Ludwig Müller (theologian)

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Ludwig Müller (1933)

Johann Heinrich Ludwig Müller (born June 23, 1883 in Gütersloh ; † July 31, 1945 in Berlin ) was Reich Bishop of the German Evangelical Church (DEK) during the Nazi era and one of the leading figures in the movement of German Christians , the synthesis propagated between Christianity and National Socialism .

Life

Opening of the National Synod in Wittenberg on September 27, 1933, Regional Bishop Ludwig Müller giving the Hitler salute

Ludwig Müller was the son of the Reichsbahn employee Adolf Müller; he attended the Evangelisch Stiftische Gymnasium Gütersloh and then studied Protestant theology in Halle (Saale) and Bonn . During his studies he became a member of the Association of German Students in Halle .

After completing his studies, he was an alumnate inspector at his former school in Gütersloh. From 1905 to 1908 he was teaching vicar in Gütersloh and assistant preacher, initially in the Marienkirche parish of Stiftberg , a district of the East Westphalian city ​​of Herford , and from July 1908 in Röhlinghausen . In 1908 he became parish priest in Rödinghausen (Westphalia). He married Paula Reineke (1887–1963) in 1909; the marriage produced a son and a daughter. In 1914 Müller became a naval pastor in Wilhelmshaven , where he joined the Stahlhelm after the war ; from 1920 he was naval pastor there. 1926 to 1933 he was pastor for the military district I in Königsberg .

Müller's speech after his official inauguration as Reich Bishop in front of the Berlin Cathedral, 23 September 1934

In 1931 he joined the NSDAP . Ludwig Müller was co-founder and regional leader of the German Christians in East Prussia and in April 1933 became Hitler's confidante for church matters. Since August 4, 1933, regional bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union , he was appointed Reich bishop on September 27, 1933 as the successor to Friedrich von Bodelschwingh and to the Prussian Council of State by Hermann Göring . As Reich Bishop, he increasingly gained authority. So he took over powers in the constitutional committee. Also in the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union, of which he was still regional bishop, he enlarged the area of ​​responsibility of the regional bishop and then transferred some of his powers to the Reich bishop (which he was also). He hoped that other regional bishops would also be prepared to transfer more powers to the Reich bishop, following this example. With the help of the Nazi state, he tried to gain more influence as Reich Bishop in other regional churches. This promoted the opposition and a. the regional bishops Theophil Wurm (Württemberg) and Hans Meiser (Bavaria) against him. It took almost a year before it was introduced in the Berlin Cathedral on September 23, 1934.

Various events diminished his reputation and influence:

  • The radical wing of the German Christians criticized him at a rally in the Sportpalast on November 13, 1933 for not pursuing the idea of ​​ethnic religiosity consistently enough. The völkisch and anti-Jewish program, which the Berlin Gauobmann of the German Christians, Reinhold Krause , represented at the rally, shocked many church members. Müller did not succeed in taking a clear position here.
  • In order to demonstrate his influence over the Nazi state, he ordered the integration of the Protestant youth organizations (around 500,000 young Protestants) into the Hitler Youth (HJ). As a result, he lost a lot of reputation within the Protestant Church.
  • In order to suppress the internal church criticism of his administration, he forbade church policy statements. This was criticized as a “muzzle decree”.

An attempt by the opposition to obtain the removal of Müller by talking to Hitler failed. As a result, numerous church personalities denied the legitimacy of Müller and his governing bodies (national synod and spiritual ministry). Finally, he was de facto disempowered by the Nazi state through the Reich Church Ministry under Hanns Kerrl , even if he formally remained Reich Bishop. In 1944 he very likely received a grant of 500,000 Reichsmarks .

Whether Müller after the end of the Nazi terror regime a few months of natural causes due to a heart condition died or suicide committed is unclear. A combination of a badly executed suicide attempt, his heart failure, his physical and mental exhaustion after the end of the Nazi regime and inadequate medical care is also considered possible. He was buried in the Zehlendorf cemetery. The grave has not been preserved.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b German biography: Müller, Ludwig - German biography. Retrieved July 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Louis Lange (Ed.): Kyffhäuser Association of German Student Associations. Address book 1931. Berlin 1931, p. 154.
  3. ↑ In 1932 Adolf Hitler met Werner von Blomberg and his chief of staff Walter von Reichenau in Müller's official apartment . The two officers were won over to National Socialism .
  4. ↑ cf. Section “Reich Bishop Dictatorship” and Confessing Church in the Internet exhibition Evangelical Resistance
  5. ^ Critical to this Kurt Dietrich Schmidt : Questions about the structure of the Confessing Church . First published in 1962. In: Manfred Jacobs (Hrsg.): Kurt Dietrich Schmidt: Collected essays . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1967, pp. 267–293, here p. 283: “The inaction of the Reichsbruderrate in the direction of the elimination of the Reich Church Government, this inaction has historically had such an impact that it is not just a lost battle, that it is probably as the The cause of the vast majority of future difficulties, namely as the cause of the whole, often muddled situation from later on. "
  6. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär , Winfried Vogel : Serving and earning. Hitler's gifts to his elites . Frankfurt 1999, ISBN 3-10-086002-0 .
  7. ^ Thomas Martin Schneider: Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller. An investigation into life, work and personality . Göttingen 1993, p. 336.
  8. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 677.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Müller, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Müller, Johann Heinrich Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reich Bishop of the German Evangelical Church
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Gutersloh
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 1945
Place of death Berlin