Oskar Bidder

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Oskar Theodor Bidder , Latvian Oskars Bidders (born March 27, 1866 in Mitau , Kurland Governorate , Russian Empire ; † July 12, 1919 in Moscow , Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic ) was a German-Baltic pastor . He is considered an Evangelical Lutheran confessor and is recorded on the Riga martyr's stone.

Life

Oskar Bidder's father was the physician August Bidder. From 1876 to 1879 Oskar Bidder went to the Dannenbergsche and the Adolphische private school in Mitau, from 1879 to 1880 to the private school of the head forester Rochlitz in Kursieten in Kurland and from 1881 to 1886 to the government high school in Mitau , which he graduated with the Abitur.

He was in poor health all his life. Through discipline and willingness to perform, he was able to complete his studies at the University of Dorpat from 1887 to 1893 as a graduate student. His weak point was his nerves. Since October 20, 1887 he was a member of the Dorpat Theological Association. In 1893 he passed the exams before the consistory in Mitau. He spent his probationary year from 1893 to 1894 with Pastor Klapmeyer in Lesten in Courland.

He was ordained by Pastor Katterfeld on November 20, 1894 in Mitau. He has held various vicariate positions. From 1894 to 1895 he was pastor's adjunct in Lesten and Blieden in Courland, from 1895 to 1896 in Allendorf in Livonia , 1896 in Sickeln in Oberkurland and 1896 to 1897 in Lesten. In 1897 he became a pastor in Sickeln. Here he had to oppose counter-Reformation efforts by the Roman Catholic Church, a problem that only affected a few parishes. His poor health did not prevent him from dutifully expanding his community. He arranged for the sexton and school to be built. His work on the confirmands was considered beneficial.

In addition to his spiritual activities, Oskar Bidder, like Pastor Karl Schilling , who was murdered in 1905, was Provost Ludwig Zimmermann , who was murdered in 1906, and Pastor Alexander Bernewitz , Hans Bielenstein , Xaver Marnitz , Arnold von Rutkowski , Paul Fromhold-Treu , Christoph Strautmann , who were executed by Bolsheviks in 1919 , Karl Schlau , Eberhard Savary , Eugen Scheuermann and Wilhelm Gilbert and like the pastors Gustav Cleemann and Erwin Gross , who died as a result of their imprisonment by the Bolsheviks, full members of the Latvian-Literary Society , which is dedicated to the study of the Latvian language, folklore and dedicated to culture. This society was mainly supported by German-Baltic pastors and intellectuals. For the Latvians themselves, a higher education was hardly accessible at the time of the imperial Russian rule, their culture led a shadowy existence.

On April 29, 1897, Oskar Bidder married Marie Hermine Petri, a daughter of the merchant Wilhelm Petri in Riga.

During the Russian Revolution of 1905 he was warned of the mortal danger to the country pastors; but he stayed with his community.

The work of a Baltic pastor during this time was demanding. The fight against opposing worldviews was a permanent one. The office involved long journeys. Bidder could not withstand these demands in the long run. He often had to take vacations, albeit reluctantly, to calm his nerves. Eventually his illness became so severe that he had to resign in 1910. When he felt better, he moved to Riga , where from 1910 he served as a religion teacher and prison pastor in the St. Jakobi congregation.

During the First World War he was brought to the interior of Russia for the period from 1914 to 1917. He was the first pastor to be deported at the time. Allegedly he had prayed with the civilian German prisoners of war for Wilhelm II . He was exiled to Korcheva near Tver . When Riga came under German occupation, Bidder was able to return and resume his duties.

During the Latvian War of Independence , he was arrested by the Bolsheviks for his office as prison pastor. On May 22nd, 1919, during the entry of the Baltic State Armed Forces into Riga, they were able to bring Bidder and all the other hostages interned in the women's prison to Moscow. Bidder was the only pastor on the trip. He comforted and strengthened the other prisoners with the word of God. During the journey, they were constantly threatened with death and treated brutally. They suffered from hunger and thirst. The journey was particularly stressful for the ailing pastor. When he reached Moscow he was very weak and developed dysentery .

Oskar Bidder died on July 12, 1919 in Moscow in the prison hospital. His fate and the 42 other hostages were learned in his home country in September 1919 after Luckyanov, a delegate of the Danish Red Cross, returned from Moscow.

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Remarks

  1. ↑ The dates in this article are based on the Julian calendar for the period up to 1918 unless otherwise noted.
personal data
SURNAME Bidder, Oskar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bidder, Oskar Theodor (full name); Bidders, Oskars (lvS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Baltic pastor
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Mitau , Courland Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1919
Place of death Moscow , Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic