Martin Huthmann

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Martin Huthmann 2013

Martin Huthmann (born December 27, 1931 in Offenbach ; † February 8, 2019 in Jaciara, Brazil ) was a Catholic theologian and founder of the Oscar Romero House in Bonn . Martin Huthmann lived in Mato Grosso since 1983 and worked as a pastor in the local community .

Life

Martin Huthmann graduated from elementary school in Berlin-Steglitz and Lichterfelde , where his parents had moved in 1936, and then attended the local Schiller High School. A lasting experience for him was the Reichspogromnacht 1938, when he saw a boy with a Jewish star lost on the street on the way home. That awakened in him the mystery of Israel's faith and hope. The parish ¨Holy Family¨ was a safe haven against the Nazis for him; next to the church was the SS barracks. At a course for young leaders the question was asked: "You all want to become leaders?" then he said, ¨I don’t, ¨ and disappeared. In the summer of 1943 his family went on vacation to Schorin (now Skórzyno ) in Pomerania and stayed there because of the bombing raids on Berlin. In January 1945 the family fled back to Berlin under dramatic circumstances and finally found accommodation in Blankenburg . There the Huthmanns saw the end of the war in an old mine tunnel.

In 1945 the family moved first to their grandfather in Cologne and then to Memmingen . Martin Huthmann attended high school in Kempten and graduated from high school in 1951. He then studied philosophy and theology, first in Munich and then in Bonn, and was ordained a priest in Cologne Cathedral in 1958 .

Huthmann began his pastoral work in Porz- Ensen and Bonn- Duisdorf . He joined the priestly community Jesus Caritas , which stands in the tradition of the French mission priest Charles de Foucauld , who was murdered in 1916 and who lived as a hermit among the Tuareg for 16 years in order to become brother to all people without proselytizing. In 1962 he was called to serve as a pastor in the German Navy. The military vicar general said he could not do much on the destroyers, but the Church wanted to be among the Forsaken too; he accompanied the destroyers to sea there for eight years. His experience: I don't want to exercise power, I want to become a brother. He then worked for two years on land in a non-commissioned officer school in Plön .

Bonn

In 1972 Martin Huthmann first became a chaplain at Bonn Minster and then a student pastor . As he was looking for an opportunity to share his life with students, he left the comfortable chaplain’s apartment at Bonn Minster and moved with students into the house at Viktoriastraße 27, which the city of Bonn made available to him. The house was formerly a women's prison, in the meantime an SS office and finally a homeless shelter. In the following years, extensive repair work was carried out in-house.

Together with interested students, Huthmann founded a basic church whose self-image and commitment were based on Latin American liberation theology . The base community took part in the student community's strong commitment to the peace movement, especially against the retrofitting decision with medium-range missiles. In 1982 Huthmann was deposed as a student pastor by the Archdiocese of Cologne due to his political and liberation theological commitment. With a donation letter he made the purchase of the house at Heerstrasse 205 possible and, by renaming it to Oscar Romero House, made it a home for people and groups who act in the interests of Archbishop of San Salvador Oscar Romero , who decided to go to his Salvadoran homeland had taken the side of the poor and disenfranchised and was therefore shot at the altar in 1980 by a command of the military dictatorship.

Brazil

In 1983 Martin Huthmann decided to go to Latin America. A brother of his priestly community needed support with pastoral care in Jaciara, a small town in Mato Grosso. In 1990 Huthmann was appointed pastor of Jaciara and remained so for 18 years. He looked after 20 (base) parishes up to 80 km away and built chapels at their request. Every month there were Bible courses from the experience of the poor, unlike in a privileged society, and with the help of Latin American exegesis. During this time he wrote numerous brochures on the Bible, catechesis, and Church history. Even when he stepped down from the pastor's office in 2006 at the age of 75, he stayed in Brazil and was involved in the ecological movement (AEMA). In 2008 Martin Huthmann visited Germany to celebrate his 50th anniversary as a priest and in 2013 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Oscar Romero House. In February 2018 he celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest in the Church of St. Franziskus in Bonn. Martin Huthmann died on February 8, 2019 in Jaciara / Rondonópolis in Brazil.

literature

  • Friends of the Oscar-Romero-Haus e. V. (Ed.): Where spinners tie colorful nets - 25 years of the Oscar-Romero-Haus Bonn. Information Center Latin America (ila), Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-924958-21-1 .
  • Georg Milz: The "Oscar Romero House" Bonn. A chance of survival for the Christian awakening. In: N. Arntz, R. Fornet-Betancourt, G. Wolter (eds.): Workshop “Kingdom of God”. Liberation theological impulses in practice. IKO-Verlag, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-88939-638-0 , pp. 13-22.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.oscar-romero-haus.de
  2. ↑ Cf. Romero-Brief 2/2008, ed. from the support group of the Oscar-Romero-Haus eV, Heerstr. 205 53129 Bonn, pp. 6-13
  3. ↑ Cf. Martin Huthmann: Thoughts from afar. A greeting from Brazil, in: Förderverein Oscar-Romero-Haus eV (ed.): Where spinners tie colorful nets - 25 years of the Oscar-Romero-Haus Bonn, Information Center Latin America (ila), Bonn 1998, 12-14
  4. ↑ Norbert Volpert: "Far before the gates of the city". The history of the house from 1869 to today, in: Förderverein Oscar-Romero-Haus eV (ed.): Where spinners make colorful nets - 25 years of the Oscar-Romero-Haus Bonn, Information Center for Latin America (ila), Bonn 1998, 25–41
  5. ↑ http://www.zeit.de/1983/34/splitter-im-auge
  6. ↑ Cf. Martin Huthmann: Buy a field in Anatot. Memorandum of the history of the development of the Oscar-Romero-Haus, in: Förderverein Oscar-Romero-Haus eV (ed.): Where spinners make colorful nets - 25 years of the Oscar-Romero-Haus Bonn, Information Center Latin America (ila), Bonn 1998, 15– 24
  7. ↑ (www.comunidademartin.blogspot.com.br)
  8. ↑ Cf. Romero-Brief 2/2008, ed. from the support group of the Oscar-Romero-Haus eV, Heerstr. 205 53129 Bonn, pp. 6-13
  9. ↑ http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/bonn/bonn-zentrum/huthmann-ueberreich-oscar-romero-preis-article1082479.html
  10. ↑ https://trauer.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/todesbeispiel/martin-huthmann
personal data
SURNAME Huthmann, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 2019
Place of death Jaciara, Brazil