Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt

Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt (born August 28, 1942 in Bernstadt, Oels district (Silesia) ) is a retired pastor and holder of the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon .

Portrait of Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt 2009

Life

Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt spent the first years of his life in his birthplace Bernstadt, Oels district (Silesia). On January 21, 1945 the family fled from the Russian and Polish associations and after several escape stations reached Göttingen on July 8, 1945 . There he spent most of his childhood and school days. In 1962 he passed the high school and began at the Georg-August University of Göttingen with the study of Protestant theology . After moving to the theological faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (1965 to 1967) he returned to Göttingen and finished his studies there in 1969 with the first theological exam . In 1971 the second theological exam followed, which he passed in Hanover . In the following year he entered the service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover .

From 1972 to 1979 Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt was a parish priest in the Gangolf parish Oerel , Bremervörde district . From 1979 to retirement he was a pastor of the Lutheran Church congregation Holzminden and took from 1982 to 1989 the Office of Youth pastor of the church district Holzminden true. On September 1, 2002, he joined because of a severe disability in retirement .

Pastor Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt is married and has two sons.

Focus of life

In addition to private and professional orientations and objectives, Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt's life's work is characterized by other focuses. He dealt with the processing of the NS - crimes on Jewish people in the context of the spatial environment of Holzminden. In this context, there were also connections to Israel and Palestine at the church level to promote peace work .

From the clarification of the individual fates of former forced laborers who had to work in the Holzminden area, Pastor Schmidt achieved reconciliation with people from Eastern European countries in what is now Russia and Ukraine . In addition to contacts with these countries, he also tried to integrate German repatriates who have found a new home in the Holzminden area. He also promoted international youth encounters with the United States as well as contacts with communities in the former GDR in Saxony .

Award

On April 12, 2007, Federal President Horst Köhler awarded Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany “in recognition of the special services acquired for the people and the state”. The district administrator of the Holzminden district, Walter Waske , presented the Order of Merit on September 19, 2007 and in his laudation honored the recipient's life's work. The priorities described above were given special mention.

In his acceptance speech, Pastor Schmidt referred to the “Bund der Many” who had helped build the bridges to Rodewisch and Rötha near Leipzig , to Russia and the Ukraine, to Israel-Palestine and to the families of Jewish faith in Holzminden Major cities in Europe, the United States and the Middle East . He personally contacted Frau Gertrud Kusch , 95 years old, who had been invited to the award ceremony of the order. In 1944, at risk to life and limb, she made friends with the forced laborers of the Filippov family from the Ukraine, provided them with food and granted refuge to Antonina Filippova. Above all, this woman, like other courageous people who are ready to help in times of sheer need and imminent danger, deserves honor and recognition.

swell

For decades, Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt's activities met with a lively response in the local and national press in Germany. The foreign countries affected also became aware of the initiatives of the Holzminden pastor and reported in the media .

Press and book publications (selection)

• Reports about the "Aktion Jüdischer Friedhof" in the regional newspaper T Tages Anzeiger Holzminden on November 9, 1984 and May 11, 1993. In 1984, Pastor Schmidt launched the "Aktion Jüdischer Friedhof" in Holzminden, which is held annually in memory of the 1938 Reichspogromnacht repeats and sets a sign of reconciliation.
• Selma Rosemann - a " Righteous Among the Nations ". Ms. Selma Rosemann, who died on July 31, 1982 in Holzminden, had given her life to help Jewish families in Breslau during the war ; for this she was honored in the Jewish memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem . Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt worked to ensure that the public memorial in the Holzminden city cemetery also commemorates the fate of this courageous woman. Daily Anzeiger Holzminden from November 9, 2002, Evangelische Zeitung für Niedersachsen from December 22, 2002.
• Partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Palestine (ELCHJ), which the pastor built up between 1980 and 1995 by conducting visits and organizing scholarships for Palestinian youth. Evangelical newspaper for Lower Saxony from May 14, 1989.

For decades, Paul-Rüdiger Schmidt has taken on the fate of the former forced laborers. It is mainly thanks to his personal commitment that several individual fates could be clarified.

• Clarification of the fate of the Filippow family: Daily Anzeiger Holzminden of August 11, 1990, April 27, 1991 and July 24, 1993.
• Clarification of the fate of the forced laborer Ms. Efrosinja Sidorowna Doroschko: Daily Anzeiger Holzminden of July 18, 1992 and October 24, 1997, Einbecker Morgenpost of October 24, 1997.
• Establishment of a public memorial to commemorate the dead in the forced labor camps: Daily News in Holzminden of February 9, 2001 and April 27, 2002.

Web links

• The Jewish cemetery by Rüdiger Schmidt - published in 1995
• The cemetery of the forced laborers of Rüdiger Schmidt - published in 1995

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See also: Daily Anzeiger Holzminden of September 21, 2007, Evangelische Zeitung for Lower Saxony of November 18, 2007
2. ↑ Schmidt also published an article on this: R. Schmidt, Der Jüdische Friedhof in Holzminden, in: D. Creydt, Zwangsarbeit Volume 3, Holzminden 1995, pp. 137–164.