Eastern Church Committee

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The Eastern Church Committee was from 1946 to 2000 the ecclesiastical aid committee for the east expellees. The office was in Hanover from 1950 until it was dissolved.

history

Constituted in 1946, the Eastern Church Committee was recognized by the Evangelical Church in Germany in 1949 . It was the central representative body of the evangelical expellees . It brought together the representatives of the aid committees (organized as a country team), in which mainly the members of the former church leaderships in the eastern regions of the German Reich sat. Under the umbrella of the Evangelical Relief Organization, the aid committee was responsible for pastoral and charitable support for the displaced; however, they did not exercise any church governmental functions. The Eastern Church Committee was recognized by the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany as an advisory and subordinated body , but was not upgraded under canon law.

In 1951, the Convention of the Dispersed Evangelical Eastern Churches was founded as the second summarizing body alongside the Eastern Church Committee . As a representative body, the Eastern Church Committee was more concerned with church politics, while the Eastern Church Convention was more concerned with questions of content. In contrast to the Eastern Church Committee, the convention was not a subordinate organ of the EKD, but a free, registered association. There was a large overlap in personnel between the two bodies.

In 1995 the Eastern Church Committee worked out the Loccumer Declaration , in which the principles of the Ostdenkschrift were incorporated and the EKD's Eastern European work was taken into account. Furthermore, the flight and expulsion of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe 1945-1950 was remembered, at the same time the “responsible persons” were called upon to “recognize expulsions and 'ethnic cleansing' as inhuman aberrations of politics, which do not help to peace [, ] and to do everything to ensure that such attempts are morally and politically ostracized ”. This approach on a conceptual path came late, as the principles formulated here had already largely become self-evident. The end of the work of the OKA and its integration into the EKMOE in 2000 was criticized by the expellee political spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Hartmut Koschyk , because "the countless evangelical Christians who are involved in cross-border reconciliation and understanding work, too expect the support of their church ”and because in Eastern Europe“ the cultural heritage of Germans is being rediscovered, especially by members of the younger generation ”. Even with this criticism, however, the termination of the OKA's work could not be prevented.

In order to bundle the church's “Central and Eastern European work”, the Eastern Church Committee was integrated into the Evangelical Commission for Central and Eastern Europe (EKMOE) in the EKD, which was formed in 1992 by the EKD Council. His work was over.

Members

According to the decision of the EKD Council of 10./11. In October 1946, the Eastern Church Committee originally consisted of six members. According to the rules of procedure of July 1, 1949, as well as the revised version of March 20, 1981, a two-thirds majority in the committee was necessary to change the composition . In addition, an upper limit of 8 members was set. By inviting (permanent) guests, the number of participants in the meetings was significantly higher, especially later, mostly at 13 people and more.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eastern Church Committee (DARIAH Wiki)
  2. ^ Convention of the former Evangelical Eastern Churches eV
  3. ↑ Eastern Church Committee (OME)
  4. ↑ Evangelical Commission for Central and Eastern Europe integrates Eastern Church work (EKD)
  5. ↑ Dr. Peter Beier, Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin