Martin Ezekiel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Christian Johannes Bernhard Hesekiel (born April 9, 1912 in Posen ; † November 1, 2003 in Lübeck ) was an Evangelical Lutheran clergyman in Neuchâtel on the Vistula and Danzig , since 1946 he lived in Lübeck. He became known as a composer and poet of hymns and volunteered for the understanding between Poles and Germans and for extensive aid.

Live and act

Martin Ezekiel was born in Posen in 1912 and grew up in 1916 in Bromberg , where his father of the same name (1870–1941) worked as a pastor until 1937. After attending a German private high school in Bromberg, he passed his Abitur in Poznan in 1931, where he initially studied German and history at the university there, and at the same time theology at the theological college. Finally he moved to Koenigsberg , where theology became his major. After three semesters in Tübingen , he returned to Posen to take his exams at the German Preachers' Seminar. He completed his vicariate in 1936/37 in Konojad in the Strasburg district in West Prussia (1939–1945 Koppelgrund; Polish Konojady) and in 1937/38 in Neuchâtel in the Schwetz district . Here he took up his first pastorate position in 1938 and in the same year married the doctor and author Toska, b. Schultze, a granddaughter of Walter Hans Schultze . It was only by a happy coincidence that he escaped the riots against German residents and being abducted.

In June 1940 he became pastor of the St. Salvator Church on the outskirts of Danzig and, as the successor to Gerhard M. Gülzow, regional youth pastor in the area of ​​the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia formed in 1939 . The large area of ​​work requires a lot of travel. Since the Hitler Youth had the monopoly on community youth work and therefore the church was only allowed to offer confirmation lessons and Bible study groups in the local congregations, his work led to conflicts with the Secret State Police from 1940 . The supra-congregational youth meetings were banned, Ezekiel was banned from speaking. In May 1941 he was drafted into the Navy.

After being a prisoner of war in Emden and internment in Aurich, he met his family again on the island of Borkum at Christmas 1945 . In Oldenburg he served as a pastor and then became a refugee pastor in various Lübeck camps. In 1946 he represented the sick Pastor Matz at St. Marien in Lübeck. Finally, in 1947 he became parish pastor parish pastor at St. Andreas in Lübeck-Schlutup and at the same time until 1951 a part-time youth pastor. In 1959 he moved to the St. Georg Church in Lübeck-Genin . In February 1978 he retired after 32 years of pastoral service. From then on he devoted himself more intensively to volunteering.

voluntary work

After the war, Martin Ezekiel, who spoke Polish very well, campaigned for reconciliation with Poland and the support of Protestant parishes in Poland. From 1948-1978 he was a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lübeck and a delegate of the General Synod of the VELKD ; For a few years he was also active on the board of the Lübeck Synod and member of the board of the convent of the dispersed evangelical eastern churches .

As the successor to Gülzow, Ezekiel had been chairman of the Community of Evangelicals from Gdansk-West Prussia for 18 years since 1979 and also looked after and managed its office, library and archive. He was the editor, editor and author of the Gdansk-West Prussian Church Letter , advised journalists and historians and translated texts on the subject of 'German and Polish Evangelical Christians in the Weichselland'. He also supported the two still existing Protestant communities in this area - in Bromberg, Dirschau, Zempelburg and Sopot - with donations in kind and money, for B. to repair churches or rectories. On Christmas Eve 1974 he took part in the first service in St. Marien in Danzig, in which - again - German was allowed to be spoken. He celebrated many church services in Germany with displaced communities, e. B. at the meeting of "his" home district in Bydgoszcz. He also looked after the valuable paraments brought to Lübeck by Gülzow in 1944 from the St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk , which today is largely located in the St. Annen Museum Quarter .

Ezekiel as a songwriter and composer

Due to his Swabian-Pietist character in his parents' house, Martin Ezekiel came into contact with singing and music at an early age and was accordingly inclined to church music. In his youth he joined the Bündische Jugend and came into contact with the singing movement . As early as 1931, while preparing for a youth camp or singing week, his canon Ruhet von des Tages Müh , which was published in 1936 in a song book for Germans in Poland, was written. He also wrote the melody of the canon from the depths, Lord and God , as well as the German version of the Polish Christmas carol In silent night .

At the University of Music in Lübeck at the Institute for Church Music, Ezekiel took on a teaching position for church studies. He also worked in the Music Working Group in the Evangelical Youth Working Group .

Honors

In 1996 Ezekiel was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

Song poems (selection)

  • Lord, your kindness extends as far as heaven is (text: Samuel Herold), appeared in Jesus' Name Never Fallen - Volume 3, 1980 G120-3
  • After Zion, my soul, do well and do not delay (melody: C. Burday), published in Reichslieder , 1931 G87; Reichslieder - German community songbook, 1967 G87a; Fellowship Songbook, 1962 G100
  • Take a break from the day's toil, it will now be night , published in Music in School , Volume 2 - Singbuch A43-2 (below)
    • Rest from cares and daily toil , published in Sing joyfully (compiled by the Hutterite Brotherhood), 1985 A1266a
  • Rest from the day's toil, now it will be night (Text: Bromberg), published in Klingendekette - ninety new spiritual canons , 1948 G108

literature

  • Dietrich Wölfel: Martin Ezekiel . In: Wolfgang Herbst (ed.): Who is who in the hymnal? Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001, p. 151.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Barbara Kämpfert: Eesekiel, Martin , in: Kulturportal, West-Ost, accessed on October 31, 2019
  2. ↑ GND 1096255901
  3. ↑ Martin Ezekiel: How the Nazis threw clubs between the legs of church youth work . In: Hugo Karl Schmidt, Jürgen Joachim Taegert: In angst - and see, we live: Memories of a Wolhynien pastor 1909-2009 . 2016, pp. 178–180.
  4. ↑ Pastor Chronicle of the Fischerkirche Lübeck-Schlutup
  5. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Kämpfert: A hidden treasure. The fate of the paraments from St. Mary's Church in Gdansk . In: The West Prussian
  6. ↑ EG 492
  7. ↑ Ev. Hymnal for Lower Saxony and Bremen No. 600
  8. ↑ Now let's go to Bethlehem . Edited by EVA 1971
  9. ↑ a b Wolfgang Herbst : Who is who in the hymn book? Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001, p. 151 , accessed on October 31, 2019
  10. ^ "Works by Martin Ezekiel" in Deutscheslied.com , accessed on October 31, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Ezekiel, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ezekiel, Martin Christian Johannes Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant pastor and hymn poet
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Poses
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 2003
Place of death Lübeck