Herwig Hafa

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Olaf Herwig Hafa (born March 6, 1910 in Gnadau ; † April 28, 2000 in Berlin ) was a German Protestant theologian and publicist.

Life

Published dissertation by Herwig Hafa, archived in the Ida-Seele archive

Hafa studied theology for two semesters at the Theological Seminary of the Brethren in Herrnhut . He then studied theology, philosophy, history and German in Tübingen, Berlin and Breslau. In 1936 he passed the state examination for higher teaching qualifications and received his doctorate in the same year. phil with a thesis on The Sarepta Brethren . A contribution to the history of the Volga Germans . His scientific work was consistently based on the sources of the Moravian University Archive and was therefore not only above suspicion of ideology . In 1937 Hafa passed the first theological exam and three years later the second theological exam. From 1938 to 1940 Hafa was a study assessor and boarding school director of the Brethren and from 1939 also teaching vicar. For a short time he worked as a teacher in Hirschberg . In 1942 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. After returning from captivity in 1947, he took over the office of city synod pastor in Berlin. Bishop Otto Dibelius appointed him part-time education officer for the Protestant churches in the Soviet occupation zone. From 1955 to 1959, Hafa headed the EKD's Chamber of Education for the member churches in the GDR. Also in the Evangelical Church of the Union (inter alia member of the Education Committee and the Synod ) and in the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (inter alia Head of the Education Chamber 1965-1976) he was involved in a leading position in the orientation of the educational system. As a senior church councilor, he retired in 1978.

Hafa published several religious writings and was the editor and editor of the magazine for catechists, Die Christenlehre, founded by him in 1948 . Journal responsible for the catechetical office . He wrote a considerable number of articles for the periodical. In the first issue, the editor assessed the development of church instruction as positive. Religious instruction in schools is always in danger of serving the educational ideal of the state. Christian teaching for the young, baptized members of the church took the place of orientation about religions and moral lessons. The church's own message is in the foreground, which can bring joy to the church, encouraged HAFA the readers . In addition to Konrad Korth and Oskar Ziegner, he was instrumental in drafting a curriculum for catechist training that appeared in 1950.

His son Hans-Georg Hafa (* 1942) became a lawyer and also a senior church councilor at the Evangelical Church of the Union.

Works (selection)

  • The Sarepta Brothers. A contribution to the history of the Volga Germans. Wroclaw 1936
  • The path of Christianity through history. Berlin 1963
  • When your children ask. The Biblical Story in Younger Children. Berlin 1964
  • There is joy in you. Evangelical children's hymn book. Berlin 1968
  • The word runs. Biblical reader. Berlin 1970

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Fix u. a. (Ed.): The minutes of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Volume 3: 1949, Göttingen 2006, p. 521.
  • Carsten Nicolaisen u. a. (Ed.): The minutes of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Volume 4: 1950, Göttingen 2007, p. 472.
  • Pirkko Lehtiö: Religious instruction without a school. The development of the situation and the content of Protestant Christian teaching in the GDR, Münster 1983
  • Otto Teigeler: The Moravians in Russia. The aim, scope and output of their activities. Göttingen 2006.
  • Dieter Reiher : The reorganization of evangelical instruction - moderated by Herwig Hafa. In: Klaus Petzold, Michael Wermke (Ed.): A century of catechetics and religious education in East Germany. Leipzig 2007, pp. 142–159.

Web links

  • Entry , central database of estates

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Jens Bulisch: Evangelical Press in the GDR: "The signs of the times" (1947-1990) . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, p. 464 on March 8, 1910 in Calbe (Saale) .
  2. ↑ Teigeler 2006, p. 36.
  3. ↑ Lehtiö 1983, p. 157.
personal data
SURNAME Hafa, Herwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hafa, Olaf Herwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Gnadau
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 2000
Place of death Berlin