Julius Axenfeld

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Julius Heinrich Axenfeld (born February 20 July / March 4,  1834 greg. In Novgorod-Sjewersk in the Russian Empire ; † July 28, 1896 in Marburg / Lahn ) was an evangelical pastor and missionary as well as the founder of schools and diaconal institutions. As a Prussian consular pastor, he worked for six years as a missionary in the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor . In Godesberg he left a lasting mark on the young Protestant community for 25 years. The Julius Axenfeld Foundation named after him continues his work.

Life

Julius Axenfeld was the son of the Russian Imperial Council and doctor Leon Axenfeld and his wife Cäcilie geb. Friedlander. The father came from a wealthy Jewish family and had converted to the Protestant faith as a young man , whereupon he was disinherited. Since the father died of an illness in 1836 and the mother did not receive the widow's pension to which she was entitled from the Russian state because of her belief, the family moved to Berlin. Axenfeld attended the Rettschlag cadet school from 1839 and then the Royal French Gymnasium . He was confirmed by Carl Büchsel . When his school performance deteriorated significantly, he moved to Stettin ; here his uncle, the grammar school teacher Karl Friedländerer, took over his upbringing, and Axenfeld graduated from the royal grammar school in Stettin with a school leaving certificate .

A pastor from Gustav Hermann Bernsee ( Pomeranian main association for the Evangelical Mission in China ) oriented mission festival near Stargard , which he visited in 1854, certain his future resume.

education

After the missionary experience, Axenfeld decided to study theology; he wanted to be a missionary in China. In 1854 he began to study modern languages ​​in addition to Protestant theology in Halle an der Saale . Here he was impressed by Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck , Julius Müller and Johannes Wichelhaus . After two years he moved to the university in Berlin to listen to Karl Immanuel Nitzsch and Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg . The degree took place in the summer of 1857 in Berlin.

His university professor Nitzsch arranged for Axenfeld a position as private tutor for the sons of Count zu Dohna-Schlobitten in Berlin and Schlobitten in East Prussia , which he carried out from 1857 to 1858. For a while he lived with another uncle, Pastor Julius Heinersdorff, in Molthainen . Here he prepared for his exams and helped his uncle with the parish work. Through Heinersdorff he got to know the piety of the revival movement and the goals of the Inner Mission .

Koenigsberg

In 1859, Axenfeld moved to Königsberg , where he had to take his two theological exams as well as a pedagogical exam until 1860. During this time he lived with the Link family, whose daughter Antonia he later married, and worked as a teacher and in a poor house for women. He also made the acquaintance of theologians David Erdmann , Bernhard Weiss and Wilhelm Wald.

In January 1861 he was sent by the Royal Consistory of the Province of Prussia as a parish assistant to Schloppe in West Prussia. On a private trip following this activity, Axenfeld got to know Ludwig Harms , Johann Hinrich Wichern and Theodor Fliedner as well as their diaconal institutions. The provincial school college of the Rhine Province appointed him in 1862 as a religion teacher and pastor at the royal grammar school and the municipal high school in Düsseldorf , where he worked until the end of 1863.

Smyrna

Axenfeld had already applied several times, albeit unsuccessfully, for missionary positions in the Levant and in China. In 1863 he was given a pastoral position in the Prussian regional church in Smyrna (today Izmir, Turkey) from the Oberkirchenrat in Berlin , which he accepted on condition that he was also allowed to do missionary work in Smyrna. He joined Smyrna in 1864 and was successor to Anton Friederici (1857–1864) and predecessor of Ernst Reineck (1870–1875). As a pastor of the Protestant community, he developed a considerable missionary and educational commitment in addition to the parish work.

In Germany he raised funds through the “Association for Christian Education in the Orient” in order to found a Protestant, German-speaking boys' school in Smyrna in 1865. The "Collège évangélique" was called a "higher education institution for Europeans and Orientals". According to Axenfeld, however, the school should primarily be the evangelization of the resident Ottoman Greeks and only secondarily the school of the German community. In 1872 it was hired under Axenfeld's successor, Reineck, who did not have the same missionary interest as his predecessor. An Italian girls' school was later established in the school building that was sold. Axenfeld also wanted to found a mission school; a project that he could no longer realize.

The missionary efforts of Axenfeld (and other missionaries, such as Friedrich Fabri ) concentrated on the Greeks who lived in the Ottoman Empire at the time . Axenfeld developed an approach based on philhellenism that did not go the usual way of mission. He sought dialogue with the Greek Orthodox believers for proselytizing; The goal was the change of faith of the Greek Orthodox. He called this work “evangelization of the Orient”. Axenfeld wrote a textbook on the French language in modern Greek in two parts.

Axenfeld returned to the German Empire in 1870 for health reasons. From here he tried for a while to advance his projects in Smyrna as well as in other cities of the Ottoman Empire. Even after he took up the parish in Bad Godesberg, he applied to the Oberkirchenrat for a five-year leave of absence in order to devote himself to the “evangelization of the Orient”, to which the OKR did not, however, respond.

Godesberg

As a Protestant pastor in the Godesberg community, which was not yet incorporated into Bonn, Axenfeld worked from 1870 until his retirement in 1895. He was the successor of the early deceased first pastor of the young evangelical community, Johann Friedrich Schubring, at the only Protestant pastor in Godesberg at the time . During his tenure, Axenfeld laid the foundations for the further development of the Protestant community and the diaconal and educational development of the village.

Time of the Kulturkampf

Axenfeld's work in what is now Bad Godesberg coincided with the Kulturkampf . The Prussian government tried to control the Catholic Church as much as possible and thus suppress the influence of the Pope, which was considered harmful. The state and the Protestant Church saw the Catholic Church as an institution whose religious practice was seen as medieval, retrograde and unpatriotic. Axenfeld shared this thinking and saw one of his tasks in continuing the Reformation among Catholic Christians in his environment . Many of his activities, which were of considerable importance for the development of the Inner Mission in the Rhineland, were based on the basic stance of defending Protestantism, which up until then was only weakly represented in the Rhineland, against the overpowering Catholic Church. Axenfeld (and others) viewed the Protestant communities in the Rhineland as diaspores .

Foundations

The establishment of the "Evangelical Diaspora Orphanage Godesheim", a home for half and full orphans as well as neglected children and infants, is an example of Axenfeld's endeavors to combine diakonia and missionary work. By creating the orphanage, he wanted to prevent Protestant orphans from being brought up as Catholics or even being admitted to a monastery. The aim was to remove affected Protestant children from the Rhenish diaspora from Catholic influence.

Axenfeld founded a large number of social and church institutions as well as supporting associations in Godesberg. With the status of the association, the respective institutions should remain independent of the church. In 1885 he established the Evangelical Association for Inner Mission to Godesberg (later: Evangelical Association for Diakonie eV ); All other associations and institutions were subordinate to this association. In 1888 this association also received the rights of a legal person.

One of Axenfeld's first projects was the creation of an association for higher education , which in 1875 founded an equal school (“Pädagogium”); In 1873 he had already received the license to run a “higher school”. However, this school had to be closed again in 1877 due to failure. Further foundings of Axenfeld in the following years were:

  • 1878: Opening of the Diakoniehaus Herberge zur Heimat , an accommodation for wandering craftspeople.
  • 1879: Establishment of the Evangelical Men and Youth Association , which in the following years joined the West German Youth Union (today the YMCA West Union ).
  • 1880: Inauguration of the newly built Evangelical Church in what was then Rüngsdorf .
  • 1881: Inauguration of a rest house for women .
  • 1883/1884: The royal government granted a license to found the Evangelical Pedagogy , which under Otto Kühne became the largest German private school before the First World War , known far beyond Bonn ; In 1914, more than 450 students were taught here. Today Otto Kühne School was designed as a higher-boys boarding school, which classes Sexta to Obertertia a secondary school included.
  • 1883: In the Luther year (400th birthday), the Luther Association for diaspora care was founded .
  • 1886: Foundation of the Evangelical private elemantary school after Axenfeld had received a concession from the royal government in autumn 1886 to establish such a Protestant elementary school "for the service of the Protestant diaspora living around Godesberg".
  • 1882–1886: Planning and construction of the “Villa Recreation for Men” in Rheinallee ; later renamed Christian Hozpiz . In 1910 the Kepler Society for the Promotion of Natural Sciences moved in here , which was later banned by the National Socialists.
  • 1888/1889: Founding of the Evangelical Diaspora Orphanage Godesheim (also called: Diaspora Orphanage - Confirmation Institute - Crafts Training Institute ) for half and full orphans as well as neglected children and infants above Schweinheim . Around 1914 this institution looked after more than 200 children. The institution should “feed itself through its own economy”, demanded Axenfeld already in the planning stage and thereby invalidated the reservations of the opponents of such an institution, according to which Godesberg was too expensive for an orphanage. Axenfeld stated elsewhere: “Godesberg is a recognized healthy place: 800 souls, with only 4 deaths in one year. The healthy air should not only go to the rich. One should rather lay Lazarus at the feet of the rich man. ”The foundation stone of the home was laid with the help of the Gustav Adolf Association . A board of trustees, which collected donations and administered legacies, provided the cash that was still lacking at the beginning. The craft businesses initially operated here were closed in 1929. After the Second World War , Federal President Theodor Heuss also supported the institution, which today continues as a youth welfare center. The Evangelical Youth Welfare Center in Godesheim looks after around 500 children and young people on the old Godesberg main site and in branch offices in the greater Bonn, Rhein-Sieg and Cologne areas.
  • 1889: Creation of voluntary nursing.
  • 1889: Foundation of the kindergarten Evangelical Toddler School .
  • 1892: Opening of a convalescent home.
  • 1893: Founding of a private girls' school on Mirbach / Wielandstrasse . In the Evangelical Lyceum for girls , “Prussian virtues and cleanliness” prevailed. The Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium is the successor to the Protestant Lyceum, which was closed during the Nazi era.
  • 1894: Foundation of the House Philadelphia Association , which was supposed to enable the conversion of Catholics and the promotion of training for young Protestants. From this a Protestant school for gifted people developed .

legacy

Due to the increasing deterioration in his health, which was also due to extensive travel and lecturing activities, Axenfeld applied for his retirement in 1895. After finishing his work in Bad Godesberg, he moved to Cologne and continued his diaspora work from there. In July 1896 he was operated on in Marburg for stomach cancer and died there shortly afterwards. His funeral took place in the castle cemetery with great sympathy from the population in Godesberg . Axenfeld's grave is cared for as an honorary grave for the community. His sons, Gottfried and Karl Axenfeld, continued their father's work. The Julius Axenfeld Foundation , which exists today, was part of the Evangelical Association for Diakonie e. V. emerged. The Julius Axenfeld Foundation is one of the largest providers of social services in the Bonn area. It is active in the field of youth, elderly and handicapped assistance with outpatient and inpatient offers. The Evangelische Axenfeldgesellschaft gGmbH also belongs to it .

During his tenure, Axenfeld had foresight bought land from a farm on Godeshöhe for the community. This area was used decades later for the construction of the Evangelical Forest Hospital (inauguration 1970) and the senior center, which was opened in 1996 and named after the Bad Godesberg pastor Heinrich Kolfhaus , which is a successor to the Christian Hospice founded by Axenfeld .

family

In 1862 Axenfeld married the daughter of his landlady in Königsberg, Luisa Antonia (called Antonie) Link; his brother-in-law was Theodor Link, a pastor in Koblenz. The couple had three daughters and three sons. The second oldest son was the ophthalmologist and scientist Theodor Axenfeld . The sons Gottfried and Karl Axenfeld were also theologians and pastors - Gottfried as pastor in Bad Godesberg and Betzdorf , Karl as missionary in Africa and later general superintendent of the Kurmark . The eldest daughter Hanna was married to the Bielefeld pastor Arnold Waubke, the daughter Elisabeth to the Dessau pastor Richard Arnold. The daughter Elma Axenfeld was a pianist, as was Axenfeld's great-niece, Edith Picht-Axenfeld . A cousin was Karl Heinersdorff .

Namesake

After Julius Axenfeld are named in Bad Godesberg:

  • the Julius Axenfeld Foundation
  • the Evangelische Axenfeldgesellschaft gGmbH , part of the Julius Axenfeld Foundation
  • the youth home of the Redeemer parish in Habsburgerstrasse 9
  • the approximately 800 meter long Axenfeldstrasse near the Godeshöhe

Publications

  • Julius Axenfeld, The Protestant Movement in the Greco-Oriental Church. Lecture given at the German-Dutch conference in Emden on October 4, 1971 (separate reprint from the negotiations of the Emden Conference) , W. Haynel, Emden 1872
  • Julius Axenfeld, Schul-Poetik: mainly according to the latest editions of Dr. Ernst Kleinpaul designed, now two-volume “Poetik” , Ernst Kleinpaul (ed.), Langewiesche publishing house , 1877
  • Julius Axenfeld, The Gospel of the Roman Christians , pamphlet , E. Röttger, Kassel 1896

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c Susanna Biskup, Walk through the villa district The splendor and power of the Protestants , August 14, 2013, Bonner General-Anzeiger
  2. ↑ According to other sources, his grandfather had already converted from Jewish to Christianity, cf. Haldun Gülalp and Günter Seufert, The failed crypto-conversion of the Greek-Orthodox Church, in: Religion, Identity and Politics: Germany and Turkey in Interaction, ISBN 978-1-13623-1-674 , Routledge, 2013, p. 51f
  3. ^ Monthly booklets for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland (3–4), Association for Rhenish Church History (Hrsg.), 1954, p. 146
  4. ↑ Axenfeld had an older brother, Karl Axenfeld, also: Carl Axenfeld (1831-1897); in older sources he is referred to as a field preacher and missionary to the Jews in Cologne , cf. Paul Gerhard Aring , Christians and Jews today, and the “mission to the Jews” ?: History and theology of Protestant mission to the Jews in Germany, presented and examined using the example of Protestantism in central Germany , ISBN 978-3-89228-0-378 , Haag and Herchen, 1987, p. 374
  5. ↑ Malte Fuhrmann, Appendix: The German Consuls and Pastors of Smyrna and Saloniki , in: The Dream of the German Orient: Two German Colonies in the Ottoman Empire 1851-1918 , ISBN 978-3-59338-0-056 , Campus Verlag, 2006
  6. ↑ Malte Fuhrmann, The Dream of the German Orient: Two German Colonies in the Ottoman Empire 1851-1918 , ISBN 978-3-59338-0-056 , Campus Verlag , 2006, p. 147
  7. ↑ Volker Max Langbehn, Mohammad Salama (ed.), German Colonialism: Race, the Holocaust, and Postwar Germany , ISBN 978-0-23114-9-723 , Columbia University Press , 2011, p. 128
  8. ↑ Yearbooks for the History and Culture of Southeastern Europe (JGKS), Volume 7, Slavica Verlag, 2007, p. 189
  9. ↑ Haldun Gülalp and Günter Seufert , The failed crypto-conversion of the Greek-Orthodox Church , in: Religion, Identity and Politics: Germany and Turkey in Interaction , ISBN 978-1-13623-1-674 , Routledge , 2013, p. 51f
  10. ↑ Peter Schneemelcher, How should Protestant Christians behave among the Catholic population? The Godesberg pastor Julius Axenfeld and his fight against the ultramontanes - A contribution to the course and consequences of the culture war in the Rhineland , on the occasion of: Rhenish Church History: Symposium on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Superintendent a. D. Dr. Stephan Bitter
  11. ↑ a b c d e Klaus Kohl, Christ's essence on the market: a study on the speech of diakonia as an expression of the essence and life of the church , in: Works on pastoral theology , volume 54, ISBN 978-3-52562-4-029 , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , 2007, p. 21
  12. ↑ a b Stefan Flesch, Michael Hofferberth and Andreas Metzing, The Archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland: Its history and its holdings. Published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary , No. 33 of the writings of the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland , ISBN 978-3-93025-0-462 , Archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland (ed.), P. 245
  13. ↑ Ursula Rumpler, Die Stahlschmidts: a historical-genealogical archive and source research , ISBN 978-3-20000-4-795 , self-published, 2005, p. 340
  14. ↑ Edith Ennen and Dietrich Höroldt , From Roman fort to federal capital: a short history of the city of Bonn , City of Bonn (ed.), ISBN 978-3-08614-094-5 , Stollfuss , 1985, p. 274
  15. ↑ PÄDA - 125 years of living tradition , website of the Otto Kühne School
  16. ↑ Tatjana Klein (edit), Archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland - Finding aid: Evangelisches Kinderheim Godesheim (5WV 009) , 2012, p. 3f
  17. ^ Kerstin Stünkel, Evangelische Jugendhilfe Godesheim: Ceremony for the 125th anniversary in the Uniclub , November 12, 2013, Bonner General-Anzeiger
  18. ↑ From 1892 to 1896 he gave lectures in Berlin, Bethel, Braunschweig, Dessau, Halle, Jena, Kassel, Krefeld, Posen, Remscheid, Saarbrücken, Saxony, Thuringia, Werden, West Prussia, Wetzlar and Wiesbaden.
  19. ↑ Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu, Protestant youth welfare: Godesheim Peter Schneemelcher and Klaus Graf look back on 125 years , November 11, 2013, Bonner General-Anzeiger
  20. ^ Website of the Haus am Stadtwald gGmbh
  21. ↑ Chronicle , Senior Center Heinrich Kolfhaus gGmbH
  22. ↑ Der Katholik , Kirchheim Verlag, Mainz 1897, p. 560

Web links

literature

  • Stephan Bitter, Julius Axenfeld and the Ev. Community of Godesberg (1870–1895): Memoirs of Karl and Theodor Axenfeld; on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of death , ISBN 978-3-87062-5-023 , CMZ-Verlag, 1996 [for articles not yet evaluated]
  • Stephan Bitter and Ursula Rumpler, contribution to the Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon , Volume 23 (2004)
personal data
SURNAME Axenfeld, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Axenfeld, Julius Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Novgorod-Syeversk
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1896
Place of death Marburg