Herbert Morét

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Herbert Morét (born July 9, 1920 in Königsberg ; † May 9, 2009 in Leichlingen (Rhineland) ) was a German Baptist pastor . From 1968 to 1981 he was at the head of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR (Baptist, Elim and Brethren congregations ).

Life

Herbert Morét came from a Baptist family. After the Second World War , he studied from 1947 to 1950 at the Theological Seminary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , which was currently based in Hamburg-Horn , but whose teaching operations had been relocated to the then Wiedenest Bible School due to the seminar building destroyed by the war . Morét completed his probationary period ( vicariate ) in the Evangelical Free Church Baptist Congregation Neubukow - Wismar ( GDR ). Even after his recognition as pastor of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , which took place in 1953, he initially remained in the service of the Neubukow-Wismar community. In 1959, Morét moved to the Baptist church in Eberswalde (GDR) and served as a pastor for over 10 years.

Bethel chapel in Eberswalde

During his time in Eberswalde, the Berlin Wall was built (1961), as a result of which the until then all-German Federation of Evangelical Free Churches had to adapt to the new political conditions. In the area of ​​the former GDR, an autonomous partial synod of the free church community, the so-called Bundesrat, was first created . Herbert Weist became the first chairman of the Federal Council . After Morét's sudden death in 1968, in addition to his community service, Morét took over the chairmanship of the partial synod and in this position accompanied the organizational and legal separation of the community federation , which also took place in 1968 and led to the establishment of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR .

In May 1969, the members of the GDR congregations who had met for the federal conference in Dresden elected Herbert Morét with an overwhelming majority initially to lead the newly founded GDR Federation. This unanimously proposed him to the synod as the first president of the association. This proposal was also adopted unanimously. In the run-up to the elections, the Ministry of State Security had intervened against Morét because, in the opinion of the staff responsible for church issues, he was not one of the "progressive", that was in the linguistic usage at the time: "not one of the system-affirming" forces within the Free Church Federation. However, the intervention was unsuccessful due to the acceptance that Herbert Morét enjoyed within his free church.

Morét initially held the office as president part-time alongside his service in the Bethel parish in Berlin-Friedrichshain , which he had taken over in 1970. In 1975 he gave up the community service and devoted himself full-time to the presidency. He had his seat in the Bundeshaus East Berlin, Gubener Strasse.

In 1981 Herbert Morét handed over his office to Manfred Sult after 13 years of service at the head of the Free Church . Both were invited to a reception on July 22, 1981 , together with Rolf Dammann, on the occasion of the handover of Klaus Gysi , then GDR commissioner for church issues.

During the last years of his career, Herbert Morét worked as a pastor of the Evangelical Free Church Baptist Congregation Eisenach / Oberellen. In 1990 he retired. He spent his old age in the senior village of the Evangelical Free Church Diakoniewerk Pilgerheim Weltersbach . He died of a serious illness on May 9, 2009 in the company's own hospital.

Morét was married. The marriage remained childless.

Fonts in selection

  • Handout on the ecumenical issue ; in the yearbook of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR , 1971 edition
  • Inviolable Brotherhood ; in: Ulrich Materne, Günter Balders (Hrsgg.): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, p. 180f

literature

  • Ulrich Materne, Günter Balders (Hrsgg.): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, ISBN 3-7893-7220-X .
  • Klaus Rösler: GDR Baptist President Herbert Morét has passed away. For 13 years he led the free church - Father in Christ ; in magazine Die Gemeinde. Believe. Together. Design , 12/2009
  • Günter Lorenz: The Evangelical Free Churches - Past and Present , East Berlin, undated
  • Ulrich Materne: The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR , in: Peter Singer (Hrsg.): Free churches - A manual , East Berlin 1987 ISBN 3-374-00018-5
  • Reinhard Assmann: The Association of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR , Baptism Studies, Kassel, 2004

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Materne / Günter Balders (eds .; in collaboration with Reinhard Assmann, Bernhard Kühl and Manfred Sult): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, p. 87f.
  2. ^ The conference took place May 8-12, 1969; see Ulrich Materne / Günter Balders (ed.): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, p. 105.
  3. ↑ On the intervention attempts see Günter Balders: The presidential election 1969 - a chapter in itself ; in: Ulrich Materne / Günter Balders (ed.): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, pp. 87–109.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Materne / Günter Balders (ed.): Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , Wuppertal and Kassel 1995, p. 398.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Morét, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Baptist pastor, President of the former Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Königsberg (Prussia)
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 2009
Place of death Leichlingen (Rhineland)