Henning Christoph Kramer

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Henning Christoph Kramer

Henning Christoph Kramer (born August 20, 1940 in Owschlag ) is a German church lawyer and promoter of German-Baltic relations.

Life

Henning Christoph Kramer was born as the second son of Pastor Christoph Kramer and his wife Gertrud (née Hoeck). After attending the primary school in Owschlag and then the traditional grammar school Herderschule in Rendsburg with Abitur in 1962, he first studied theology for five semesters in Tübingen and Hamburg . He broke off this course, then studied law at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and graduated in 1973 with the great state examination in law.

In December 1973 he was accepted into the service of the regional church office of the then still independent Evangelical-Lutheran regional church Schleswig-Holstein. After working in various departments (including eight years in the personnel department for pastors) and after a temporary assignment to the regional church office in Hamburg (1975–1976), he became head of the legal department ( legal advisor ) in 1984 and the legal vice-president of the church office of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church (NEK). From 1988 to 2002, in individual projects until 2005, in addition to his legal duties, he was also responsible for the partnership work of the NEK with the Evangelical Lutheran churches in Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania . As head of the legal department, he has worked in various church-wide bodies for many years, e. B. the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD), the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the Lutheran World Federation and for almost 20 years worked in the Protestant military pastoral care in the state of Schleswig-Holstein and in the Federal Republic of Germany . He retired in August 2005.

In 2004 Kramer was elected to the presidium and one of the two vice-presidents of the Schleswig-Holstein regional association of the German Red Cross (DRK). From 2007 to 2016 he held the honorary office of President of the DRK regional association Schleswig-Holstein.

He is married to Hildegard Kramer geb. Spanuth and lives in Kronshagen near Kiel .

German-Baltic partnership work

Kramer was involved in promoting the German-Baltic church partnership. Around 1980/1981, the Lutheran World Federation asked its European member churches to turn bilaterally to individual Lutheran churches in Eastern Europe, insofar as the political conditions at the time permitted. For the North Elbian Church, which had only been formed a few years earlier, contact with the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in the three Baltic Soviet republics of Estonia was an option - especially in view of the geographical proximity ( Baltic Sea region ), but also the still existing historical ties ( German-Baltic States ). Find Latvia and Lithuania. In 1990 the legal department headed by Kramer was entrusted with responsibility for Baltic work. Even during the Soviet occupation, Kramer was able to establish close ties to the Evangelical Lutheran churches in these countries and, despite various political restrictions, to provide them with church help and donations from Germany. After the Baltic states regained their independence in 1991, an active ecclesiastical partnership could be built on these contacts, which in the first few years consisted mainly of rebuilding the internal and external ecclesiastical structures, including canonical structures and theological training, which had been destroyed by the Soviets. In later years, however, it increasingly developed into an ecclesiastical-theological exchange (partnership agreement with the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church 2002), which in the case of the Latvian Lutheran Church, however, ended in an ecclesiastical-theological dispute about the ordination of women .

Among the numerous smaller and larger church aid projects of the NEELK, which he initiated and carried out in the years 1991–2005, the following should be mentioned in particular: Reconstruction and restoration of the only Evangelical Lutheran church in Vilnius / Lithuania (1991–1995); Reconstruction and restoration of around 8 churches in Memelland / Lithuania; Foundation of the fund for salaries and supplies in the Lutheran partner churches in Estonia and Latvia (1997), in cooperation with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Lutheran World Federation, restoration of the consistory building (1992–1993), as well as purchase and restoration of a building for the theological Institute (1995–1996) of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tallinn / Estonia; Support for the Theological Faculty of the University of Tartu / Estonia, which was reopened in 1991 (1992–2005); Participation in the restoration of St. John's Church in Tartu / Estonia, which was destroyed in World War II (1997–2005).

After his retirement, Kramer got involved in partnership work with the Red Cross organizations in the Baltic states. He initiated u. a. the signing of the partnership agreement 2011 between the Estonian Red Cross and the DRK regional association Schleswig-Holstein. This contract was followed by intensive cooperation with the Red Cross headquarters in Tallinn and other of the 16 regional associations of the Estonian Red Cross. In the years up to 2017 he organized a total of 32 aid supplies in more than 60 facilities ( old people's and nursing homes , children's homes , hospitals , rehabilitation facilities, etc.) in the Baltic states. His last Red Cross engagements included a. - in the context of the European refugee crisis (2015/16) - initiation of projects to strengthen the preparedness of the Estonian Red Cross in crisis situations.

Since 2017, Henning Kramer has been promoting German-Baltic relations in individual projects through Rotary clubs in northern Germany.

Awards and honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herwarth von Schade, The State Church Office in Hamburg. In: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte (20th Century) Hamburg Church History in Essays, Part 5 (Works on the Church History of Hamburg, Volume 26). Edited by Rainer Hering and Inge Mager. Hamburg University Press 2008.
  2. ↑ Rotkreuz-Magazin / LV Schleswig-Holstein eV February 17th, 2008
  3. ^ DRK LV Schleswig-Holstein press service November 19, 2010
  4. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament November 18, 2016
  5. ↑ a b c Hellberg, Helge, Dialogue and Dominance. The Lutheran Churches of Estonia and Northern Elbia at the end of the 20th century. Written term paper to obtain the degree of a Magister Artium (MA) of the Philosophical Faculty of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. Kiel 2001.
  6. ↑ Kalle Kuusiniemi: The Voice of confessionalism and Inter-Lutheran relations. The Influence othe Missouri Synod in the Baltic and Ingrian Lutheran Churches, 1991–2001. Helsinki 2015.
  7. ↑ Estonian Red Cross discusses asylum issues with the DRK district association Neumünster. DRK press service, March 31, 2011
  8. ↑ Tutoring in the care of refugees. Holsteinischer Courier, April 6, 2011
  9. ^ Tartu Ülikool
  10. ^ Riigi Teataja, February 5, 2004
  11. ^ Tartu city administration, June 28, 2005
  12. ↑ Honors of the President of the Republic of Latvia
  13. ^ Homepage of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
  14. ↑ Order of Merit of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, archive , accessed on July 18, 2020
  15. ^ A b Homepage of the DRK regional association Schleswig-Holstein
personal data
SURNAME Kramer, Henning Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church lawyer, promoter of German-Baltic relations
DATE OF BIRTH 20th August 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Owschlag