Hermann Grossmann (Bahai)

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Hermann Grossmann (born February 16, 1899 in Rosario , Argentina ; † July 7, 1968 in Neckargemünd , Germany ) was an author , Baha'i and one of the twelve hands of the Cause of God , who were appointed by Shoghi Effendi in 1951 .

Life

1899-1945

Hermann Grossmann, who had German parents, returned with them from Argentina to Germany in 1909 and studied mainly art history and economics in Leipzig and Hamburg . As a student, Hermann Grossmann learned the teachings of Baha'u'llah in Leipzig in 1920 , accepted them immediately and dedicated his life to them. In 1923 he received his doctorate with a law and political dissertation at the University of Hamburg , published a brochure entitled "The social question and its solution in the sense of the Baha doctrine" and married Anna Harthmann and settled with her initially in Hamburg, where he as Managing Director had entered a fine cardboard factory. In 1928 they had a daughter, Susanne Bahiyyih, and in 1933 a son, Hartmut Harlan.

In his free time, Hermann Grossmann u. a. numerous lectures and was a member of the National Spiritual Council of Germany from 1924 to 1936 . For professional reasons, Hermann Grossmann had to move with his family to Weinheim an der Bergstrasse in 1930 and in 1932 they moved on to Neckargemünd. In the same year Grossmann published the book “In the morning of a new time” with the subtitle “Collapse or Redesign? A cultural diagnosis of present-day needs ”. A few years later, this book fell victim to the book burning of the Gestapo .

Since, according to the Twelve Ethical Principles of the Baha'i, a world auxiliary language has to be introduced, Grossmann was strongly committed to Esperanto . In the 1920s and 1930s Grossmann published the international Bahai magazine La Nova Tago (The New Day) in Esperanto . In 1936 the publication of this magazine was stopped because it was forbidden to advertise Esperanto.

In addition to many other writings, his collaboration in the regularly published yearbooks "Bahai-World" should be mentioned, which had to be terminated in 1937 because the Baha'i Association was banned by Heinrich Himmler . Grossmann made his first Baha'i pilgrimage to Haifa in 1937 and got to know Shoghi Effendi.

Through tough negotiations with the Gestapo, Hermann Grossmann managed to free his imprisoned sister Elsa Maria, who was also a Baha'i. He also spoke as a witness in Nazi courts in defense of Baha'i. Hermann Grossmann himself was sentenced in 1944 to a six-month prison term for war economic offenses, which he did not have to serve again.

1945–1968

After the Second World War , there were hardly any Baha'i books, as these were confiscated or destroyed by the Gestapo or had been irretrievably lost during the war. Therefore, Grossmann published various small books such as “Umbruch zur Einheit” and a new edition of his pre-war work “In the morning of a new time” and translated the Seven Valleys and, together with his wife, the speeches in Paris .

In 1951 Shoghi Effendi began appointing hands to the cause of God from among Baha'i around the world. Hermann Grossmann was among the first twelve to be raised to this rank. The task of these hands was the spread of the Baha'i faith and the protection of the new covenant of God with humanity through Baha'u'llah.

In 1953 Hermann Grossmann retired from professional life and was able to devote himself even more intensively to the Baha'i faith. Grossmann dealt with the divine alliance in the history of religion. He published his work on the philosophy of history in 1956 in the book “The Covenant of God in the Revelation Religion”. When the persecution of the Baha'i broke out in Iran in the summer of 1955 , Grossmann was appointed to Geneva by Shoghi Effendi as a member of the Appeal Committee, so that this committee could stand up for the threatened believers at the United Nations and at individual delegations.

In 1957 Grossmann undertook his second Baha'i pilgrimage. Between the sudden death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957 until the election of the first Universal House of Justice in 1963, a body of the hands of the cause took over the direction of the Baha'i world community. This committee asked Hermann Grossmann to travel to South America in order to help the Baha'i there with the implementation of the ten-year plan. This plan, initiated by Shoghi Effendi, did not end until 1963 and provided for the formation of ten National Spiritual Councils in South America for the first time. In 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962 Grossmann traveled extensively in South America. Indeed, the ten National Spiritual Councils of Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Chile , Ecuador , Colombia , Paraguay , Peru , Uruguay and Venezuela were formed there in 1961 .

Weakened by the exhausting travels, he spent the last years of his life working and writing for the Baha'i faith in his home in Neckargemünd. In 1962 the first edition of his book “What is the Baha'i Religion?” Was published. In later editions the book appeared under the title "What Does the Bahá'í Religion Teach?" The work itself has been translated into several languages. In 1966 his compilation of texts The Baha'i Faithful and the Baha'i Community was published, the revised 3rd edition of which appeared in 1994 under the title The Baha'i and the Baha'i Community . Hermann Grossmann died on July 7, 1968 and was buried in the Neckargemünd cemetery.

Fonts

  • The social question and its solution in the sense of the Baha doctrine . Publishing house of the German Baha'i Federation, Stuttgart 1923.
  • La Nova Tago: la internacia Bahaa Esperanto-gazeto . Bahaa Esperanto-Eldonejo, Wandsbek (1925–1936).
  • In the morning of a new time: collapse or redesign ?; a cultural diagnosis of present-day needs . Strecker & Schröder, Stuttgart 1932.
  • Change to unity. God, man and world on the threshold of a new order . Schröder, Stuttgart 1947.
  • In the morning of a new time: collapse and redesign. A contribution to the cultural diagnosis of the present . Schröder, Stuttgart 1948.
  • What is the Baháí Religion? Bahai-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1962.
  • The Baháí Believer and the Baháí Community . Baháí-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1966.
  • Kio estas la Bahaa religio… Bahai-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1969.
  • The covenant of God in the religion of revelation . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1981, ISBN 3-87037-126-9 .
  • What does the Baha'i religion teach? Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1985, ISBN 3-87037-158-7 .

literature

  • Susanne Pfaff-Grossmann: Hand of the Cause of God Hermann Grossmann: A life for faith . Ralf Ackermann, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-9808159-0-0 .
  • Bernhard Westerhoff: The international Bahá`í magazine "La Nova Tago" (1925–1936) . In: Baháí history in German-speaking Europe (=  publication series of the Society for Bahá ʾ í Studies ). tape 10 . Baháʾí-Verlag, Hofheim 2006, ISBN 3-87037-454-3 .
  • Barron Deems Harper: Lights of Fortitude . George Ronald, Oxford UK 2007, ISBN 978-0-85398-413-9 , pp. 175-183 .