Martin Ziegler (theologian)
Martin Ziegler (born October 1, 1931 in Berlin ; † March 21, 2015 in Schildow ) was senior church councilor and moderator of the Central Round Table in the GDR .
Life
Martin Ziegler grew up in Gollnow ( Western Pomerania ). His father was a commercial teacher. In 1945 the family moved to Stendal . In 1950 Ziegler passed his Abitur and began studying theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin , which he completed on October 26, 1955. At the suggestion of the Berlin social pastor Harald Poelchau , he decided to take a job as an unskilled worker in the VEB fiber board plant Tangermünde . From 1958 he worked as an assistant chaplain and pastor in Großkayna in the Geiseltal church district and from 1963 as a pastor in Kötzschen . From 1968 to 1974 he was superintendent in Merseburg , from 1975 to 1983 director of the diaconal work " Inner Mission and Aid Organization of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg " and chairman of the Association of Hope Valley Institutions . In 1983 he received the title of senior church councilor. In the same year he took over from Manfred Stolpe as head of the secretariat of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR . He held this position until 1991. In 1984 he was registered with the GDR State Security as an IM preliminary under the code name "Shepherd".
Against the background of his function as secretary of the Federation of Protestant Churches in the GDR, Ziegler worked together with leading representatives of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the Working Group of Christian Churches in the GDR between December 1989 and March 1990 as the moderator of the Central Round Table , which was established through direct negotiations between Government, bloc parties and opposition should bring about a peaceful system change in the GDR.
Since 1990 he has been a member of the board of directors of the Bodelschwinghschen Anstalten Bethel . Martin Ziegler began his service as director of the Hope Valley Institutions in Lobetal near Bernau in 1991 and continued until his retirement in 1994. He was retired in 1994 and last lived in Schildow. Ziegler's estate is in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin .
literature
- Roger Sitter, Ehrhart Neubert : Martin Ziegler . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Web links
- Brandenburger Oberkirchenrat Martin Ziegler - moderator of the round table in the GDR died on www.rbb-online.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jan von Flocken: BRANDENBURG: Stolpes Stasi witnesses. In: Focus Online . September 9, 1996, accessed October 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Central estate database: Ziegler, Martin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ziegler, Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German senior church councilor and moderator of the central round table in the GDR |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 21, 2015 |
| Place of death | Schildow |