Friedrich Niemann (pastor)
Johann Friedrich Niemann (born July 15, 1869 in Münster , † October 13, 1945 in Osnabrück ) was a German Protestant pastor, superintendent of the Herford parish and a member of the Confessing Church . He was a longstanding board member in the Syrian Orphanage .
Life
Study and job
Friedrich Niemann studied theology from 1889 at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in Halle and from 1890 at the Georg-August University in Göttingen . During his studies he became a member of the Hallenser and Göttingen Wingolf . From 1896 Niemann was pastor at Herford Cathedral . In addition to his parish activities, he published a biography of Pastor Gottreich Ehrenhold Hartog in 1914 . From 1900 he was pastor in St. Jakobi . In 1930 Niemann became superintendent in the parish of Herford . He held the office until 1942. He lived and worked in the rectory at Löhrstrasse 9 .
Syrian orphanage
Niemann was a member of the board of the Syrian Orphanage from 1921 and was an influential figure in the association. Niemann even tried (his nephew Hans Niemann 1902 - 1935 ) to be installed as leader. However, Hans Niemann died in the same year as Johann Ludwig Schneller , so that he could not continue his work.
Resistance to National Socialism
Niemann was a leading figure in the Confessing Church and the church struggle in the Herford parish. Nevertheless, he still took part in a public propaganda ceremony : The leader of SA Standard 174, Hermann Pantföder , who was elected to the Herford city council in mid-March 1933, died late at night on March 31, 1933 on the return trip from Bielefeld to Herford in a car accident. He was stylized as a regional hero of the Nazi movement and Niemann gave his funeral speech. SA men kept vigil at the coffin of the SA standard leader laid out in the Herford town hall. Viktor Lutze also took part in the funeral service . After the funeral service, the coffin came to the crematorium in Bielefeld on a hearse decorated with swastika flags. Many people stood on the streets, SA formed a line. Three salvos of honor were given at the city limits.
A year after the seizure of power , on January 30, 1934, the Herford superintendent Niemann held a festive service in the fully occupied cathedral church. In his sermon, he emphasized that it was important that the Germans would become “ a god-fearing Christian people again ”. He relativized Hitler and did not portray him as a “leader” sent by God, as other evangelical clergymen did. With the beginning of the church struggle, these thanksgiving services were discontinued. The local NSDAP groups now organized the celebrations in the Nazi manner. Niemann was denounced as a troublemaker and fanatic and placed under guard. His pastor, Max Lackmann , who was allied with him, was arrested. In a situation report on the Evangelical Church of September 25, 1935 it says:
“One of the greatest fanatics in the confessional front is the superintendent Friedrich Niemann from Herford. The state police station in Bielefeld imposed a postal control on him. "
At the beginning of 1936 he was appointed chairman of the provincial church committee of the ecclesiastical province of Westphalia in connection with the pacification attempts in the church struggle , but this failed due to the resistance of the German Christians . Thereupon and as a result of the Confession Synod in Bad Oeynhausen, Nieman withdrew his commitment to cooperation.
In 1941, Niemann handed over the office of superintendent to Hermann Kunst , who was also a member of the Confessing Church. When he passed on February 8, 1942, Niemann preached about a verse from the ( Acts 20:30 LUT ) "Even from yourselves, men will arise who speak wrong doctrines to attract the disciples." (Luther 1912) Thanks to Niemann, Herford parish remained a place of resistance against the National Socialists until the end of the war. Niemann moved to Osnabrück, where he died in 1945.
Fonts
- Pastor Gottreich Ehrenhold Hartog, a witness of the gospel in times of drought. Herford 1914
literature
- Gustav Schwerholz: Chronicle of the City of Herford, 1942 , Herford 2015, p. 13.
- Renée Claudine Bredt, Helga Diestelmeier, Christoph Laue: Herford belongs (e) dem Führer ?, accompanying materials for the exhibition , Herford 2013.
- Frank Stückmann: Missing Sources, The Minden-Ravenberg Revival Preachers in Enlightenment Journalism , in: Udo Sträter : Pietismus und Neuzeit, Yearbook on the History of Modern Protestantism , Volume 38, Göttingen 2012.
- Roland Löffler: Protestants in Palestine, 1917-1939 , Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008, pp. 280f., 283, 314, 335, 339, 344.
- Edith Stallmann: Martin Stallmann . A Westphalian pastor in the church fight (1934-1948) , Bielefeld 1996.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Hans Kleinschmidt: History of the Göttinger Wingolf , in Waitz (Hrsg.): Geschichte der Wingolfsverbindungen , Darmstadt 1914, p. 370.
- ↑ See Roland Löffler: Protestanten in Palestine, 1917-1939 , Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008, pp. 280f.
- ^ Renée Claudine Bredt, Helga Diestelmeier, Christoph Laue: Herford belongs to the Führer? Materials accompanying the exhibition , Herford 2013, p. 93 (situation reports: LA NRW Detmold, inventory M4A Niemann)
- ^ Kurt Meier : The evangelical church fight. Volume 2: Failed attempts at reorganization under the sign of state "legal aid". Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1976 ISBN 9783525555514 , p. 221
- ↑ Review by Vicco von Bülow in the Theologische Literaturzeitung, Leipzig 2001, column 1067-1069; as a digitized version of the Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Leipzig.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Niemann, Friedrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Niemann, Johann Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Protestant pastor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 15, 1869 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munster (Westphalia) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 13, 1945 |
| Place of death | Osnabrück |