Josef Schofer

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Josef Schofer, 1907

Josef Schofer , also Joseph Schofer (born January 31, 1866 in Oberbühlertal , † October 30, 1930 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German Roman Catholic priest and Baden politician.

ancestry

Josef Schofer was the son of the forest worker Johannes Chrysostomus Schofer and Karoline, born on February 17, 1878. Gutmann. Another six siblings came from the large marriage of his parents. After the early death of his mother, the father married Luise, geb. Brügel. Josef Schofer's seven half-siblings came from this marriage.

Life

Josef Schofer attended elementary school in Oberbühlertal from 1872 to 1880. From 1880 to 1886 he was in the Lender'schen Lehranstalt in Sasbach, a boarding school that was founded by Franz Xaver Lender in 1873. From 1886 to 1888 he attended grammar school in Rastatt, where he successfully passed the Abitur. This was followed by a study of Catholic theology in Freiburg from 1888 to 1892 and a visit to the seminary in St. Peter in the Black Forest. Archbishop Johannes Christian Roos ordained him as a priest on July 6, 1892 .

From 1892 to 1894 Schofer worked as prefect at the Tauberbischofsheim boys' seminar and also acted as vicar there. From 1894 to 1904 he was a tutor at the Theological Convict Freiburg, at the same time also student chaplain at the University of Freiburg . In 1902 he obtained his doctorate in Freiburg. theol. As a contribution to the history of pedagogy, the dissertation examined the work of Hugo von St. Viktor , who was considered the great headmaster of the 12th century. From 1904 to 1905 Schofer took over the provisional management of the Theological Konvikt and from 1905 to 1930 he was one of the two Brunner beneficiaries at the Freiburg Minster . The endowment of this benefit was comparatively low, so that Schofer could only finance a modest lifestyle with it. At the same time he worked from 1905 to 1917 as the diocesan praeses of the Marian Congregation and from 1905 to 1920 as the general secretary of the People's Association for Catholic Germany in Baden . In the years of the First World War (1914-1918) Schofer was field pastor and since 1915 regular field division pastor of the 8th Landwehr Division on the Western Front .

Political activity

Schofer's grave in the main cemetery in Freiburg

On December 19, 1897, the Badische Landeszeitung published a letter from Schofer in which he had commissioned the Bonndorf vicar Mamertus Duffner to spy on his pastor Fridolin Honold in September 1896 - on behalf of the cathedral capitular Jakob Schmitt (1834–1915) and Theodor Wackers this had given his parishioners the choice of the center .

From 1905 to 1918 Schofer was a member of the Second Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly for the constituency of Tauberbischofsheim , and since 1919 a member of the Baden Landtag for Freiburg, Heidelberg-Mosbach and Adelsheim-Mosbach. In the state parliament, Schofer led the parliamentary group of the center without interruption from 1919 to 1930 and was considered a strong political personality during the time of the Republic of Baden , although he held neither a high state office nor a high church office. From 1918 to 1921 he was provisionally and from 1921 to 1930 also officially chairman of the Baden Center and at the same time a member of the center's party executive at the national level. His organizational talent made the parliamentary group and party leadership very successful. He was seen as a rousing speaker in the debates and was known as a successful writer. The vernacular called the politician, who was endowed with strong persuasiveness and popular appeal, for the period after the First World War as the "uncrowned Grand Duke of Baden". He was the guarantor of the Weimar coalition that existed in Baden from 1919 to 1931 , which brought the country comparatively stable political conditions during the turbulent and crisis-ridden period of the Weimar Republic in large parts of the German Reich . Schofer played a decisive role in the preparation of the Baden Concordat , but he did not live to see its conclusion. In 1930, the politician, who was extremely committed to social policy and who followed the political radicalization at the beginning of the global economic crisis with growing concern, succumbed to a heart condition and rheumatism and was buried in Freiburg with great sympathy among the population in the presence of numerous personalities from politics and the church.

Publications

Schofer left an extensive body of literature for posterity. The contributions are mostly popular and describe the political and religious conditions of the time. The focus is on the struggle that he waged for the Catholic Church in order to overcome the depressing consequences of the Baden culture war . Some of the works are z. B. at P. Enderle: Dr. J. Schofer “The uncrowned Grand Duke of Baden” , Karlsruhe 1957, pp. 350–51, listed.

Honors

literature

Web links

Commons : Josef Schofer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Krone: A memorable spiritual letter in: Willibald Beyschlag (Ed.): Deutsch-Evangelische Blätter. Journal for the entire field of German Protestantism . 23, 1898, pp. 140-145, full text in Google Book Search USA
personal data
SURNAME Schofer, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schofer, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic priest and politician from Baden
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberbühlertal
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1930
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau