Karl Grein

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Karl Ernst Friedrich Nicolaus Grein (born November 21, 1881 in Darmstadt ; † July 27, 1957 there ) was a German Protestant theologian and member of the Confessing Church .

Karl Grein was born in Darmstadt in 1881 as the son of court preacher Ernst Grein and his wife Antonie and graduated from the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium there in 1899 . He then studied theology in Halle and Gießen and joined the Halle Wingolf in 1899 and in 1901 the Gießen Wingolf . After the following military service he was in the v. Bodelschwinghschen Anstalten Bethel .

Karl Grein received his first pastor's position in Kaichen near Friedberg (Hessen) in 1912 . During the First World War he served as a chaplain on the Western Front. After initial enthusiasm for the war, as the war progressed he increasingly doubted the meaningfulness of the military conflict. In 2017 his war diaries and the correspondence with his wife Hedwig were published.

After the end of the war he joined the left-liberal German Democratic Party and in 1919 became a pastor in Arheilgen , which has been a district of Darmstadt since 1937. After the National Socialists came to power, Grein was involved in founding the Hessian Pastors' Emergency Association, which was incorporated into the Confessing Church (BK) in autumn 1934. Due to his rejection of the Nazi regime and the dominant German Christians in the Protestant church , he was given leave of absence by Regional Bishop Ernst Ludwig Dietrich in 1934 , but continued his service with the support of the Arheilger parishioners. After his leave of absence was initially lifted in March 1935, he was removed from office on August 5 of the same year in connection with official criminal proceedings, but continued his work, which resulted in the official closure of the Arheilger Church and the parish hall. After the faithful reopened it by force, the regional church subsequently refrained from taking action against Pastor Grein, but withdrew his support and, in 1936, the right to give religious instruction.

As the only citizen of his district, Grein protested sharply against the persecution of the Arheilger Jews as a result of the November pogroms in 1938 and organized the rescue service for a critically injured citizen. As a reaction to this, there were graffiti on the church and rectory by convinced National Socialists.

After the Second World War, Grein, together with other members of the Confessing Church, played a key role in the rebuilding of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau . He was initially a member of the provisional church leadership in Hesse and was appointed senior church councilor under church president Martin Niemöller in 1950 . Grein was awarded the Wichernplakette and in 1952 the Federal Cross of Merit for his social and charitable work as the first Hesse-Nassau pastor . In the same year he retired and died five years later in his native Darmstadt.

literature

  • Hans-Heinrich Herwig: "War Separation Time": War diary and letters from the chaplain Karl Grein and his wife Hedwig: 1915-1918 . Justus-von-Liebig-Verlag, 2017 ISBN 978-3873903951
  • Hans-Heinrich Herwig: Karl Grein 1881-1957 We know that I fear no one. Biography: Pastor in the Arheilger Kirchenkampf . Justus-von-Liebig-Verlag, 2011 ISBN 978-3873903012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de/g/grein-karl-ernst-friedrich-nicolaus.html
  2. ^ Karl Dienst : Between Science and Church Politics: on the importance of university theology for the identity of a regional church in the past and present . Peter-Lang-Verlagsgruppe, 2009 ISBN 978-3631583654 , p. 42
  3. ↑ http://www.ekkw.de/pfarrverein/pfarrblatt/pfarrblatt_2010_3.pdf p. 72
  4. ↑ http://www.fr.de/rhein-main/alle-gemeinden/darmstadt/ausstellung-mutig-gegen-die-nazis-a-997442
  5. ^ Karl Dienst : Church - School - Religious Instruction: Investigation following the EKHN's church struggle documentation . 2009 ISBN 978-3825818432 , p. 220
  6. ↑ http://www.dfg-vk-darmstadt.de/Lexikon_Auflage_2/GreinKarl.htm
  7. ^ Karl Dienst : Church - School - Religious Instruction: Investigation following the EKHN's church struggle documentation . 2009 ISBN 978-3825818432 , p. 121
  8. ^ Grein, Karl Ernst Friedrich Nicolaus. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
personal data
SURNAME Grein, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grein, Karl Ernst Friedrich Nicolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and member of the Confessing Church
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1957
Place of death Darmstadt