 2. ISBN 3-459-01778-3 ;
Vol. 08: Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt (Ed.): Thinking may also serve. Essays on theology and intellectual history, Vol. 1. ISBN 3-459-01779-1 ;
Vol. 09: Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt (Ed.): Thinking may also serve. Essays on theology and intellectual history, Vol. 2. ISBN 3-459-01780-5 ;
Vol. 10: Christa Haehn (Ed.): Bibliography Helmut Gollwitzer. ISBN 3-459-01781-3 .
  • “I want to tell you quickly that I am alive, dearest.” Letters from the war to Eva Bildt , 1940–1945. With an afterword by Antje Vollmer , ed. v. Friedrich Künzel a. Ruth Pabst, Beck'sche Reihe 1877, CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57381-1 .

literature

  • Brigitte Kahl, Jan Rehmann (Ed.): Does a Christian have to be a socialist? Thinking about Helmut Gollwitzer. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-88619-232-6 .
  • Andreas Pangritz (Ed.): "I will not die, I will live". About Helmut Gollwitzer. Orient & Occident, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-9806216-0-X .
  • Gerhard Schäberle-Koenigs: And they were in unison every day. The Path of the Confessing Community Berlin / Dahlem 1937–1943 with Helmut Gollwitzer. Christian Kaiser, Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 1998, ISBN 3-579-00397-6 .
  • Werner RauppGollwitzer, Helmut (Hans). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 1035-1057. (with detailed bibliography).
  • Ralph Ludwig: The lateral thinker. How Helmut Gollwitzer won Christians for peace. Wichern, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-88981-256-8 .
  • Thomas Kroll : Left Protestantism in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s and 1970s: Helmut Gollwitzer, Dorothee Sölle and Jürgen Moltmann. In: Thomas Kroll, Tilmann Reitz (ed.): Intellectuals in the Federal Republic of Germany: Shifts in the political field of the 1960s and 1970s. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-525-30045-9 , pp. 103-122.
  • Andreas Pangritz : "The very different God wants a completely different society". The life's work of Helmut Gollwitzer. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-17-034447-1 .
  • Thomas K. Kuhn: “McCarthy Difficulties” - The dispute over Helmut Gollwitzer as Karl Barth's successor in 1961/62. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Volume 109, 2009, pp. 53-102.

Web links

Commons : Helmut Gollwitzer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Rudi Dutschke: Bent before the Lord, upright in the political class struggle: Helmut Gollwitzer and other Christians. In: Put our feet on the path of peace. Festschrift for Helmut Gollwitzer on his 70th birthday. Christian Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1979, p. 544ff.
  2. Who will take over Niemöller's work. In: Exhibition: On the way to the responsible community. Friedenszentrum Martin Niemöller Haus eV, October 30, 2010, accessed on May 29, 2019 .
  3. Correspondence see Friedrich Künzel, Ruth Pabst (Ed.): "I want to tell you quickly that I am alive, dearest." Helmut Gollwitzer - Eva Bildt. Letters from the war 1940–1945. With an afterword by Antje Vollmer (= Beck'sche Reihe 1877). CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57381-1 .
  4. Erhard Eppler : Disarmament - Peace - Position of the Evangelical Church. 1983, p. 578 ( fes.de pdf ).
  5. Gollwitzer quote from the afterword to the third edition: “This consideration of the St. Luke Passion, published for the first time in 1941, was based on transcripts from Dahlem's sermons , which had been looked through and tempered to enable publication under the circumstances at the time. In 1939 and 1940 I laid out the entire Gospel of Luke in a continuous series of sermons, for which the Dahlem intercession services gave a special opportunity. […] From the same series of sermons grew the introduction to the Gospel of Luke, which at that time appeared under the title The Joy of God in the Burckardthaus-Verlag Berlin-Dahlem and is just being reprinted there. [...] New Year 1951 - Helmut Gollwitzer. "