Paul Fromhold-Treu

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Paul Fromhold-Treu (born May 22, 1854 in the pastorate of Nitau , Livonia Gouvernement , Russian Empire ; † March 16, 1919 in Riga , Latvia ), also written as Paul Fromhold Treu or Paul Treu for short , in Latvian Pauls Fromholds-Treijs , in Russian Паул Фромхольд Трейс , was a German-Baltic clergyman. He is considered a Protestant martyr and is recorded on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

The dates in this article are based on the Julian calendar for the period up to 1918 unless otherwise noted.

Life

Education, pastor in Irben

Paul Fromhold-Treu's father was the pastor Ditmar Treu. Brothers Paul Fromhold-Treus were Johannes Fromhold-Treu (born May 7, 1853) and Karl Fromhold-Treu (born June 27, 1867). Paul Fromhold-Treu was initially homeschooled. From 1868 to 1870 he went to the Gouvernements-Gymnasium in Mitau and from 1870 to 1873 to the Gymnasium in Dorpat , from which he graduated with the Abitur. He studied philology at Dorpat University in 1874, then theology from 1875 to 1880. From 1875 he was a member of the Dorpat Theological Association. He completed his studies as a graduate student. In 1880 he passed the exams before the consistory in Riga. He spent his probationary year in 1880 with Pastor Kuntzendorff in Jürgensburg and in 1881 with Pastor Kählbrandt in Neu-Pebalg in Livonia. He was ordained on August 16, 1881 in Wolmar by General Superintendent Girgensohn.

From 1881 to 1882 he was pastor's adjunct in Neu-Pebalg, and from 1882 to 1884 in Laudohn in Livonia.

In 1884 he became a pastor in Irben , which is located on the northern tip of Courland and is characterized by sand and dunes. From Domesnäs this area extends 30 km along the Rigas Gulf and the Baltic Sea . The community consisted of Livs , a Finno-Ugric people who mostly went fishing, and Latvians who mostly farmed. The next Protestant pastor was Pastor Krause in Dondangen , who lived 20 km away from him. In the seclusion, he was the only one at his level of education with whom he could talk. The attempts at conversion by the Russian Orthodox state church disturbed the peace in his community. In Courland these began 40 years later than in Livonia . Converts were promised privileges. The evangelical pastor was not discouraged from taking action against it in his sermons and pastoral work. It was clear to him that he was making himself liable to prosecution. Orthodoxy achieved some successes; Hundreds of people registered for the Orthodox Church, many also companies. It went so far that the Orthodox priest set up his advertising office in the house of the customs and border guards. When the evangelical pastor heard about it, he went straight to the scene. The room was filled with people. When Fromhold-Treu stepped in, the people probably had a guilty conscience; at least they backed away. In front of all these people, the evangelical pastor asked the orthodox priest:

"Is it true that those who accept the Emperor's faith get land and the right to the beach, did you promise?"

The priest replied that he had not promised a land, but “heaven land”. Then Fromhold-Treu asked those standing by who had promised them land. The answer was, “Kalning told us.” It was the priest's psalmist. Before the Pope's arrival, Kalnig had already tried to convert. Fromhold-Treu asked the priest to take care that no false promises are made to the people and that there are no misleadings. The psalmist who was also present wanted to speak to Fromhold-Treu, but he refused. The courageous engagement of the evangelical pastor stopped the orthodox conversion attempts.

Punishment for offenses against the Orthodox State Church

The psalmist Paul Fromhold-Treu immediately reported to the gendarmerie for a number of alleged offenses. Charges were brought; it was also intended to take the pastor into custody. Fromhold-Treu was given a large deposit by the patron of the Evangelical Church, Baron Sacken. His case was negotiated; the pastor was acquitted. The prosecutor appealed, which brought the case to the Senate.

After that it rested for years and seemed to be done. Since he no longer expected to be punished, the pastor decided to marry Marie Louise Hedwig Kählbrandt, a daughter of Provost E. Kählbrandt, on August 4, 1888. He enjoyed his marriage for two years when the retrial was announced. The neighboring pastor Krause was to be prosecuted for the same offense at the same time. The defender was provided by the Courland knighthood. A Russian lawyer from Saint Petersburg volunteered for this. He represented the pastors very well, but without success. The verdict was passed in January 1891. Pastor Fromhold-Treu was imprisoned for two months and Pastor Krause for three months. The rationale was that they wanted to prevent their communities from converting to the Russian Orthodox Church. The pastors who were friends were imprisoned in Mitau prison. In addition to their Bible, they were also allowed to take comments that were mistaken for prayer books.

Two days before his release, Fromhold-Treu learned that he had been banned from holding public office in Courland. The reason was that Tsar Alexander III. had presented the pardon. This mitigated the prison sentence in exile. The governor of Courland, Sipägin, had the prison sentence carried out immediately, but did not announce the pardon for exile until the prison sentence had ended. Thus the reduction in the sentence intended by the tsar had become a more severe one. Sipägin made the situation worse by prohibiting the pastor from saying goodbye to his congregation. This should prevent subversive public statements by parishioners. Fromhold-Treu had to leave his home and his community immediately and without any fuss and was now unemployed. He immediately tried to find a new job.

So he worked from 1891 to 1892 as Sprengelsvikar for Wenden and Wolmar. In 1892 he was finally employed as city vicar in Riga. The pay was bad, the work hard. He also had to give lessons as a religion teacher at several schools in the city in order to be able to support himself and his three children.

Pastor at the Riga Trinity Church

St. Trinity Church in Riga

In 1896 he was finally called by the Latvian congregation to the vacant pastor's position at St. Trinity's Church in Riga . There he worked successfully for 23 years. His main focus was on preaching and pastoral care. Most of the parishioners were industrial workers who had moved to the city from the countryside, and the community continued to grow. The community was bilingual, which made it particularly labor-intensive. At least five services had to be held every week. The pastor was in good physical condition; This also enabled him to cope with his tasks and to support his community structurally and in terms of content. His work was considered blessed.

In addition to his spiritual activities, Paul Fromhold-Treu was also involved, as was Pastor Karl Schilling , who was murdered in 1905, Provost Ludwig Zimmermann , who was murdered in 1906, and clergymen Hans Bielenstein , Alexander Bernewitz , Xaver Marnitz , Arnold von Rutkowski , Christoph Strautmann , and Karl Schlau , who were executed by Bolsheviks in 1919 , Eberhard Savary , Eugen Scheuermann and Wilhelm Gilbert and like the pastors Gustav Cleemann and Erwin Gross , who died as a result of their imprisonment with the Bolsheviks, full members of the Latvian-Literary Society , which was dedicated to the study of the Latvian language, folklore and 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.

Fromhold-Treu was a clear opponent of the Russian Revolution of 1905/06 with its violent excesses against the Church. The pastor was able to protect the Trinity Church from misappropriation by revolutionaries. With these he was as hated as feared. For weeks, well-fortified parishioners with revolvers in their pockets took part in every service in order to protect the church in an emergency. The revolutionaries decided to pillage Fromhold-Treus Pastorat at the earliest opportunity. The pastor took no account of himself and stood firm in his opinion. That did not change when a revolutionary group attacked him and he was bleeding badly just about dragging himself home, nor when a large crowd gathered in front of the pastorate, unfolded a red flag and sang him a specially composed song in whom he was ridiculed and threatened. As he celebrated his jubilee in office, many revealed to him that his determined example had prevented them from joining the revolution themselves.

Wartime and arrest by Bolsheviks

During the First World War , industry was withdrawn from Riga; the workforce migrated. This caused Fromhold-Treu's community to shrink. He was a German Baltic, but served a Latvian community, which now gave him difficulties. Many parishioners rejected him because of his ethnicity, and few remained loyal to him. Pastor Karl Treu, his younger brother, was exiled to the interior of Russia. Paul Fromhold-Treu expected the same fate. The many adversities made the work difficult for him for the first time. He had even seen the death of his own children, which hit him very hard.

However, he continued to do his job, both during the German occupation and after the withdrawal of the German troops, when the Bolsheviks approached in the Latvian War of Independence that followed . He refused to retire; escape was also out of the question for him. He mean:

"Where God has placed us, there we have to stay, there are dangers everywhere, but God can protect everywhere."

On January 3, 1919, the Bolsheviks marched into Riga. Fromhold-Treu was arrested on January 4th by some gunmen, among whom were former confirmands of his. Fromhold-Treu was imprisoned for twelve weeks under severe conditions in the Matthai prison. At first he shared a cell with a mentally disabled person. Then he was put in a larger cell, which was occupied with homeless people and thieves. All his belongings were stolen from them; both inmates and the guards mocked him. Other imprisoned pastors enjoyed the company of like-minded people during this period; Fromhold-Treu has not been granted this privilege. He was also denied any information about his family.

In February there was a call for the press in the Latvian “Red Flag” to make statements about the pastor at the tribunal. At that time the Bolsheviks were still trying to give themselves the appearance of the rule of law. Friends in his ward tried to take the opportunity to make positive statements about their pastor. They were mockingly dismissed with the words: "We do not need such statements, we want to have charges". The situation was similar to that described in Mk 14,55  LUT . Eventually a suitable charge was found. Allegedly Fromhold-Treu had participated in the shooting of two parishioners in 1905. In fact, his involvement consisted of providing spiritual assistance to two court-martialed deaths in the execution. The indictment was sufficient for the intended execution of Fromhold-Treus.

execution

On March 16, 1919, a total of 30 prisoners were brought into the courtyard in small groups and shot. Paul Fromhold-Treu was among those called. When it was his turn, the commissioners asked him if he would admit his involvement in the shooting of parishioners. He denied this and added:

"You can take my body away from me, you can't harm my soul."

Several bullets then completely shattered his skull. The 30 bodies remained there for two days. Then they were looted. They were thrown on a large truck and taken to an unknown location.

It was only after a long search that the pastor's remains were found by chance when a mass grave was opened in September and Fromhold-Treu could be identified. He was buried in a cemetery with a view of his church. The inscription on his tombstone reads: “Behold, we bless those who endure. James 5:11 "(See James 5:11  LUT .)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Calendar reform by the Bolsheviks on February 1st July. / February 14,  1918 greg. , Declaration of independence of Latvia on November 5th jul. / November 18,  1918 greg.
  2. ^ List of members of the Latvian Literary Society from 1901 ( Memento from September 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Fromhold-Treu, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Treu, Paul Fromhold; Faithful, Paul; Fromholds-Treijs, Pauls (Latvian); Фромхольд Трейс, Паул (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Evangelical Lutheran pastor, martyr in Latvia
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Nītaure
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1919
Place of death Riga