Otto Wehr

Otto Wehr (1934)

Otto Wehr (born October 1, 1886 in Viersen ; † December 16, 1960 in Homburg ) was a German pastor , superintendent , church councilor and a leading figure in the Protestant resistance of the Confessing Church in the Saar region against National Socialism and the teachings of German Christians .

Life

Wehr grew up in his hometown of Viersen as the son of a master spinning master and his wife. In April 1906, Wehr passed the school leaving examination. Active in the church since the age of 9, he began studying theology at the University of Bonn . There followed a year of study in Eastbourne , after which he continued his studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg , and in 1909 returned to Bonn. He took his first exam in 1910 and then studied for two years at the University of Utrecht . He then served a year in the military and then began an apprenticeship as vicar with Pastor Reinhard Johannes von Nasse in Bad Neuenahr . After his second exam in 1914, he was drafted into military service. During the First World War he served on the Russian and Flemish fronts. On October 15, 1914, he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class . His highest rank was a lieutenant . From 1916 he worked as a field division pastor and then engaged in military chaplaincy. After his military service he became a pastor in Seelscheid in 1917 . He then married Elisabeth Dörrbecker and moved with her and his two children to Saarbrücken in 1926 , where he occupied a pastor's position in old Saarbrücken on April 4th .

At the Saar Synod in 1933, Wehr spoke about the situation of the Protestant Church and formulated principles that would later determine the church struggle on the Saar: Central was his rejection of a doctrine of the German Christians, according to which the German Reich Church should be reserved for the Aryan race. Together with the Rhenish pastors Heinrich Held , Joachim Beckmann and Paul Humburg , Wehr sought a dispute with the German Christians in July 1933 under the motto “Church and Gospel”. Wehr built up a pastors' emergency association on the Saar and ensured that it was connected to the Confessing Church.

literature

• Hans-Walter Herrmann : Otto Wehr. In: Saarland pictures of life. Volume 4. Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, Saarbrücken 1989, pp. 223–249.
• Joachim Conrad : Wehr, Otto (1886–1960). In: BBKL. 23, 2004, col. 1538-1565.

Web links

Commons : Otto Wehr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Otto Wehr in the catalog of the German National Library