Otto Fricke (pastor)

Otto Fricke (born February 28, 1902 in Heinebach (Melsungen district), † March 8, 1954 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Protestant pastor and member of the leadership of the Confessing Church .

Life

Fricke had been pastor of the Trinity parish in Frankfurt am Main since 1926 and was also a part-time Protestant university pastor .

In 1933 he became a member of the German Christians and gave the fire speech on the burning of books “enthusiastic about National Socialism ” on Frankfurt's Römerberg . After the Sports Palace scandal in November 1933, he moved to the Confessing Church in 1934 . From 1935 he worked for the "Free Theological Seminary of the Confessing Church Hesse-Nassau". From 1936 to 1938 the "now staunch Nazi opponent" was a member of the Reich Brotherhood Council of the Confessing Church. Because of his membership in the Confessing Church, he was taken into custody and protective custody in 1937 and was temporarily transferred. In 1942 Fricke was drafted into the Wehrmacht.

After the end of the Second World War, Fricke played an important role as an authorized representative of the aid organization of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau and a member of the aid committee of the Evangelical Church because of his good contacts with the military government. To support the refugee communities, he founded the movement of the "Evangelical building communities". As a representative of the Evangelical Church in Frankfurt am Main , he played a key role in the second merger to form the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau between 1945 and 1947 .

According to religious journalist Jeff Sharlet , Fricke's contacts with the military government resulted largely from his relationships with Abraham Vereide, the American leader of the anti-communist evangelical network The Family . During a visit to Germany, Vereide believed that God had revealed Fricke to him as the key man for Germany. Fricke then became the leader of Christians in Responsibility , the German branch of the network. As early as 1950, at a meeting of Christians in charge of rearmament , Fricke campaigned for the rearmament of West Germany with 25 divisions.

Publications

• The Christology of Johannes Brenz in connection with the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and justification. 1927.
• The sacraments in the Protestant Church. 1929.

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Fricke, Otto. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 124.

Individual evidence

1. ^ City of Frankfurt am Main, Institute for City History: The burning of books on May 10, 1933.
2. ↑ Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt für Bayern (May 11, 2003): 70 years of burning books: Theologians as speakers on fire. ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Clemens Vollnhals : Evangelical Church and Denazification 1945–1949: The burden of the National Socialist past. Oldenbourg, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-486-54941-3 , pp. 205f.
4. ^ ^{A b} City of Frankfurt am Main, Institute for City History: The French Reformed Congregation Frankfurt am Main in the church fight.
5. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945? S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. Main 2003, ISBN 3-10-039309-0 , pp. 166f.
6. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals: The Protestant Church after the collapse. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1988, ISBN 3-525-55753-1 , passim .
7. ^ Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. HarperCollins, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-055979-3 , pp. 159 and 179.