Karl Halaski

Karl Ludwig August Halaski (born November 9, 1908 in Graudenz ; † January 25, 1996 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Reformed clergyman.

Halaski grew up in Lübeck from 1920 and graduated from high school in 1928 at the Johanneum there . He then studied Protestant theology in Münster , Marburg and Berlin . He joined the Confessing Church in 1934 as a vicar in Hamm . He was ordained in 1935 in Wunderthausen (today part of Bad Berleburg ) , where he also worked as an assistant preacher and from 1943 as a pastor. In 1940 he was called up for military service, rose to lieutenant in the naval artillery and was involved in the surrender of Buxtehude without a fight . Because he had received a fine and a warning from the Gestapo for abuse of the pulpit , he only had to remain in English captivity for a few months.

In 1951 Halaski took over the pastoral position in Gruiten in the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . Here he already worked part-time for the Reformed Federation , including from 1951 as editor of the Reformed Church newspaper . In that year his most widely distributed work, the church book, appeared as an agenda for German-language Reformed worship services. In 1960 he became the first full-time General Secretary of the Reformed Federation, which at that time had its seat in Frankfurt am Main. In 1973 he retired, but kept the editorial office of the Reformed Church Newspaper for another year. He also remained active as an editor and author for a long time.

The theological college in Debrecen (Hungary) awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1972 .

Halaski was married to Irmgard Stender from 1936. They had three daughters together.

Publications (selection)

• Reformed worship in the Union? On the draft agenda of the Evangelical Church of the Union (= Reformed according to God's Word, H. 9). Publishing house of the bookshop of the educational association, Neukirchen 1956.
• The message of the Heidelberg Catechism (= Reformed according to God's Word, H. 16). Publishing house of the bookshop of the educational association, Neukirchen 1963.
• The preacher John Calvin . Articles and news for the edition of the Supplementa Calviniana (= Reformed according to God's Word, H. 17). Neukirchener Verlag des Erziehungsverein, Neukirchen 1966.

As editor

• (with Walter Müller-Römheld :) Nairobi. Unifying General Assembly of the World Reformed Federation and the International Congregational Council. Eckart-Verlag, Witten u. a. 1971, ISBN 978-3-7703-0082-2 .
• (with Walter Herrenbrück senior :) Church, denomination, ecumenism, commemorative publication for Professor D. Dr. Wilhelm Niesel , moderator of the Reformed Covenant on his 70th birthday. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973, ISBN 978-3-7887-0355-4 .
• The Reformed Churches (= The Churches of the World, Vol. 17). Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 978-3-7715-0164-8 .
• Church book. Prayers and ordinances for the community gathered under the word. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn ³ 1983, ISBN 978-3-7887-0689-0 .

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bauks : The Protestant pastors in Westphalia from the Reformation to 1945 (= contributions to the Westphalian church history, vol. 4). Bielefeld 1980, No. 2246 ( full text ).
• Hans-Georg Ulrichs : “A fresh person with diverse interests”. The reformed publicist, functionary and liturgist Karl Halaski. In: Ders .: Reformed Protestantism in the 20th century. Denominational studies. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2018, pp. 550-585.

Web links

• Estate directory in the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland
• Brief portrait