Julius by Jan

Julius von Jan (born April 17, 1897 in Schweindorf / Württemberg ; † September 21, 1964 in Korntal ) was a German Protestant pastor and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Julius von Jan was one of the few representatives of the Christian resistance against the November pogroms because of his active participation as a confidant of the Confessing Church and his openly formulated condemnation of the November pogroms in the sermon on the day of penance and prayer in Oberlenningen (now a district of Lenningen ) on November 16, 1938 the anti-Semitic politics of the National Socialists .

The parish hall of the Protestant parish in Oberlenningen has been known as the "Julius-von-Jan parish hall" since 1988.

Youth and participation in the war

Julius von Jan was born as the fourth of seven children to pastor Albert von Jan. In 1902 the family moved to Gerhausen near Blaubeuren , where he attended elementary school. Then he went to the Latin school in Blaubeuren until 1908 . After passing the state examination , he attended the evangelical seminaries between 1911 and 1914, first in Maulbronn monastery and then in the upper level in the former Benedictine monastery in Blaubeuren. His contact with professors and classmates was very lively, he learned with great zeal and remembered this time as particularly fruitful. Characterized by a patriotic German-national sentiment, he volunteered at the beginning of World War I in August 1914. He was on the front lines in Poland, Russia, Serbia, Belgium and France, was wounded and in 1917 was taken prisoner by the British. He later regarded the two years of pastoral care in captivity as a “blessed awakening time”. This helped him over the deep disappointment that the German defeat and the collapse of the Empire had caused him.

Study and first parish

After returning from captivity, he continued to follow the path of a typical seminarist in Württemberg and studied Protestant theology at the Tübingen monastery of the Eberhard Karls University . In the summer of 1923 and in the spring of 1925 he passed the first theological examination, respectively. passed the second theological examination and took over the pastoral position in Herrentierbach near Blaufelden in late summer . In 1927 he married Martha Munz and had two children with her. In 1928 he moved to the parish Brettach in the Deanery Neuenstadt am Kocher .

Pastor under National Socialism

1933 to 1938

In 1935 Julius von Jan took over the pastoral position in Oberlenningen at the foot of the Swabian Alb and not far from his parents' house. Pastor Rheinwald, his predecessor, had died of heart failure as a result of an argument with the NSDAP local group leader and the police. Shortly after the seizure of power , Julius von Jan came into conflict with the National Socialist regime and joined the Confessing Church. He worked as a shop steward in the Kirchheim deanery district and stood up for persecuted pastors, such as in 1934 for regional bishop Theophil Wurm and for Martin Niemöller . This resulted in conflicts not only with government agencies and the NSDAP, but also with the German Christians . But his parish largely supported him. In May 1937 the zeppelin exploded in Lakehurst near New York. Julius von Jan took this as an opportunity to admonish “humility before God” and to take a position against the “politicized German-Christian Church”. The Word of God meant a far greater commitment than that for Julius Jan allegiance of officials over the state , especially a state whose political system to the Christian Bible was inconsistent.

November 1938 until the end of the war

The anti-Semitic policies grew steadily stronger proportions and culminated in front of the Holocaust in the November pogroms between the 8th and the 11th November 1938. For Julius Jan was certain that it was a sin was to remain silent in the face of these crimes. He put himself and his family in mortal danger. In his sermon on the day of penance on November 16 under the title “O country, country, country, hear the word of the Lord!” (Jer 22:29), a week after the persecution of Jews in Germany and the meanwhile “integrated” Austria, he condemned the oppression and persecution of Jews and those who think differently. He lamented the apostasy from God and Christ and the guilt that the German people had incurred with this injustice, and therefore saw great disaster approaching Germany. In particular, he openly criticized the lack of support from the Württemberg church leadership. A week later he took up the subject again in his sermon. On November 25th Julius was taken over by Jan from SA men from the Nürtingen party circle under Dr. Walker and HJ-Bannführer Oskar Riegraf insulted as "Judenknecht", badly mistreated and then taken into " protective custody " by the police . After expressing solidarity and sympathy in Kirchheim / Teck while in custody, he was transferred to Stuttgart, released from custody at the end of March 1939 and transferred to the Gestapo . On April 13th, he was expelled from Württemberg and Hohenzollern and found refuge with his family in a church home of the Bavarian State Church and then in Ortenburg near Passau. On November 15, 1939, Julius von Jan was sentenced to 16 months in prison by a special court chaired by Hermann Cuhorst in Stuttgart for offenses against the “ pulpit paragraph ” and the “ treachery law ”, of which he spent five months in the penal institution in Landsberg am Lech had to sit down. The church leadership was able to prevent a concentration camp , but they criticized the political content and the "polemics" of Jan's sermon. This resulted in his suspension and disciplinary proceedings against him. After his release at the end of May 1940, he worked for three years - he was declared unfit for military service - in various places in Bavaria. In mid-1943 he was sent as an artilleryman in a penal company to the Eastern Front in Russia and the Ukraine ; by defamatory letters from the NSDAP district leadership in Nürtingen - as he himself reported - his deliberate perishing at the front should be carried out "in the manner of Urija ". A jaundice disease allowed Julius of January after four months of returning home; it was stationed in Bavaria, Styria and Hungary until the end of the war.

Post War and Death

Grave site in Korntal

After a brief internment by the American military, he returned to his parish in Oberlenningen in September 1945, where he was warmly received and worked for another four years. In 1949 he took over his last congregation at the Johanneskirche in Zuffenhausen . In 1958 he suffered kidney failure and a heart attack as a result of the strenuous work, but also as a late consequence of imprisonment and the war , which forced him to give up his work in the community. Julius von Jan , who was associated with Swabian pietism , spent the years of his retirement in the Evangelical Brethren Congregation in Korntal, where he was also able to work as a sick pastor.

Julius von Jan's Sermon on the Day of Repentance and Prayer (November 16, 1938)

( Jeremiah 22:29)

In these days a question goes through our people: […] Where is the man who calls out in the name of God and righteousness, as Jeremiah called: Keep justice and righteousness, save the robbed from the hand of the wicked! Do not kill strangers, orphans and widows, and do not violate anyone, and do not shed innocent blood!

God sent us such men! Today they are either in the concentration camp or silenced. But those who come to the princes' houses and can still perform ordinances there are preachers of lies like the national enthusiasts in Jeremiah's time and can only call out "salvation" and "victory", but not preach the word of the Lord. [...] We have received the receipt for the great apostasy from God and Christ, to organized antichristism. The passions are unleashed, the commandments are ignored, places of worship that were sacred to others have been burned with impunity, the property of strangers is stolen or destroyed. Men who loyally served our German people [...] were thrown into the concentration camp simply because they belonged to another race! Even if the injustice is not admitted from above - the healthy public sentiment clearly feels it, even where one does not dare to speak about it. And we as Christians see how this injustice burdens our people before God and has to bring its punishments over Germany. [...] God does not allow him to be mocked. What a person sows, he will also reap! ...

literature

• Julius von Jan: In the fight against anti-Semitism. Experiences in the Third Reich. In: Stuttgarter Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt. No. 34 of August 25 and No. 35 of September 1, 1957.
• Eberhard Röhm , Jörg Thierfelder: Jews, Christians, Germans, 1933–1945. Volume 3, 1, Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7668-3393-6 , pp. 69-92.
• Thomas Wolfes:  Julius von Jan. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 18, Bautz, Herzberg 2001, ISBN 3-88309-086-7 , Sp. 752-760. (with detailed references)
• Sigrid Brüggemann: The persecution of Catholic and Protestant clergy. In: Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier (eds.): The Secret State Police in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Butterfly Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-89657-145-8 , pp. 220-348.
• Nicole Marten: A penance sermon with consequences. In: Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt für Württemberg . Volume 108, 2013, No. 44, p. 14.
• Hans-Dieter Wille: Julius von Jan. In: Wolfgang Schöllkopf, Juliane Baur, Volker Henning Drecoll (eds.): Stiftsköpfe . Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-16-152231-4 , pp. 366-375.
• Manfred Ernst Wahl: Truly every reason for a day of penance. The brave Oberlenninger pastor Julius from Jan. In: Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt für Württemberg. Edition Middle Neckar and Stauferland. Vol. 103, 2008, No. 45, pp. 10-11.
• Jörg Thierfelder: Julius von Jan. A village pastor can no longer remain silent. In: Karl-Heinz Rueß , Marcus Zecha (Hrsg.): Courageous Christians in the Nazi state. Elisabeth Braun, Hermann Diem , Theodor Dipper , Eugen Jäckh, Julius von Jan, Otto and Gertrud Mörike , Erwin Palmer, Albert Schäfer, Gustav Seebich , Paul Gotthilf Veil , Gregor Laundry, Alois Ziese. Jewish Museum, Göppingen 2002, ISBN 3-933844-39-8 , pp. 44–47.
• Roland Spur: Julius von Jan. In: Michael Broch (Ed.): Christians in Baden-Württemberg: Courageous, pious, pioneering. Gesangbuchverlag, Stuttgart / Schwabenverlag , Ostfildern 2001, ISBN 3-7966-1013-7 , pp. 34–39.
• Herbert Hummel: Julius von Jan and the sermon against Nazi terror. In: Herbert Hummel: Spirit and Church. Blaubeurer monastery students and seminarians. Biographical sketches from four centuries. Volume 1. Alb-Donau-Kreis , Ulm 1998, ISBN 3-923107-05-6 , pp. 188–190.
• Eberhard Röhm: Julius von Jan and the Protestant Church in view of the persecution of Jews in the Third Reich. In: Seventy Years of the Martin Luther Church Gerhausen. Kirchengemeinde Blaubeuren- Gerhausen , 1997, pp. 20–30.
• Hede Wiedersheim: The day of repentance sermon 1938 by pastor Julius from Jan. In: Kurt Rommel (Hrsg.): Mörikes Känzele and other church stories. Quell, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7918-2331-0 , pp. 82-90.
• Werner Raupp : Julius von Jan, a "right prophet". In: Werner Raupp: Lived Faith. Experiences and life testimonies from our country. A reader. Franz, Metzingen 1993, ISBN 3-7722-0226-8 , pp. 357-361.
• Wolfgang Schöllkopf: Julius von Jan (1897-1964) - Protestant preacher in Oberlenningen against the pogrom night of November 9, 1938. In: Angela Borgstedt et al. (Ed.): Courage proved. Resistance biographies from the south-west (= writings on political regional studies of Baden-Württemberg , published by the State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg, vol. 46), Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 9783945414378 , pp. 149–156.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manuel Werner: Nürtingen and November pogrom. Nürtingen 1998, storage location: City Archives Nürtingen.