Karl Heinz Neukamm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Heinz Neukamm (2005)

Karl Heinz Neukamm (born April 19, 1929 in Pegnitz ; † August 7, 2018 in Nuremberg ) was a German pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . From 1967 to 1984 he was rector of the Rummelsberger Diakonie and from 1984 to 1994 president of the Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Neukamm was one of the most famous Protestant social politicians of the present. Among other things, he campaigned for the introduction of long-term care insurance , which became a reality in 1993.

Life and work

Youth and first years of work

Neukamm came as the son of Georg Neukamm (1900–1974) and his wife Frieda, geb. Fleischmann (1903–1970) to the world. After finishing school and graduating from high school in Bayreuth , he studied theology in Erlangen and Göttingen from 1947 to 1951 . In Erlangen he was a member of the Bubenreuther fraternity , which he chaired as spokesman in the 1950/51 winter semester.

During his vicariate in Traunstein (1951–56) he met Irmgard Kelber (1936–1993), whom he married in 1956. The marriage resulted in four sons and three daughters. In 1956 he took up his first pastor's position in Beerbach in Central Franconia.

Rector of the Rummelsberger Diakonie

From 1967 (elected 1966) to 1984 Neukamm was rector of the Rummelsberger Diakonie and chairman of the board of the Rummelsberger Anstalten. During this time, the Rummelsberg hospital , the vocational training center, the youth welfare center and the community academy and conference center as well as the large center for people with disabilities at the Auhof were built. In total, the Rummelsberger Diakonie, under Neukamm's direction, made investments of around 150 million euros. Neukamm also campaigned for the establishment of partner facilities in Tanzania, the Usa River rehabilitation center at the foot of Mount Meru and the Faraja Brotherhood in the Kilimanjaro region .

In December 1970 he was part of the delegation that accompanied the then Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt to Poland. He reported on Brandt's famous knee- fall: "We didn't see the knee fall ourselves, we were too far back - but we quickly noticed that something extraordinary was happening". According to Neukamm, the trip became one of his most formative experiences.

From 1973 to 1988 the convicted war criminal Martin Sommer was housed in a nursing home of the Rummelsberg Institutions, the Stephanusheim. This led to massive public criticism. There was hostility up to threats of violence against Neukamm.

Neukamm belonged to the general synod of the EKD and was in the Bavarian regional synod and the synod of the EKD. In 1975 he took over the honorary presidency of the Diakonisches Werk Bayern . In the election of the Bavarian regional bishop in April 1975, Neukamm ran, but was defeated by Johannes Hanselmann .

President of the Diakonisches Werk der EKD

In 1984 Neukamm was appointed President of the Diakonisches Werk der EKD in Stuttgart, which he chaired until 1994. As Diakonie President he was committed to church aid measures in the GDR and to humanitarian measures. He established close contacts between West and East and, after reunification, brought together the Diakonische Werke in East and West Germany. He found a refuge in Bavaria for the former East German foreign exchange procurer Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski . Neukamm was strongly committed to long-term care insurance, which was introduced in 1993.

In 1993 Neukamm's wife Irmgard died in Stuttgart.

Commitment in old age

Neukamm's motto, “A Christian is always on duty”, retained its validity beyond his professional life. After his active service he was the representative of the EKD council for repatriates and expellees until 2000. From 1995 to 2009 he was chairman of the old men’s association of the Bubenreuther Erlangen fraternity. He took an active part in the life of the Rummelsberg Diakonie without ever interfering, as the Diakonie emphasizes in its obituary. By the Brotherhood Council of the Rummelsberg Diakonie, Neukamm was appointed Rummelsberg Brother in 2013, an award that was important to him to the end.

In retirement, Neukamm lived in Nuremberg, most recently in an apartment at St. Lorenz Abbey, where he died on August 7, 2018 at the age of 89. He was buried on August 14, 2018 in the Rummelsberg cemetery.

Awards

Publications

  • Mission and diakonia - two sides of the same coin. Diakonie's expectations of the Evangelical Mission (series: Idea-Documentation 87/4), Idea, Wetzlar 1987.
  • Church diakonia in the social state, Echterdingen 1994.
  • Report on the situation of repatriates in 1999 , ecclesiastical service in the EKD, Hanover 1999.

As editor

  • Small internship for employees in Protestant youth work , Evangelisches Jugendwerk in Bayern, Nuremberg 1965.
  • Who wants to serve me. 18 life pictures of men and women in the service of love , Brendow-Verlag, Moers 1985, ISBN 978-3-87067-255-3 .

literature

  • Thomas Greif: Karl Heinz Neukamm (* 1929). In: Thomas Greif (Ed.): Kaiser, Chancellor, Rummelsberger. 21 footnotes of German history. Accompanying volume for the exhibition in the Diakoniemuseum Rummelsberg. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2017, pp. 193–207, ISBN 978-3-95976-088-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Heinz Neukamm: Obituary notice , sueddeutsche.de
  2. ^ Diakonie President Ulrich Lilie, quoted in in Former Diakonie President Neukamm died at the age of 89. Press release from Diakonie Deutschland, August 8, 2018, accessed on August 11, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c The Burschenschaft der Bubenreuther 1817–2017 , edited by Arnulf Baumann, Dieter Janson and Helmut Christ, self-published by the Verein der Bubenreuther Philister eV, Erlangen 2017, p. 481.
  4. ^ A b Günter Breitenbach: Obituary for Pastor Dr. hc Karl Heinz Neukamm: "Keeping the tried and tested and creating the new". Rummelsberger Diakonie, August 10, 2018, accessed on August 11, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Faraja Diaconic Center. Rummelsberger Diakonie, accessed on August 11, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b Jutta Olschewski: "Neukamm gave the Diakonie an evangelical profile". In: nordbayern.de . August 10, 2018, accessed August 10, 2018 .
  7. ^ Thomas Greif: Karl Heinz Neukamm (* 1929). In: Thomas Greif (Ed.): Kaiser, Chancellor, Rummelsberger. 21 footnotes of German history. Accompanying volume for the exhibition in the Diakoniemuseum Rummelsberg. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2017, pp. 193–207.
  8. ^ Rummelsberg Diakonie. Latest news: Pastor Dr. hc Karl Heinz Neukamm is buried in the Rummelsberg cemetery.
personal data
SURNAME Neukamm, Karl Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant pastor and long-time president of the Diakonisches Werk
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Pegnitz
DATE OF DEATH 7th August 2018
Place of death Nuremberg