Paul Rázga

Pastor Paul Rázga

Paul Rázga , Hungarian Pál Rázga (born December 10, 1798 in Bösing , † June 18, 1849 in Preßburg ) was a Hungarian Evangelical Lutheran pastor in the German Evangelical Church Community AB in Preßburg .

Life

Rázga's parents were Slovaks. As a very gifted child, he was able to attend grammar school, first in Modern and then in Pressburg . After graduating from school in Preßburg, he first went to Blankenberg, Austria, as an educator. He then studied theology and medicine in Vienna . After ordination as a Protestant pastor in 1823 by the superintendent Johann Wächter , he held pastoral positions in various places in Austria . First he was in the small community of Trebesing in Carinthia; In 1827 he came to the neighboring Zlan . In both communities he made a contribution to the promotion of the school system and church buildings. In 1835 he was appointed to Modern. Here he founded a support fund ("pension statute") for pastor widows and orphans for the entire Protestant seniorate in the Preßburg county . In 1839 he became pastor of the German Evangelical Community in Prague and founder of the German Protestant School there. In 1846 he was appointed to the pastoral position of the first preacher of the German Evangelical Congregation AB in Pressburg . Rázga was a gifted preacher in the spirit of the then popular theology of rationalism ; his sermons and speeches made a deep impression on the people of the time. He had an amazing rhetorical talent and his speeches were very popular not only with Protestants but also with Catholics.

Revolution 1848/1849

Paul Rázga was a Slovak by birth, his language and education were German, but his heart was stuck with the Hungarians. He felt like a patriot who was primarily committed to the state, i.e. the Kingdom of Hungary . When the revolution broke out in 1848 , which was followed by the Hungarian struggle for freedom , he sided with the Hungarian freedom fighters. He did not fight with gun in hand, but supported the Hungarian troops ( Honvéd ) verbally and with encouraging speeches at various locations and accompanied the troops as a chaplain, which ultimately became his undoing.

Handwriting of Pastor Paul Rázga Transcription: “In memory of the 300th secular celebration of the death of Dr. M. Luthers, who was celebrated by church in Prague on February 22nd, 1846, gives this holy book to his daughter Mathilde, her father Paul Rázga, pastor ”

When the Austrians recaptured Pressburg in December 1848, his friends suggested that he should flee, which Rázga categorically refused. Shortly after the invasion, Rázga was arrested in his parish apartment on the nunnery on the orders of the Bratislava city governor Bernhard von Vetsera (* 1796, † 1870) and taken to the town hall prison. From here he was transferred to the building of the (former) water barracks, where the interrogations began.

Condemnation

Many friends, but also well-meaning opponents, tried to save his life. Even the then head of the investigation, Prince zu Windisch-Graetz, regretted him and tried to build him a "donkey bridge" by asking:

“True, you were surely persuaded by others that you incited the people against their majesty from the terrace of the hotel“ Zum Grünen Baum ” ! Surely you were also forcefully forced to bless the weapons of the agitators in your capacity as pastor? "

He should only have said "yes", but instead Rázga gave the following answer:

"Absolutely not! I acted of my own free will and thus only followed my patriotic duty! "

This example from the interrogation protocols clearly shows that not only the judges, but even the chairman of the court martial tried to literally put the "saving words" into his mouth. But Rázga stuck to his priestly conscience and the moral code of a pastor, which forbade him to lie. That sealed his fate.

In May 1849, Julius Haynau took over as the successor to Alfred Fürst zu Windisch-Graetz - as Feldzeugmeister with unrestricted powers - the high command in Hungary. Haynau signed without further consideration in his then official residence in the Primate's Palace , the death sentence of Razga that has the following text:

"Paul Razga von Bösing, born in Pressburg County, 50 years old, Augsburg Confession, married, father of 5 children, preacher of the local evangelical community, is in the judicial investigation carried out against him in the case of correct facts, partly confessed and partly more credible through sworn statements Persons legally transferred, three different times, namely: in Pressburg on October 19, vJ from the balcony of the inn to the green tree of the assembled National Guard and the numerous crowd present, then to Kittsee the Guards themselves, who had already moved against Austria; Finally, before the meeting at Schwechat - where he went with the Hungarian insurgent army as field preacher - public speeches of highly treasonous content directed against the existing dynasty and legal order were made, the people were asked to arm themselves against the legitimate government, which was to return from Kittsee To have persuaded the Pressburg-minded guards to advance and finally to have encouraged perseverance in the fight against the Austro-Hungarian troops; also that, as a member of a political club, he had broken up the letters that had been sent by post in the interests of the rebels, and that he had delivered dangerous or suspicious documents and printed matter to government commissioner Ujházy in order to uncover rebellious and highly treasonable conditions, and at the same time he was the author of several provocative newspaper articles - The same was therefore made more difficult because of the crime of continued participation in the armed riot - repeated, publicly held, highly treasonous and provocative speeches - by advocacy in all political activities - both before the month of October last year and after the same - through the provisional horror of condemned his preaching office to death by hanging on the basis of the existing laws in the martial law held on him on June 16 th of this year by unanimous vote, and the higher local judgment ratified on the same today around the 4th Morning hour put into effect. Pressburg, June 18, 1849. From the Imperial and Royal Military Inquiry Commission "

execution

One day before the execution of the judgment, the most distinguished women of the city of Pressburg got together, put on mourning clothes and went to see Haynau, the chairman of the court martial . Together they knelt in front of Haynau and with tears pleaded for mercy for the popular preacher. Haynau refused, however, with the following words: "He should just dangle - as a deterrent example for all rebels!" This rejection of the plea for mercy for Rázga spread like wildfire all over Pressburg. Tumultuous conditions arose in the city. The authorities feared that Paul Rázga would be freed by force by the indignant Pressburgers and that is why the prisoner was taken from the water barracks to the dungeon of the barracks of the Pressburg castle on the night of June 17th to 18th . Rázga's official brother, the Protestant pastor Wilhelm Schimko , was ordered to visit the prisoner in order to provide spiritual support. After celebrating Holy Communion , they spent the rest of the time in prayer. Pastor Schimko later recalled: "It was not I who comforted Rázga, but he me, because I was completely broken."

At dawn, the prison doors were opened to bring Rázga, accompanied by the hangman and a hundred soldiers, to the place of execution on Eselsberg. Rázga knelt in front of the gallows and said the following prayer:

Gravestone of Paul Rázga at the Gaistor cemetery in Pressburg, as of February 2009

“Lord, is it possible, then take the cup of suffering from me, not like me, but as you want! ... Here I stand before you, Almighty in the face of the dawn and survey my life. Sadness embraces me, but my soul is calmed ... I bless everything that my eye sees all around. I bless the residents of Pressburg, I bless my dear congregation, I bless my poor innocent children, I bless my dear wife, I bless the emperor - I also bless those who condemned me ... I bless my dear fatherland and wish it soon be free and happy ... "

He got no further because they started to drum. When the executioner put the noose around his neck, he breathed: "Lord God in your hands I recommend my spirit". In delirium he said: "But what are you doing? ... oh, oh ..." Then he breathed out his ghost. The drum roll could be heard again and the captain's command "To prayer!" And the soldiers knelt.

Rázga's body had to remain hanging on the gallows until evening as a deterrent; underneath was his gray top hat, which he always wore - as his trademark. His remains were then taken to the Gaistor Evangelical Cemetery and quietly buried. The simple tombstone only bears the inscription:

"PAUL RÁZGA
PREDIGER
1849"

Memorial plaque to Paul Rázga in Budapest

Paul Rázga's widow, Johanna Marie b. Luia, a native of Denmark, with whom he had a very happy marriage and who had five children (three sons, two daughters), only survived her husband by five years. She followed him into the grave in 1854 and was also buried in the Gaistor cemetery (albeit in a different location). After her husband's arrest, she tried in vain to get an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph .

reception

Paul Rázga has almost been forgotten in the consciousness of people today. In Budapest there is a plaque commemorating him (on Dévai Bíró Mátyás tér [Eng. 'Platz'] in the 3rd district in Altofen [Hungarian Óbuda]). The inscription can hardly be read on the weathered sandstone gravestone at the Gaistor cemetery in Pressburg, which is overgrown with moss. Nevertheless, at the foot of this stone there are often bouquets or wreaths, placed by unknown, pious hands, wrapped with small ribbons of the Hungarian nation, in the colors red-white-green.

bibliography

• Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire (BLKÖ), vol. 25, p. 78
• Evanjelická encyklopédia Slovenska , (Evangelical Encyclopedia of Slovakia), Bratislava 2001, ISBN 80-968671-4-8
• P. Rainer Rudolf, Eduard Ulreich: Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon. Working group of the Carpathian Germans from Slovakia, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-927096-00-8 , pp. 266-267.
• Carpathian Yearbook 2016 , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-80-8175-006-9
• Emil Kumlik: A szabadságharz pozsonyi vértanúi , (The Pressburg Martyrs of the Freedom Struggle), Kalligram, Pozsony 1998, ISBN 80-7149-214-0
• Viera Obuchová, Štefan Holčík: Cintorín pri Kozej bráne , (The Gaistor Cemetery), Marenčin, Bratislava 2006, ISBN 80-88912-89-X
• CE Schmidt, S. Markusovßky, G. Ebner: History of the Evangelical Church Community AB zu Preßburg , 2 Bde., Pozsony 1906

Individual evidence

1. ↑ BLKÖ, Vol. 25, p. 76
2. ↑ Ev. encyklopédia Slovenska, p. 294
3. ↑ Bernhard von Vetsera was the grandfather of Mary von Vetsera , the lover of Crown Prince Rudolph .
4. ^ The later Hotel Carlton in Preßburg (Bratislava)
5. ↑ Kumlik, pp. 87f.
6. ↑ Emanuel Wilhelm Schimko (1791–1875) studied in Ödenburg [ung. Sopron] and Jena theology. From 1835 he held the dual office of pastor (and senior) of the Evangelical Church Community AB zu Preßburg and theology professor at the Preßburg Evangelical Lyceum. He published in three languages ​​(German, Hungarian, Slovak) and was the author of several church hymns (in the former Slovak hymn book "Zpevník" some songs of Schimkos were printed) and theological writings, including Evangelical devotional book in chants, Pressburg 1854
7. ↑ Kumlik, p. 77; The words uttered in prayer were recorded by Pastor Shimko, who was an eyewitness to the tragic event.
8. ↑ Based on an article by Anton Klipp: Two graves in the Gaistor cemetery in Pressburg . In Carpathian Yearbook 2016, p. 94ff.