Niklot best

Niklot Beste (born June 30, 1901 in Ilow ; † May 24, 1987 in Gießen ) was regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg and senior bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Career

Best studied Protestant theology and history in Marburg , Innsbruck , Breslau and from April 1923 Rostock . During his studies he became a member of the Association of German Students in Rostock . After attending the Protestant seminary in Schwerin , he was vicar and pastor in the Benthen village church from 1927 to 1932 , then in Schwerin and from 1933 to 1945 in Neubukow . He was head of the Pastors' Emergency League in Mecklenburg and a member of the Council of Brothers of the Confessing Church .

In 1946 Beste was elected bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg and held this office until he retired in 1971. Heinrich Rathke was his successor .

In addition to the office of regional bishop, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation from 1947 to 1957 . He was instrumental in the founding of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD), of which he was deputy chairman since 1953. From 1961 to 1967 he was a member of the council of the EKD and from 1968 to 1969 as chairman of the Conference of Evangelical Churches in the GDR involved in the formation of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR . From 1968 until his retirement in 1971 he was the leading bishop of the VELKD in the GDR.

Beste died in 1987 as a result of a traffic accident.

The later state bishop of Mecklenburg Hermann Beste is his son.

Publications

Mecklenburg's relationship to the emperor and empire from the end of the Seven Years' War to the end of the old empire (1763-1806) , Rostock 1924 ( dissertation )
The church struggle in Mecklenburg from 1933 to 1945: history, documents, memories , Berlin (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) / Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, licensed edition ; work on the history of the church struggle, supplementary series; 9 ) 1975 ISBN 3-525-55533-4

literature

Munzinger Internationales Biographisches Archiv 33/1987 from August 3, 1987
J. Jürgen Seidel: Best, Niklot. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 15, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-077-8 , Sp. 128-130. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Short biography for: Beste, Niklot . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal
↑ Louis Lange (Ed.): Kyffhäuser Association of German Student Associations. Address book 1931. Berlin 1931, p. 18.

Web links

Literature by and about Niklot Beste in the catalog of the German National Library
Literature about Niklot Beste in the state bibliography MV
Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal , SS 1923, No. 76

personal data
SURNAME	Best of all, Niklot
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German clergyman, Lutheran bishop in the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH	June 30, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ilow
DATE OF DEATH	May 24, 1987
Place of death	to water

[1] Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal

[2] Louis Lange (Ed.): Kyffhäuser Association of German Student Associations. Address book 1931. Berlin 1931, p. 18.