Oberfriedersdorf Church

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Friedersdorf Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oberfriedersdorf in Friedersdorf an der Spree , like the two churches in Neusalza-Sprembergs, belongs to the Ephorie Löbau-Zittau of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Saxony. Of the three churches of the small Saxon city municipality in the district of Görlitz , it is the youngest sacred building.

Local and church history

Today's Friedersdorf district of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg, which was an independent municipality until 2007, emerged as a Waldhufendorf on the Upper Spree in the course of medieval German colonization in the east and was first mentioned in a document in 1272. Until the end of the 15th century, the village Friedersdorf belonged to the manor of the noble von Raußendorf family . After that, a territorial division of the elongated place began. In pre-Reformation (Catholic) times and centuries after the Reformation , however, there was no church of its own in the village, which at that time was at times subdivided into Ober-, Mittel- and Niederfriedersdorf.

Village without a church

Between 1489 and 1493 Oberfriedersdorf was separated from Niederfriedersdorf and in 1568 came under the Catholic-Bohemian rule of the von Schleinitz zu Schluckenau and Tollenstein . In connection with this, Oberfriedersdorf was temporarily part of the church in the north Bohemian municipality of Georgswalde and, like Ebersbach and Spremberg, was then subject to the archpriest's chair in Löbau . Regarding Oberfriedersdorf, in the visitation report of 1598/99, Pastor Philipp Stumpf, who worked in Spremberg from 1568 to 1598, complained about "... that Ernst von Schleinitz on Schluckenau, Oberfriedersdorf had torn from the parish (Spremberg) and that he had tore him for a year could not get a December. ”The Bohemian nobleman Ehrenfried von Ringwitz came into possession of Oberfriedersdorf for a short time by purchasing Schleinitz in 1595. Two years later, on February 28, 1597, Oberfriedersdorf came to the Sechsstadt Zittau as "Ratsdorf" by selling the manor for the sum of 15,000 thalers , apparently again in 1777 after an interruption. Niederfriedersdorf remained in the possession of the noble von Rodewitz family.

During the Reformation , which was introduced in the villages of southern Upper Lusatia between 1524 and 1559, the Protestant residents of the "village without a church" mostly visited the neighboring large Spremberg village church or the Ebersbach church for church services and other sacred activities . In 1580 Oberfriedersdorf, to which Mittelfriedersdorf was also attached, and Niederfriedersdorf were finally incorporated into Spremberg.

There is the following statement about the complicated church relationships between the two Upper Lusatian border communities Spremberg and Friedersdorf: “For centuries the people of Oberfriedersdorfer have faithfully made pilgrimages to Spremberg to the church and honestly delivered their December and other church duties there, but they felt there more and more reset. Since the separation from Niederfriedersdorf only this district had its own church father , while Oberfriedersdorf was completely excluded from the administration of the Spremberg church property. Also the rule of Oberfriedersdorf - later the city council of Zittau - had no church seats in Spremberg and did not receive any invitations to the pastors' instructions. "

Problems and construction of the Oberfriedersdorfer church

The ecclesiastical situation was not to change until the 18th century. In 1788 - Friedersdorf was under the rule of the noble von Leubnitz family at the time - new negotiations began regarding the parsing of Oberfriedersdorf von Spremberg. The following reasons were mentioned in particular: The great distance for the Oberfriedersdorf churchgoers to Spremberg and the lack of church stalls there. The decision was made to build their own church in Oberfriedersdorf. The wealthy farmer Gottfried Winkler made the building site available from his farming land free of charge. But only after ten years of tough struggle on various levels, including with the neighboring municipality of Spremberg, did the then sovereign, the Saxon Elector Friedrich August III. , on June 6, 1798 the construction of a parish church in Oberfriedersdorf. In the electoral deed, among other things, is formulated: “According to the circumstances, we have approved the parish we were looking for and that the community in Oberfriedersdorf should build its own church.” In connection with this, the payment of a one-off compensation to the parish was also granted Spremberg in the amount of 120 thalers. As a result of Spremberg's objection, the amount later increased to 125 thalers.

The plans for the construction of the Friedersdorf Church were drawn up by the Schönbach master carpenter Johann Christoph Wünsche. On this basis, master bricklayer Gottlieb Förster from Neusalza and his journeymen built a hall church in the classicism style between 1798 and 1801 , which could accommodate 750 people. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 1, 1798, and the elevation (topping-out ceremony) took place from May 26 to 31, 1800. The building of the church was completed in October 1801. The church is “… a plastered quarry stone building, which stands on a rectangular ground with a straight end and on the east side has a hipped gable roof . Under still provisional conditions, the first service could take place on New Year's Eve 1800. Initially the church was decorated by a ridge turret, the top of which with head, flag and cross was torn down by a violent storm in 1831. ”The church was consecrated on October 4, 1801 in the presence of deputies from the six towns of Zittau by Primarius Johann Heinrich Laughman. This also completed the church separation of Oberfriedersdorf and Niederfriedersdorf, and Mittelfriedersdorf was also parish off to Oberfriedersdorf in 1868. Niederfriedersdorf remained in the Spremberg parish. This year also marks the beginning of the Protestant parish Friedersdorf.

In 1867 the new church got a tower. Based on the design by master bricklayer Leiblich from the north Bohemian town of Schluckenau, the local master bricklayer Clemenz and his son, in conjunction with master carpenter August Weise from neighboring Ebersbach, created a neo-Gothic stone tower. The foundation stone was laid on April 9, 1867 and the topping-out ceremony for the tower on August 15. On September 14th, the bells for Thanksgiving rang for the first time from the new tower and on September 30th the tower was consecrated. The old ridge turret "... had the miller Wilhelm Fürchtegott Hofmann, a son of the first pastor in office ... put it on one of his mill buildings and donated today's romanized west tower with the pointed spire." The square tower with its height of 44.5 meters was with a pointed metal tower hood made of copper and provided with a gold-plated cross. The tower button and the cross with its height of 2.14 m and a width of 1 m came from the hand of the coppersmith Zestermann from Großschönau . Architecturally interesting arched openings were taken into account on the bell storey, including the church tower clock with two dials on the west and north side, which was made by a master clockmaker in Georgswalde for 33 thalers. Various repairs were carried out between 1884 and 1900.

The rectangular church building shows traditional arched portals on three sides except the east side. The main entrance has been on the north side of the church tower since the beginning, two further entrances and exits are built into the south and east side of the church building. Apart from the height of the tower, no other dimensions have been reported. Only Cornelius Gurlitt published an out-of-scale plan of the Friedersdorf Church. According to the conversion by Lutz Mohr , the outside of the church (without the tower) has a length of 27 m and a width of 13 m. With the square tower (5 × 5 m) added later on the broad side of the church building (in the middle), the total length of the Friedersdorf church is 32 meters.

The church bell

For its consecration in 1801, the Friedersdorfer Church initially received three bronze bells for the price of 600 Talers, which came from the Dresden piece caster Heinrich August Weinhold (1775-1808). They weighed about eleven hundredweight and were brought in with dishes from Dresden by the carter Gottfried Wolf from Mittelfriedersdorf . It was installed on April 21, 1801.

But already 50 years later (1851) these had to be replaced by a new bell from the well-known Upper Lusatian bell founder Friedrich Gruhl (1778-1852) from Kleinwelka , whereby the two larger bells from Weinhold were used to cast the new bells at Gruhl. The ringing of 1851 also consisted of three bronze bells and was shown as follows: 1. Large bell (tone Es, 19 hundredweight), decorations: half-length portrait of the Savior and inscriptions: “Come, because everything is ready! Praise the Lord in his sanctuary! Praise him in the fortress of his might ”(Psalm 150, v. 1). "For harmony, for heartfelt associations, gather the loving community." This bell was also called "Christ Bell" and was donated by the mill owner Wilhelm Fürchtegott Hofmann at the time. (Because of his services to the Friedersdorf community, a renovated Spreebrücke was named after him in 1996.) 2. The middle bell (tone Es), decorations: half-length portrait of Martin Luther and inscriptions: “A solid castle is our God. Praise him in his deeds! Praise him in his great glory ”(Psalm 150, v. 2). “Be happy in hope, be patient in tribulation, stop praying.” 3. The little bell (tone Es), decorations: half-length portrait of Philipp Melanchthon and inscriptions: “All in all, Christ. All that breathes, praise the Lord! Alleluia ”(Psalm 150, v. 6). "Faith, love and hope in associations, blessing calm in the parish".

The middle and small bells of the peal from 1851 must have fallen victim to the armaments industry before and during the First World War (1914–1918) , like the bells of the neighboring municipality of Spremberg , because a directory from 1931 lists the large "Christ bell " (from Gruhl) opened two new bronze bells that were cast by the bell foundry C. Albert Bierling in Dresden in 1921. 1. The middle bell (tone g, 10 quintals), also called the "Luther bell", was decorated with a cross and the inscription: "A strong castle is our God." 2. The small bell (tone b, 6 quintals), Called the “Peace Bell”, it was decorated with a dove and the inscription “Peace be with you!” Both bells were consecrated on August 26, 1921. Like those of other churches during the Second World War , the bronze Friedersdorfer chiming had to ring, except for the clock bell Small ones to be delivered for armament purposes. After the end of the war, the big one was found in the Hamburg bell cemetery . The middle one, however, had been melted down and had to be replaced by a new bronze bell from Remse near Glauchau . In 1962 the Friedersdorf bells were complete again and can still be heard today.

Church interior and organ

In 1851 there was a fundamental renovation of the interior. “At a height of 8.5 meters, its classicist style consisted of a flat wooden ceiling painted with ornaments and surrounding two-story galleries . Only on the west side was the single-storey organ choir drawn forward in the shape of a basket arch and decorated with flower ornaments in its parapets, which was expanded in 1869. “Of the church inventory, the simple altar of the hexagonal pulpit and the wooden baptismal table from around 1800 - a gift from the Seifhennersdorfer community are remarkable from her old church - and two "trumpet angels" carved out of wood, which probably came from the old organ from the St. Marienstern monastery, as well as a larger pewter baptismal font, which Mrs. Johanna Rosina Jeremias from Ebersbach in 1801 of the Friedersdorf church worshiped. The pulpit altar was redesigned in 1951.

The parish acquired the first organ from the St. Marienstern monastery for 110 thalers, but it soon required repair work for 150 thalers. In 1868 the old organ was replaced by a new one. It is one of the last produced sound bodies by the well-known Saxon master organ builder Urban Kreutzbach (1796–1868) from Borna . After his death, his son Richard Kreutzbach (1839–1903) took over the company. The "Kreutzbach organ" has two manuals , a pedal and 32 sounding registers with 1728 pipes . It cost a total of 2,500 thalers. The organ consecration took place for the Reformation Festival in 1868. More recently (1995) the organ was thoroughly cleaned and restored by the organ building company Groß & Soldan from Waditz , municipality of Kubschütz.

"Apparently influenced by the church in Seifhennersdorf , which was completed by Carl Christian Eschke in Zittau in 1798 , there is a prayer room almost in a semicircle on the left and the sacristy with pulpit staircase on the right , and the altar space after the nave is expanded." The traditional cemetery on the south side of the church had to be gradually leveled in the years after 1860. The new churchyard was consecrated in 1844. Today only an old tree hedge planted on three sides in the church area reminds of the forerunner . In particular, on the east side of the Friedersdorf Church there are still several historical grave monuments.

Church monuments from Friedersdorf

  • On the west side of the church there used to be a stone plaque with the inscription “God and virtue alone should be the honor of this temple. Built in the year of Christ 1800. “In 1910 the memorial plaque was no longer there.
  • At the northeast corner of the old cemetery is the Fleck family crypt from 1841 - a simple building with a curved tin roof reminiscent of the 18th century. It is no longer there.
  • Memorial of three sons of the pastor Magister Gotthelf Friedrich Hofmann from 1816. Sandstone about 1 m high, which has a plate with a long Latin text and is adorned with a hovering angel, who carries a wreath in the right hand and a palm tree in the left.
  • Monument to Gottlob Dreßler († 1810) and his wife Anna Rosina geb. Roessler (1756-1836). Sandstone 350 cm high and 170 cm wide. There is a longer inscription on the substructure, which says that the “Erbmüller und Gärtner Mstr. Gottlob Dreßler zu Ebersbach d. Born May 9, 1753, married 1777 with Jgfr. Anna Ros. Rößler from Ebersbach fathered 8 children (2 sons and 6 daughters), all of whom died before him, and died on April 4, 1810. "
  • Monument to Johann Christian Jeremias († 1825) and his wife Johanna Rosina geb. Israel († 1813). Sandstone 75 cm wide and 220 cm high. Ornate tomb. On the substructure there are two panels with inscriptions that say: “Joh. Chr. Jeremias deliverer and owner of Kretscham, born. in Ebersbach 1743 d. Sept. 21, v., 1764 with Jgfr. Joh. Rosina born Israel von Oberfriedersdorf, fathered 7 sons a. 3 daughters, had 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, died on December 20, 1825 ”. His wife was born on July 4, 1746 and died on November 13, 1813. The tomb is on the east side of the church.
  • Monument to Mrs. Christiane Rahel Israel b. Jeremiah. Sandstone 46 cm wide and 120 cm high. He carries a rectangular plate with an oval inscription. According to the inscription, the deceased was born on October 12, 1768 in Oberfriedersdorf, married on November 3, 1805 and died on May 4, 1825. Her son erected the monument. The tomb is also on the east side of the church.

Political and religious association of Friedersdorf (Spree) from the beginning of the 19th century until today

With the construction and further development of the Oberfriedersdorfer Church and the parish at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, neither a political unification of the divided village nor a church unification was in prospect. In 1801, however, Oberfriedersdorf and then in 1868 the associated Mittelfriedersdorf von Spremberg were parished out. Seventy years later, on April 1, 1938, the Upper Lusatian rural community Friedersdorf was formed from Ober- and Niederfriedersdorf with the districts of Mittel- and Neufriedersdorf during the Nazi era in Germany . The Oberfriedersdorfer Church, on the other hand, was subordinate to the Filialkirche (daughter church) Dürrhennersdorf from 1923 to 1937 . From 1940 to 2001 the former Oberfriedersdorf Church finally established itself as the center of the united local and parish Friedersdorf; Niederfriedersdorf also became part of the independent parish Friedersdorf in 1937. In that year, the independent parishes of Neusalza and Spremberg were amalgamated, and their political union to form the city of Neusalza-Spremberg took place on February 15, 1920 during the Weimar Republic . These processes caused the parish of Niederfriedersdorf from Neusalza-Spremberg.

In the sequence from then to now - the time of the Second World War (1939-1945), the Soviet occupation zone in East Germany (1945-1949), the socialist GDR (1949-1990) and German reunification (since October 3, 1990) included - there were no significant structural changes in the independent Evangelical Lutheran parish Friedersdorf. What is remarkable here is the fact that the Friedersdorfer Church was open and used as a kind of "simultaneous church" by Christian citizens of both major denominations during the GDR era.

Since 2001 the ev.-luth. Church communities Friedersdorf and Neusalza-Spremberg already closely together. With the political affiliation of the village community Friedersdorf on January 1, 2008 as a district of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg, the church affiliation was only a matter of time. As part of the church structural reform that began at that time, both parishes entered into a "sister church relationship". Six years later, on January 1, 2014, took place on the basis of the contract of July 13, 2013 and the approval of Ev.-Luth. Regional Church Office Dresden on August 9, 2013 the union of the former independent parishes of Neusalza-Spremberg and Friedersdorf to form the "Evangelical Lutheran Parish of Neusalza-Spremberg / Friedersdorf". Thus the united parish became a parish with only one pastor and one parish council. In the interests of effective regional cooperation, both parishes also entered into a "sister church relationship" with those of Oppach , Beiersdorf and Taubenheim / Spree .

The Friedersdorf pastors and their terms of office

  • Magister Gotthelf Friedrich Hofmann (1803–1834)
  • Johann Gottlob Schiffner (1835–1844)
  • Karl August Leberecht Michael (1845-1852)
  • Karl Gotthelf Heffter (1852-1859)
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Hay (1859–1867)
  • Heinrich Eberhard Kießling (1867–1869)
  • Hermann Eduard Grundmann (1869–1873)
  • Gotthelf Emil Hiller (1873–1878)
  • Friedrich Bernhard Mütze (1879-1919)
  • Fritz Erich Mathow (1919–1963)
  • Günther Kämmlitz (1963 / 64–1999). He was the last of the Friedersdorfer incumbents.

After that the ev.-luth. Pastor of Neusalza-Spremberg responsible for the Friedersdorf parish, as the first Frank del Chin (1989–2000), see also list of personalities of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg .

literature

  • Georg Dehio (edit.): Handbook of German art monuments - Saxony . Revision. Munich, Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag 1996, category: Ev. Parish Church Friedersdorf, p. 150f.
  • Cornelius Gurlitt (arr.): Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony . Issue 34: Official Authority Löbau. Dresden: CC Meinhold & Sons 1910. Chapter: Oberfriedersdorf - The Church, pp. 478–482
  • Klaus Theodor Henke: Church building and sacred art in Upper Lusatia . Spitzkunnersdorf: Oberlausitzer Verlag Frank Nürnberger 2011, chapter: Friedersdorf, pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-3-941908-28-4
  • Walter Heinich : Spremberg. Attempt on a local history of the parish village Spremberg in the Saxon Upper Lusatia. Spremberg, Schirgiswalde 1918, chapter: Auspfarrung von Neusalza and Oberfriedersdorf, pp. 86–89
  • Lutz Mohr with the collaboration of Siegfried Seifert : The churches of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg in the district of Görlitz ... Greifswald, Neusalza-Spremberg, Lawalde: self-published 2014
  • Friedrich Bernhard Mütze: Our place of residence and hometown Oberfriederesdorf (chronicle) . Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1904
  • The same thing: the Oberfriedersdorf Parish . In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie, Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, pp. 482-561, whereby the treatises by FB Mütze: “Chronik” (1904) and “Die Parochie Friedersdorf” (1908) are almost identical.
  • Ernst Seidel u. Herbert Körner: Bell customer of the church district Löbau in the Saxon Upper Lusatia . Löbau: Hohlfeld & Witte 1931. Chapter: Bell customer from Oberfriedersdorf, p. 25
  • Theodor Schütze (Ed.): Between Strohmberg, Czorneboh and Kottmar. Values ​​of our homeland . Local history inventory in the German Democratic Republic. Bd. 24, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag 1974. Description of location Friedersdorf, pp. 170–177.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Heinich: Spremberg. Attempt on a local history of the parish village Spremberg in the Saxon Upper Lusatia. Spremberg, Schirgiswalde 1918, p. 81
  2. ^ Walter Heinich: Spremberg. Attempt on a local history of the parish village Spremberg in the Saxon Upper Lusatia. Spremberg, Schirgiswalde 1918, p. 81f
  3. ^ Friedrich Bernhard cap: The parish Oberfriedersdorf. In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie , Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, p. 523
  4. ^ Klaus Theodor Henke: Church building and sacred art in Upper Lusatia. Spitzkunnersdorf: Oberlausitzer Verlag Frank Nürnberger 2011. The author was referring to C. Gurlitt (1910, p. 478), who stated in his investigation over 100 years ago "324 male and almost 400 female stands in the ship".
  5. ^ Klaus Theodor Henke: Church building and sacred art in Upper Lusatia. Spitzkunnersdorf: Oberlausitzer Verlag Frank Nürnberger 2011.
  6. ↑ Theodor Schütze (Ed.): Between Strohmberg, Czorneboh and Kottmar (= values ​​of our homeland . Volume 24). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1974, p. 173.
  7. ^ Friedrich Bernhard cap: The parish Oberfriedersdorf. In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie , Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, p. 536
  8. ↑ Ernst Seidel et al. Herbert Körner: Bell customer of the church district Löbau in the Saxon Upper Lusatia. Löbau: Hohlfeld & Witte 1931, p. 25
  9. ^ Friedrich Bernhard cap: The parish Oberfriedersdorf. In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie , Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, p. 539
  10. ↑ Ernst Seidel et al. Herbert Körner: Bell customer of the church district Löbau in the Saxon Upper Lusatia. Löbau: Hohlfeld & Witte 1931, p. 25
  11. ↑ According to oral communication from Kantor i. R. Siegfried Seifert (* 1925), formerly Neusalza-Spremberg, now Lawalde, from July 24, 2014, referring to Pastor i. R. Günther Kämlitz appoints.
  12. ^ Klaus Theodor Henke: Church building and sacred art in Upper Lusatia. Spitzkunnersdorf: Oberlausitzer Verlag Frank Nürnberger 2011, p. 80
  13. ↑ Cornelius Gurlitt (edit.): Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. Issue 34: Official Authority Löbau. Dresden: CC Meinhold & Sons 1910, p. 481f
  14. ^ Friedrich Bernhard cap: The parish Oberfriedersdorf. In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie , Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, p. 542
  15. ^ Klaus Theodor Henke: Church building and sacred art in Upper Lusatia. Spitzkunnersdorf: Oberlausitzer Verlag Frank Nürnberger 2011, p. 80
  16. ↑ after C. Gurlitt 1910, pp. 478-482
  17. ↑ See Dürrhennersdorf in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony (based on the standard work by Karlheinz Blaschke , Leipzig 2006)
  18. ↑ Theodor Schütze (Ed.): Between Strohmberg, Czorneboh and Kottmar (= values ​​of our homeland . Volume 24). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1974, p. 174.
  19. ^ Based on written communication from Siegfried Seifert on July 8, 2014
  20. ↑ Cf. Congregational Letter for the Evangelical Lutheran Church Congregation Neusalza-Spremberg & Friedersdorf (March-April-May) 2014, p. 9
  21. ^ Friedrich Bernhard cap: The parish Oberfriedersdorf. In: Neue Sächsische Kirchengalerie , Vol. 11: The Diocese of Löbau. Leipzig: Verlag von Arwed Strauch 1908, p. 552 and additions by Siegfried Seifert from July 24, 2014

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 5.6 "  N , 14 ° 33 ′ 56.9"  E