Joseph Weissenberg

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Joseph Weissenberg

Joseph Weißenberg (born August 24, 1855 in Fehebeutel , Schweidnitz district , Silesia ; † March 6, 1941 in Obernigk , Trebnitz district , Silesia) was a German religious and church reformer and the builder of the City of Peace (1920). In 1926 he founded the "Evangelical-Johannische Kirche after the Revelation of St. Johannis", since 1975 called the Johannische Kirche .

Childhood, work and family

Weißenberg was one of eight children of the Catholic day laborer Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Weißenberg and his wife Anna Rosina, née. Kassner. The parents fell victim to a cholera epidemic in 1866 ; of the eight children, three had died at this time. After the death of their parents, Weissenberg and his siblings were accepted into the estate by Countess Leopoldine Seherr-Thoß and Joseph Weissenberg was placed in the care of the shepherd. After attending the community school and first communion, the then 14-year-old Weißenberg initially worked for two years in the agriculture of the home estate and then completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in Rohnstock. He then performed military service with the Royal Grenadiers in Liegnitz from 1876 ​​to 1878 . He then went on a hike and during this time practiced a wide variety of professions in different places, mainly in the service sector. In 1882 Weißenberg moved to Berlin and worked a. a. as an innkeeper in the Prenzlauer Berg district .

On May 13, 1885, Joseph Weißenberg married Auguste Lautner (born August 10, 1861, died after 1941). In 1887 his first daughter Klara was born. The daughter Frieda Weißenberg, born in 1890, died in 1901. Auguste Weißenberg left her husband with her daughter Klara in 1906, but the couple were not divorced.

Spiritual development

Weißenberg claims to have healed a terminally ill man by the laying on of hands when he was three to four years old. In 1866 he let angels of light speak through his classmates and thus a. the story of Pentecost explained.

In 1877, when he was allowed to live on the estate of Countess Leopoldine Seherr-Thoß, he served as an altar boy for Pastor Carl Freiherr von Richthofen , who supported his spiritual development on a friendly basis.

A turning point was the year 1903, after a vision of Christ, Joseph Weißenberg followed his inner calling to help people and gave up his masonry profession. At first he had only practiced his healing work on the side and gradually became known beyond the borders of Berlin. Now a full-time healer , he registered a trade as a healing magnetizer . Soon afterwards there was considerable tension between the couple and in 1907 the marriage finally broke up. With his healing activity, healing by the laying on of hands ( spiritual healer ) according to the Bible ( Mk 16.15-18  EU ), he treated an average of 50 patients per day - from Monday to Saturday in his practice in Gleimstrasse . The seekers of salvation came mainly from the petty bourgeoisie. Soon the rush was so great that he entrusted other employees with the help of the healing work.

One of these first employees was his later partner Grete Müller (April 5, 1882 - February 19, 1978). She gave birth to their daughter Frieda Müller († June 10, 2001) on February 7, 1911. A year later the second daughter Elisabeth Müller, called Liesbeth, married Möhring (February 14, 1912 - March 26, 2001) was born.

Weissenberg responded to the disputes between religion and science and the liberalization of the clergy with a protest letter in 1903 to the Supreme Bishop of the Protestant regional church, Kaiser Wilhelm II . He prophesied his abdication 15 years later (he would leave his country "begging"; "Majesty lead the German people into the abyss") if the conditions in the regional church did not change. There were no reactions to the letter and no further attempts were made to contact him.

Foundation of an association and change of denomination

Joseph Weißenberg created his own forum to revive Christian values . In 1907 he founded the " Christian Association of Serious Researchers from This Side to the Hereafter, True Followers of the Christian Churches ". To take stock of his life experience, he published a lesson in 1905, which is still the foundation of the faith of the community he founded to this day. Regular services in the congregations were well attended and the number of members grew rapidly. Weißenberg's criticism of the state and church was not without consequences. The police chief in Berlin banned the meetings because of the alleged health hazards of the participants in Weißenberg's public meetings. In the period from September 16, 1909 to mid-1912, the association was banned.

In 1910, as a member of the Catholic Church, Joseph Weißenberg wrote a letter to Pope Pius X , demanding that the Holy Scriptures be released for all Catholics. Up to this point the Catholic Church taught the Bible in Latin; Lay people were not allowed to read the Bible. Thereupon Joseph Weißenberg was appointed provost Ahlisch in Berlin. The conversation ended with a violent argument and Joseph Weißenberg then transferred to the Evangelical Church of the older provinces of Prussia .

Because of his association's ban on gathering, Joseph Weißenberg sued the police chief in Berlin and the chief president of the province of Brandenburg. In 1912 there was a hearing before the Royal Higher Administrative Court. The court lifted the ban on assemblies and made it clear that only members were allowed to attend the assemblies. The two and a half year compulsory break had not harmed the association and people continued to flock to its meetings.

Weißenberg's situation 1914–1918

In 1914 the First World War broke out and special laws applied. Due to the state of emergency , Joseph Weißenberg was arrested by Police Commissioner Krüger on October 1, 1915 and taken to the Moabit military prison without charge or trial . He was released after two months and three days and banned from practicing his profession. Under threat of re-imprisonment, he was no longer allowed to practice his religious activities or medical treatment. Immediately after his release, Weißenberg filed a complaint with the war minister as the chief military officer through his lawyer - with success: The ban on "treating the sick directly and indirectly" was lifted on May 11, 1917, whereupon Weißenberg immediately started his healing work in his apartment in the north of Berlin , Gleimstrasse 42.

On June 20, 1918, an investigative committee of the Reichstag examined the actions of the police and military authorities on the basis of the material submitted by the lawyer and MP Oskar Cohn , Joseph Weißenberg's legal advisor. It was condemned as illegal and the work of Weißenberg was rehabilitated by the state. The first service after the ban took place on December 5, 1918.

Construction of the City of Peace

Influenced by the impressions of the First World War and the personal experiences of unjust persecution, Joseph Weißenberg worked on the idea of ​​a settlement, a city ​​of peace . He sought the practical implementation of a life in community based on lived Christianity. As early as 1918, five years before the peak of inflation , Joseph Weißenberg foresaw the impending currency devaluation (“Money goes to zero”). He called on his followers to invest their money in the acquisition of land for a Christian settlement, a "City of Peace". The donations were used to buy the Gasthof Waldfrieden in Blankensee and 400 hectares of land in the Glauer Mountains near Trebbin , 30 km south of Berlin. As early as the spring of 1919, the first volunteers came to prepare the acquired land as building land. A year later, in February 1920, the "Christian Settlement Cooperative Waldfrieden" was founded, and on December 19, 1920 the foundation stone of the first house in the Peace City was laid with the participation of several hundred people. The income of the settlement cooperative was administered in trust by Joseph Weißenberg, the management and the supervisory board of the settlement. They drew up the budget for the settlement and determined how the money was to be used for the individual building projects. When the value of money went to zero in 1922, the construction of the Peace City came to a standstill. In this situation, many supporters of Weißenberg showed their idealism and brought their wedding rings (gold) in order to ensure the continuation of the work. The Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger wrote at the time: "A city built out of wedding rings!"

Weissenberg was in charge of the construction work. He drove back and forth between his two places of work, Berlin and Friedensstadt, twice a week. All planning and execution were carried out according to his specifications, and he monitored the progress of the construction work. Help and support were provided by a number of willing professionals. In 14 years of construction , the City of Peace grew, including residential houses, a retirement home, a waterworks , a museum , healing institute, administration building, a school and much more. It was considered to be one of the largest and most modern private settlements in Germany at the time, with 40 buildings and 300 residents,

Growth of the new association and leaving the church

With his life's work, City of Peace, the crowd of supporters of Joseph Weißenberg grew steadily. In 1925 the number of members of the Serious Researchers had risen to over 20,000. In 1926 there were more than 20 branches of the "Christian Association of Serious Researchers from This Side to the Hereafter". At that time there were nine branch associations in Berlin, while the others were spread across Brandenburg, Saxony, Pomerania and Silesia. This year there were considerable disputes with the Protestant regional church. Joseph Weißenberg's multiple proposals for agreement with consistories, synods and senior church councils remained unanswered. After his followers were denied the Lord's Supper in several parishes, Joseph Weißenberg declared his resignation from the regional church on March 25, 1926.

Church foundation

Memorial plaque , Bismarckallee 23, in Berlin-Grunewald
Johannische Church in Blankensee

On April 15, 1926, Joseph Weißenberg renamed his association Evangelical-Johannische Kirche after the Revelation of St. John . It was entered in the register of associations in Berlin on July 14th under the number 4858. Until this church was banned in 1935, over 350 congregations had been established in Germany. Since 1975 it has been called the Johannische Kirche .

A series of further conflicts followed his exit from the Protestant regional church. There have been numerous attempts to portray Weissenberg as a cheater, quack and morally depraved people. Joseph Weißenberg had to conduct 36 trials, all of which he won. During the time of the Weimar Republic up to Hitler's seizure of power, Weißenberg was continuously exposed to hostility from the medical profession, the Evangelical Church and political forces. Despite the associated attacks by the tabloid press, the young church grew steadily. On April 28, 1932, Weißenberg appointed his then 21-year-old daughter Frieda Müller as his successor. On July 30, 1932, Joseph Weißenberg finally moved from Berlin to the City of Peace to devote himself entirely to building the settlement.

The Ev.-Johannische Kirche in the time of National Socialism

"Our salvation and our life lies in the banner of salvation black-white-red and in the black cross in the white field, not in the swastika, my brothers, comrades, my friends."

This word of the Weissenberg movement, published on April 6, 1933, summed up the dichotomy that arose between religious interpretation and political appropriation of the colors black-white-red for the future. In the hope that Hitler would keep his election promises to Christians, Weissenberg finally called for three years, namely between November 1932 and October 1934, to vote black-white-red, i.e. Hitler. It is noticeable that his calls for elections were always initiated by an invitation to vote in black-white-red. Otherwise, the restraint he displayed in contrast to his supporters is noticeable. This reluctance also includes the greeting "Deutschland Heil!", Often used by Weißenberg. (as opposed to "Heil Hitler!"), by which Weißenberg's political direction at this time can be most clearly recognized.

In 1933 an NSDAP local group was founded in the Peace City. Following this meeting, Joseph Weißenberg, who did not belong to this local group, held a service. After initial appreciation by representatives of the Nazi Party grew in the wake of the Nazi Gleichschaltung the pressure on the Christian Siedlungsgenossenschaft Waldfrieden, located in NS integrate -State. Weißenberg then publicly expressed his appreciation of Adolf Hitler. Nonetheless, from mid-1934 on, Weißenberg and his supporters were ridiculed in the German press, which had been brought into line. All personal letters from Joseph Weißenberg to representatives of the NSDAP, in which he asked for an end to the persecution and promised further concessions by the church, were unsuccessful. At the same time, the church newspaper, which at that time, like all newspapers in Germany, was subject to National Socialist censorship, praised Hitler's achievements and importance and also agreed with general anti-Semitism. B. Weissenberg's alleged prophecies from 1914 about the later "banishment of Jews and the wicked from their offices" were made public. The church newspaper, however, did not provide details on these prophecies from 1914.

At the end of 1934, the Gestapo in Potsdam asked the church founder and his church to ban the Old Testament and the spiritual friend speeches ( trance sermons ) from church life. Weissenberg publicly protested against this and vigorously refused to do so in letters to Hitler. The consequences of Weißenberg's rejection followed immediately: On January 17, 1935, the Evangelical Johannische Kirche was banned as subversive and dangerous to the state, all documents were confiscated and church assets were confiscated and transferred to the state of Prussia without compensation . In the following months, the almost 80-year-old was picked up by the Gestapo, interrogated, threatened, arrested and released again. Leading members of the Evangelical St. John's Church were also put under pressure and arrested. In order to defend his life's work, Weissenberg continued to write personally to Hitler, demanding freedom of belief and the withdrawal of the church ban. On August 13, 1935, Joseph Weißenberg was sentenced by the 2nd Large Criminal Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court to one and a half years in prison and five years of loss of honor as a moral criminal. In a second trial on October 21, 1935 before the Special Court I, he received a year in prison for illegal and subversive activities.

The Friedensstadt settlement was forced into liquidation at the behest of the Gestapo and sold to the German Reich by court order in 1941 because 14 members of the cooperative refused to consent to the sale. From 1938 the Waffen-SS moved there and gradually drove out the residents. In the period from 1942 to January 1945, the Glau branch of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp was located in the settlement . In order to separate Joseph Weißenberg from his followers and his life's work, he was exiled to Silesia in 1938 after serving his prison sentence and placed there under house arrest. He died on March 6, 1941 in Obernigk near Breslau in the presence of his daughter Frieda Müller.

After the historical experiences of National Socialism and a growing democratic tradition in the period after the Second World War, Weißenberg's attitude as a citizen towards Hitler can, in retrospect, be described as politically one-sided, naive and uncritical. However, it is questionable whether this adequately captures Weißenberg's behavior towards National Socialism in his time. Weissenberg was politically one-sided because he only followed the pushing back of communism and socialism with interest, while he lost sight of dictatorial claims. He was naive because he interpreted the political colors black-white-red religiously and uncritically because he trusted Hitler's election promises too much until 1934. However, Hitler's struggle against political competitors ("Röhm Putsch") and the churches led in 1934 to Weißenberg's clear criticism of Hitler and to his resolute departure from National Socialism. In contrast, his undiplomatic criticism of Hitler and his refusal to accept the Nazi ideology from 1934 onwards are remarkable.

Weißenberg's life's work

The Johannische Kirche after the Second World War

Immediately after the end of the war, the reconstruction of the Johannische Kirche began under the direction of Weißenberg's successor Frieda Müller. In negotiations with the Allies , the lifting of the church ban was obtained. On February 3, 1946, the first Johannine service after the ban took place in Berlin. The Red Army had moved into the Peace City, which was confiscated by the SS , and its return was refused. Only the church of the Peace City on the Waldfrieden area in Blankensee was returned. After negotiations with the Soviet occupying forces, a service could take place there again on June 30, 1946. At the handover, the Soviet commander asked: "Pray for Russia too!" On August 25, 1946, the first church convention in Berlin after the ban brought together numerous church members from all parts of the country, but it took several years for the scattered supporters - many came from the former communities east of Oder and Neisse - they could be collected and cared for again.

The division of Germany when the two German states were founded in 1949 also had serious consequences for the Johannine Church. With the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, it was no longer possible for all members to participate in church events. Although the Johannische Kirche developed its own forms of organization in both German states in the following years, the unity of the church and the close cohesion of the church members remained. In the years that followed, the church was able to build its own meetinghouses and places of worship in the east and west. She was also a guest at other churches or granted other faith communities the right to host.

Ecclesiastical centers were the Waldfrieden area in the GDR and the St. Michaels home in the western part of Berlin . In 1972, with the purchase of the Stempferhof in Gößweinstein, the foundation stone was laid for the church's commitment in Franconian Switzerland. In 1976, with the acquisition of Gut Schönhof in Eichenbirkig, another field of work by Joseph Weißenberg, which he had already developed in the Peace City: agriculture.

The opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 also enabled the unity of the Johannische Kirche and its social institutions. At Pentecost 1990, after more than five decades, brothers and sisters from all congregations of the church gathered for a joint thanksgiving service on the Waldfrieden grounds. In March 1994 the Russian soldiers bid farewell to the Peace City and the symbolic handover of the keys to Frieda Müller's daughter Josephine. Shortly afterwards, the final return of the city of peace was ordered.

The Johannische Kirche in the 21st century

Frieda Müller died on June 10, 2001. Successor in the office of head was Josephine Müller. She continued her mother's path to open the Johannische Kirche to everyone. An externally visible step here is the redesign of the altar in the Waldfrieden church center in Blankensee south of Berlin, completed on March 6, 2002, with the inscription: "God is love" (cf. 1 Jn 4,16b LUT). The Johannische Kirche thus builds a bridge to all people, denominations and religions for whom the Creator is a God of love. This church was built in 1928/29 according to designs by Joseph Weißenberg as a two-arched hall church in wood construction and is considered the spiritual center of the Johannische Kirche.

At the same time, the reception of Holy Communion is no longer linked to the John's creed since that day. Josephine Müller said: "May the sacrament of the Lord's Supper become a source of strength for everyone who can confess: 'I believe in God who is love.'" Josephine Müller died on December 30, 2019. She called Stefan Tzschentke (born 1973 ) to her successor as head of the Johannische Kirche, who heads it with his deputy Daniel Stolpe (born 1989).

Publications

  • Lehrbrief Berlin 1905, in: Johannisches Gesangbuch, Verlag Weg und Ziel, Berlin 2000, pp. 470–476
  • Life after death Verlag Weg und Ziel, Berlin 1912, 2005; ISBN 3-00-017531-8
  • My arrest and internment without date
  • A picture of my life from my thorn path in 1931

literature

Web links

Commons : Joseph Weißenberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c Annett Gröschner, Olaf Lippke, Prenzlauer Berg Museum (eds.): Grenzgänger. Faith healer. Cobblestones. The history of Gleimstrasse in Berlin ; Basisdruck-Verlag, 1998; ISBN 978-3861630913 . The book contains a longer article about Joseph Weißenberg with details about his practice on Gleimstrasse.
  2. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 43 .
  3. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 57 .
  4. ↑ a b c Flyer: Joseph Weißenberg, founder of the Johannische Kirche. , Johannische Kirche (Ed.), Status 11/2005
  5. ↑ in: WEG UND ZIEL, weekly newspaper of the Johannische Kirche, 66th year, No. 17 from April 24, 2013, page 3, Berlin
  6. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 254 .
  7. ↑ John's Message No. 14 (1933), p. 112
  8. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 376 .
  9. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 377 .
  10. ↑ The White Mountain, No. 12, 1934
  11. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 402 .
  12. ^ Siegfried Phillip: Joseph Weissenberg and the National Socialism . S. 70 .
  13. ^ Siegfried Phillip: Joseph Weissenberg and the National Socialism . S. 58 .
  14. ^ Siegfried Phillip: Joseph Weissenberg and the National Socialism . S. 59 .
  15. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 402 .
  16. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 403 .
  17. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 404 .
  18. ↑ Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph White Mountain (1855-1941) - Life and Work . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2006, ISBN 3-8340-0054-X , p. 427 .
  19. ↑ Obituary in: Berliner Zeitung , January 9, 2020, p. 15.
personal data
SURNAME Weissenberg, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German religious and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Fehebeutel , Schweidnitz district , Silesia
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1941
Place of death Obernigk , Trebnitz district , Silesia