Paul Schmidt (Baptist)

Paul Schmidt (born October 13, 1888 in Kalkofen near Hohensaaten ; † January 28, 1970 in Bergisch Gladbach ) was a leading Baptist clergyman and a German politician (CSVD).

Live and act

Paul Schmidt came from a family of farm workers with many children who “had to struggle hard for their economic existence”. Father and mother belonged to the Eberswalde Baptist congregation , their seven children attended the Baptist Sunday school . Paul Schmidt settled on Due to the low income of the family, Schmidt could not complete a higher education. After attending elementary school , he moved to Berlin to begin a commercial apprenticeship. Previously, when he was 15, he was baptized in his parents' congregation . Schmidt found his spiritual home in the Berlin-Charlottenburg Baptist Congregation, which, with its family community, represented "a significant help for the young, single Schmidt in integrating into the metropolitan environment, which was foreign to him". Paul Schmidt got involved with young people in the various branches of church work and at the age of 21 decided to train as a Baptist pastor. From 1911 until the outbreak of the First World War he studied at the Baptist seminary in Hamburg-Horn . Due to a four-year war mission, he was only able to complete his theology studies in 1919. After his marriage to Maria Weerts, daughter of the leading Baptist pastor Bernhard Weerts , Schmidt took over the pastor's office of the Baptist congregation in Breslau until 1924 and then accepted an appointment with the Zurich Baptist congregation. During his time in Zurich he studied philosophy and theology for six semesters as a guest student at the University of Zurich . A close relationship developed with the church historian Walther Köhler , with whom he had a long friendship. In addition to his community activities in Zurich, Schmidt was also the editor of the Baptist youth magazine Jungbrunnen .

Political commitment

Political activists Schmidt in the Weimar Republic in the Christian Social Service , to which he had pushed through politically interested Kassel Baptists. At times he was its 3rd Reichsführer . In the Reichstag election of 1930 , the party won a particularly large number of votes in areas that were characterized by a strong pietistic or free church tradition. These included the rural parts of East Prussia and East Westphalia , Württemberg , Baden , Hessen-Nassau , Siegerland and Wittgenstein , the county of Bentheim , western East Friesland and the region around Düsseldorf . Paul Schmidt was among the 14 MPs with whom the CSVD was represented in the Reichstag from September 1930 to July 1932. There he represented constituency 19 (Hessen-Nassau). Schmidt's political commitment was viewed critically by the leadership of the German Baptist Union at the time. They "did not want to be identified with the CSVD and feared a bad connection between Christians and the world of politics." The reasons that led Schmidt to withdraw from politics after 1932 are unknown. Zimmermann suspects her to be the professional "double burden" as editor and member of the Reichstag.

Editor of the Oncken-Verlag

In 1930 the German Baptist Union appointed him to the headquarters of Oncken-Verlag in Kassel , which he took over as Albert Hoef's successor in 1930. As editor he was initially critical of National Socialism . For example, he wrote in 1932 in the Truth Witness , the official organ of the German Baptist Union: “To the left of the congregation the front of sheer and brutal godlessness is forming, to the right of it an idolization of the state is looming, a glorification of race and blood. If the left wants Christianity to be annihilated, the right wants its penetration and subordination. Both are life-threatening for the community. "Shortly after the takeover of power , Schmidt called on the truth witness to intercede for the National Socialist government:" But we also pray for this government and sincerely wish it success for the benefit of our people. "He justified this appeal with the power of history God who intervenes again and again - for salvation or for judgment. Whether the Nazi government will bring "a period of popular salvation" must, however, remain open at the moment, but "we will see that soon". At the end of this appeal, however, it is still critical: “Of course we know that these gentlemen cannot turn water into wine either.” At the end of 1933 and its momentous political upheavals, Schmidt expressly welcomed the Nazi government and raised its measures against Bolshevism , the moral savagery of large sections of the population and unemployment.

Federal director of the Baptist community federation

In 1935, Paul Schmidt was appointed federal director of the office of the Baptist congregation as the successor to Otto Nehring . At that time the head office was in Berlin. In addition to budget and asset management as well as the planning and implementation of inter-congregational missionary work, the tasks of a federal director included representing the Baptist Union in public law matters. Schmidt's term of office lasted until 1959. The political upheavals of this period also left their deep marks on German Baptism, some of which are still visible today. At the same time - according to Andrea Strübind - "[he] was one of the few Baptists through his political commitment and broad spectrum of interests who were competent beyond the confessional framework in the social and popular church area".

At the time of Paul Schmidt's federal directorate, the focus of research was primarily on the first ten years of his service. The disputes over his adaptation course in the Nazi state are documented in the Baptism documentation Volume 4: The dispute over the path of the Baptists in National Socialism. Jacob Köbberling's argument with Paul Schmidt at Oxford in 1937 and Velbert in 1946 , Elstal / Norderstedt 2014.

Board of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches

From 1929 to 1954 Schmidt was a board member of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches .

Board of the German Evangelical Alliance

From 1958 to 1967 Schmidt was chairman of the German Evangelical Alliance . During this time he participated in the founding of the European Baptist Mission Society , as its general secretary he was from 1954 to 1958. He was also a member of the Presidium of the European Evangelical Alliance, which he chaired from 1961 to 1967. He was also involved in the tent mission , the new land and world mission.

See also

• Free churches in the time of National Socialism

Selected works

• The community's position on contemporary state life , 1930
• The free churches in the German living space, their becoming and growing , in: Der Gärtner 1934, 427 f.
• Nationalism , in: Fifth Baptist World Congress , Berlin 1934, German Report, 1934, 204–210
• Liberalism, Collectivism and the Baptists , in: Sixth World Congress - Atlanta 1939, 1939, 203-206
• Those who gladly accepted his word were baptized and added , in: Die Christusgemeinde according to Scripture , 1957, 15-23
• Our path as a Bund Evangelical Free Churches congregations in the years 1941-46 , Stuttgart 1946. Reprinted in: Baptism Documentation Volume 4: The dispute over the path of the Baptists in National Socialism, Oncken-Archiv Elstal 2014, 63-78
• The Validity of the Basis of the Evangelical Alliance for Practice Today , n.d. (1963)

Literature (selection)

• Erich Beyreuther : The way of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany , 1969
• Armin Boyens: Church Struggle and Ecumenism 1933-39 , 1969
• Günter Opitz: The Christian Social People's Service , 1969
• Hans Luckey : Paul Schmidt and the federal government , in: Zeitschrift Die Gemeinde , 1970, No. 12;
• Ernst Krischik: Paul Schmidt , in: Arno Pagel: And led to Christ , 1976, pp. 119–126
• Günter Balders : One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist congregations in Germany , 1984
• Karl Zehrer : Evangelical Free Churches and the "Third Reich" , 1986
• Ulrich Marks: German Baptists between the Cross and the Swastika , 1989 (private print)
• Herbert Strahm : The Methodist Episcopal Church in the Third Reich , 1989
• Andrea Strübind : The unfree free church. The Union of Baptist Congregations in the 'Third Reich' , 1991
• Martin Schumacher: The Reichstag members of the Weimar Republic in the time of nationalism. Political persecution, emigration, etc. Expatriation 1933-1945 , 1991, p. 1192
• Karl Heinz Voigt :  Paul Schmidt. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 473-476.

Web links

• Literature by and about Paul Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Paul Schmidt in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Paul Schmidt in the BEFG's historical lexicon

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The biographical information and quotations in this section can be found in Andrea Strübind: The unfree free church. The Federation of Baptist Congregations in the Third Reich , Neukirchen-Vluyn 1991, p. 7 ff.
2. ↑ Andrea Strübind: The unfree free church. The Union of Baptist Congregations in the 'Third Reich' , 1991, p. 9.
3. ^ Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties: Contributions to the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties , 1960, p. 369.
4. ↑ Sandra Zimmermann: Between self-preservation and adaptation. The attitude of the Baptist and Brethren Congregations in National Socialism , Wölmersen 2001, 2004, p. 13 (online as PDF, viewed on August 22, 2017)
5. ↑ Sandra Zimmermann: Between self-preservation and adaptation. The attitude of the Baptist and Brethren Congregations in National Socialism , Wölmersen 2001, 2004, p. 16 (online as PDF, viewed on August 22, 2017)
6. ↑ The Truth Witness. A magazine for community and home. Organ of the German Baptists , Kassel 1932, Volume 54, p. 229.
7. ↑ The quotations mentioned can be found in: The Truth Witness. A magazine for community and home. Organ of the German Baptists , Kassel 1933, year 55, p. 54.
8. ↑ The Truth Witness. A magazine for community and home. Organ of the German Baptists , Kassel 1933, year 55, p. 430; compare Sandra Zimmermann: Between self-preservation and adaptation. The attitude of the Baptist and Brethren Congregations in National Socialism , Wölmersen 2001, 2004, p. 18 f. (online as PDF, accessed on August 22, 2017)
9. ↑ Andrea Strübind: The unfree free church. The Union of Baptist Congregations in the 'Third Reich' , 1991, p. 10.
10. ↑ Hannelore Braun / Gertraud Grünzinger: Personal Lexicon on German Protestantism 1919-1949 , 2006, p. 222.

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto Nehring	Federal Director / General Secretary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany 1935 - 1959	Rudolf Thaut