Julius Bender

Regional bishop Bender (2nd from left) at the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the University of Freiburg in 1956

Ferdinand Julius Bender (born August 30, 1893 in Michelfeld ; † January 19, 1966 in Karlsruhe ) was a German Protestant theologian and regional bishop of the Evangelical Church in Baden .

Life

Julius Bender attended high schools in Mannheim and Baden-Baden . After graduating from high school, he studied theology in Tübingen and Kiel , where he completed his studies. During his studies, he was particularly influenced by Adolf Schlatter and Erich Schaeder . Then he was a soldier in the First World War . Then he was vicar in Karlsruhe- Hagsfeld, St. Georgen and Schopfheim . In 1928 he was elected head of the Nonnenweier deaconess mother house (today the Schwanau community , Ortenau district ). At that time he was also a member of the fraternity of his Confessing Church congregation. After the outbreak of World War II , Bender was drafted into the Air Force as a major and was only able to return to Nonnenweier in 1944.

After he had already been appointed a member of the extended upper church council in the summer of 1945 , the regional synod of the Evangelical regional church in Baden Bender elected him regional bishop in November 1945 and thus the successor to Julius Kühlewein , who had recently resigned from his office. In February 1946 he took office. As a representative of the Evangelical Church in Baden, he was from January to June 1946 a member of the provisional parliament in the state of Württemberg-Baden .

After turning 71, Bender retired. The regional synod therefore elected Hans Heidland as his successor in September 1964 . A good year later, Bender died in Karlsruhe.

Bender was a member of the Christian Social People's Service party between 1929 and 1933 . His son Traugott Bender ( CDU ) was Minister of Justice of Baden-Württemberg in the cabinet of Prime Minister Hans Filbinger .

Honors

In 1927 Bender received an honorary doctorate ( D. theol. Hc) from the theological faculty of Heidelberg University . He was also an honorary senator of the Technical University of Karlsruhe . In 1962 he received the Federal Cross of Merit with a star and in 1965 the city of Karlsruhe granted him honorary citizenship .

literature

• Serving Church, FS for regional bishop DJ Bender on his 70th birthday , on behalf of the Oberkirchenrat of the Evangelical Church in Baden ed. by Otto Hof , Karlsruhe 1963.
• Fred Sepaintner: Julius Bender . In: Badische Biographien NF Vol. 3, Stuttgart 1990, pp. 35-38 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Short biography on the website of the Evangelical Church in Baden