Paul Wachtsmuth

Paul Wachtsmuth

Paul Wachtsmuth (born May 15, 1879 in Mitau , Kurland Governorate , Russian Empire ; † March 20, 1919 in Riga , Latvian SPR ), full name Paul Alexander Hermann Walter Wachtsmuth , also spelled Paul Wachsmuth , in Latvian Pauls Vahtsmuts or Pauls Vahsmuts , was a German-Baltic pastor . 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

Paul Wachtsmuth's father was the court attorney Paul Wachtsmuth. Paul Wachtsmuth the Younger went to the Gouvernements-Gymnasium in Mitau in 1887 and to the Stavenhagen School from 1888 to 1892. From 1892 to 1894 he attended private courses in Mitau. From 1894 to 1897 he went to the Petri School in Saint Petersburg . At the time, this was the only place in Russia where the Abitur could be taken in German. Wachtsmuth benefited from the more urban environment compared to his homeland.

He first studied theology from 1897 to 1901 at the University of Dorpat . In 1897 he was accepted into the Curonia student union . In this he was fellow judge Chargierter and honorary judge. Since September 15, 1899 he was a member of the Theological Association Dorpat; In 1900 he became its secretary, in 1901 its president. In 1900 he received a gold medal. He completed his studies with the candidate degree. In 1902 he passed his exams before the consistory in Mitau.

In 1902 he received a travel grant from Curonia. With this funding he went to Germany from 1902 to 1903 to study, initially to Berlin, which broadened his horizons even more. He was able to work for the Berlin City Mission for three months , while Adolf Stoecker directed it. During this time he developed his understanding of the important social tasks of the church. He also visited the Jesus congregation founded by Georg Wilhelm Schulze ("Tränenschulze"), which at the time was looked after by the city mission inspector Max Braun. The parish ideal that Wachtsmuth got to know here, he later tried to realize in his own parish.

Then, in 1903, he attended the Von Bodelschwinghschen Anstalten Bethel , where an important representative of the internal mission, Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder , trained him. The time in the Candidate Convict there seemed enriching to him.

Wachtsmuth held his probationary year from June to September 1902 with Pastor Krüger in Sessau in Courland and from September to November 1903 with Pastor Seeberg in Doblen in Courland. He was ordained on November 9, 1903 in Mitau by Superintendent General Panck. From 1903 to 1905 he was pastor's adjunct for the Latvian congregation in Doblen. On December 30, 1903, he married Marianne Schwartz († 1922), a daughter of the Riga senior teacher Nikolai Schwartz.

Rector of the Diakonissenanstalt in Mitau

In 1905 Paul Wachtsmuth was elected pastor of the German township of St. Johannis in Mitau as well as rector and chaplain at the local deaconess institution . He became the successor of Pastor Katterfeld, who was considered the father of the Inner Mission in Courland and was a student of Wilhelm Löhe. Paul Wachtsmuth did not introduce any innovations here, but continued the tried and tested. He tried to enliven the congregation in terms of worship and service to others. The deaconesses were to become a "shock troop in the battle of the church with the kingdom of darkness". With his grateful manner he won the people and resources for his work.

In January 1907 he was secretary at the mission conference in Dorpat .

At the afternoon session of the Provincial Synod in Courland on September 4, 1908, he gave a lecture on the position of diakonia within general welfare. Because of a lack of time he had to continue the lecture the following day; a lively debate ensued.

As pastor of the Johanniskirche, Wachtsmuth was also head of their children's services. In December 1908, he accordingly took part in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the children's services at St. Trinity Church. He spoke the words of welcome and handed over an elaborately designed log book as a festive gift. He also gave a lecture on the relationship between children's services and religious education.

On February 27, 1909, he gave the commemorative speech and carried out the funeral for the then well-known teacher Heinrich Seesemann; on June 2, 1909, he spoke at the funeral of Dr. med. Leo Baron Sacken, who had worked at the ophthalmological clinic of the deaconess institution.

In 1910, Wachtsmuth reported in the communications and news for the Evangelical Church in Russia about the provincial synod that took place in Mitau in September 1909.

In the same year he received a call from the College of the Leipzig Mission to become Mission Superintendent in India. Since the tropical climate would have had a bad effect on his wife's poor health, he had to refuse this position. The request increased his efforts to promote the outer mission.

In May 1912 Wachtsmuth held a funeral speech and carried out the funeral for the then well-known fire chief Mag. J. Hertel.

On February 4, 1913, Wachtsmuth took part in the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the Kandau Diakonie Hospital. He brought greetings from the mother house, which he directed, as well as an altarpiece and thanked the local pastorate for the help and the doctors for the sisters.

In January 1914 Wachtsmuth took part in the 8th session of the Livonian Mission Conference in Dorpat and delivered the greetings of the Courland Mission Conference.

Pro-German attitude during the First World War

In 1914 the First World War broke out. Many Baltic Germans idealized everything German at this time, since Russian supremacy had brought them numerous disadvantages. Paul Wachtsmuth rejected such an idealization. On the other hand, despite the threat of punishment, he refused to use the phrase “for victory in the war imposed on us” in church prayer, which was demanded by the Russian authorities. He did not consider the German Reich to be the cause of the war and also hoped for its victory, since he was of the opinion that the Lutheran Church in the Baltic States would benefit from it.

In 1915 the Russian authorities forced the superior to resign. It was alleged that she insulted Russian nuns. Marie Schlieps became her successor. She became a valuable employee. Wachtsmuth was also subjected to repression by the Russian gendarmerie. During interrogation, he openly admitted his disapproval of their approach, which is why it was planned to banish him to the interior of Russia.

The dispatch order could no longer be carried out because Mitau was captured by German troops on August 1, 1915. Wachtsmuth was very satisfied with this development and believed that there was now a hopeful future for the Baltic States. The work in the deaconess house and the hospital that was set up there brought him many contacts with Germans inside and outside the army, which he valued very much, also because they promoted his internal missionary work. He had far-reaching plans for working with the fallen and prisoners and founded the Relief Society. Corresponding foundations existed in Mitau and other cities. The negative consequences of the war brought him new tasks.

In 1917 he founded the magazine “Kelle und Schwert”. This should arouse interest in the Christian-motivated development work and appeal to social awareness. He felt that the church must join the community movement and believed that a new age was beginning. It is essential for the future of the church that Christians are now aware of their specific duties. In connection with the new age, however, he also saw God's judgment coming.

Arrested by the Bolsheviks

During the Latvian War of Independence on January 9, 1919, Mitau was occupied by the Soviets. Many had left the city in panic, but neither the needy nor the deaconesses were able to flee. Paul Wachtsmuth stayed that way. In the January issue of Trowel and Sword, he said it was reassuring to know that you shouldn't leave the post God has placed you, because God stays with you. There he also quoted Martin Luther's “ A solid castle ”, which says that the believer remains in the kingdom of God despite all losses.

When the German troops withdrew, the ammunition depot had been blown up, which destroyed all the windows of St. John's Church. The services were therefore celebrated in the prayer room of the deaconess house. The community was intimidated, wondering what the future would bring and how the situation would then be borne. The pastor comforted them with the Word of God and the Lord's Supper. The situation worsened and there were searches of the pastorate and deaconess house, the execution of which raised the suspicion that someone in the deaconess house was spying for the Bolsheviks .

During this time a Bolshevik commissar fell ill with flu, but had to continue working. So three days later he was admitted to the deaconess house with severe pneumonia. The night watch observed these patients throughout the night with hourly visits. When he was handed over to the day watch, his condition was unchanged. But a few minutes later he jumped out of bed, collapsed and died, as his two roommates reported. The denouncer was the Latvian nurse G., who belonged to the Red Cross, fled from hunger from St. Petersburg and was then admitted to the deaconess house for charitable reasons some time ago. She now reported to the political department that the blame for the death lay with the deaconesses, and that it could possibly even be a poisoning. A committee of inquiry was convened. Pastor Paul Wachtsmuth and Matron Marie Schlieps were immediately arrested on February 18, 1919; the commissioner's funeral took place immediately afterwards, without a forensic investigation into the question of a poisoning or an interview with the attending doctor or the responsible nurse.

The deaconess house was an important Christian institution. Oskar Schabert suspected in his Baltic Martyrs Book (see under "Literature") that only a pretext was sought to destroy an institution by arresting the two leaders that did not fit the atheistic philosophy of the Bolsheviks.

House search in the deaconess house

A week after Wachtsmuth's arrest, another house search took place in the deaconess house. The aforementioned nurse and another woman of Latvian ethnicity, who had been found unfit for the deaconess office by Marie Schlieps, but was allowed to stay in the deaconess house until the Bolsheviks were employed, led the group. The two women laughed and danced, and those involved in the search were delighted with the alleged evidence. These consisted of an old helmet left behind by a medical officer of the Army of the German Reich, which Mitau had occupied during the First World War, a suitcase with foreign linen that had been left to the house, and a box with silver items that had not been delivered.

Imprisonment in Mitau

The conditions of detention were very harsh. The cell was mostly unheated, severely overcrowded and unlit. Furthermore, the prisoners were insufficiently fed, and the facilities for personal hygiene were completely inadequate. For the first few weeks the prisoners received the soup brought to them by relatives; later, the food that was given to the prison did not reach the detainees. After two weeks in detention, the prisoners developed typhus . The overcrowding of the prison due to the daily delivery of new prisoners resulted in the female prisoners being transferred to the women's prison.

Paul Wachtsmuth had been a prison minister for ten years. Even when he was a prisoner himself, he performed this task. So he held daily morning and evening services. Then he took on pastoral duties. A bank clerk wrote to his wife: "I would be desperate if Pastor Wachtsmuth hadn't strengthened me and lifted me up." The wall to the next cell had a few small cracks that had been long labored by previous inmates. Wachtsmuth tore pages out of his pocket Bible and pushed them with a wire through the cracks to the neighboring cell, in which, among other things, six death row inmates sat. They had asked for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which the Bolsheviks had forbidden. Instead, according to Wachtsmuth's intention, they should now strengthen themselves by the word of God.

He wrote numerous letters from captivity, which later (1930) included in the biography of Paul Wachtsmuth. A highly wandered among the number of Baltic martyrs. (See chapter "Literature"). In it he expressed his joy at how gratefully his services as pastor were accepted here, some of which he could also give to the neighboring cell, and that he was mostly in good spirits and never felt far from God. He also mentioned his frequent Bible reading and that Marie Schlieps could work as a nurse in the prayer room of the prison, in which there was a sick room. He saw his fate as uncertain, but in God's hands. He thanked his congregation for the intercession. He reported on the daily reading of a passage from the Passion story, which he then translated into Latvian. This was followed by a prayer. On a Sunday service could be celebrated with the song O Head full of blood and wounds , the interpretation of the biblical report about Jesus in Gethsemane, a prayer and the blessing.

interrogation

A very long interrogation took place on March 5th when there was allegedly enough evidence. Paul Wachtsmuth and Marie Schlieps were carefully questioned about the German helmet and linen found in the house search, while the silver items were not mentioned. It is possible that those involved in the search had acquired it. The interrogation also concerned political attitudes towards the Bolsheviks, but not the death that led to the arrests. But it was probably intended to portray this as murder. Despite insufficient evidence, the pastor and superior remained in custody. A conviction was supposed to take place later, but this never happened.

Shootings

A few weeks before Mitau was retaken by the Baltic State Armed Forces , executions by the Bolsheviks were only carried out by a tribunal after appropriate death sentences. The situation for the prisoners worsened daily with the approach of the enemy troops. In one night 40 to 50 prisoners of both sexes were shot without a prior hearing. They were put in a mass grave and buried there without their death having been determined beforehand.

Via dolorosa

The approximately 240 prisoners of the Bolsheviks, including Paul Wachtsmuth, were to be held hostage on March 18, 1919, just one hour before Mitau was retaken, at temperatures of −14 ° C in a snowstorm and over 42 km in the dark, in a great hurry in 13 hours be led over the main road to Riga without being allowed to take breaks. They were driven on with lashes and blows from rifle butts. Anyone who remained lying down because of their age or illness was shot. Only half of the hostages survived the march. The Libausche Zeitung reported on April 7th that numerous bodies had been found on the first 15 km of the way. They had gunshot and saber wounds and traces of Nagaika blows . Paul Wachtsmuth supported a seriously ill person on the way, who finally collapsed and remained lying. Marie Schlieps, who was walking at the end of the train, supported a 75-year-old woman who was exhausted and unable to walk. One of the Bolsheviks shouted: "Where is Schlieps?" She replied: "This is Marie Schlieps." Immediately they hit six bullets. She and the old woman, who was also shot, were left dead on the street that was later referred to as the via dolorosa , based on the suffering of Jesus . Numerous young men were able to flee under cover of darkness; the rest reached Riga. Of the 130 women who were herded on this train, only 86 made it to the destination.

Imprisonment in Riga and death

On March 19, 1919 Paul Wachtsmuth was imprisoned in Riga Central Prison. On March 20, he wrote to his brother from prison that he had arrived in Riga. In it he meant:

“What will become of us is unknown to us, God knows and goes with us. It is difficult, but God gives new strength every day, we can worship every day, as in Mitau. "

Only a few hours later, Paul Wachtsmuth was summoned from his cell and killed by the Bolsheviks. The exact circumstances of death are unknown. Words he had often said to his fellow prisoners were:

"We will see the Savior soon."

Wachtsmuth's death was only known after April 7th. He and Marie Schlieps were the first martyrs of the deaconess mother houses of the Kaiserswerther Association.

Works

• From a deaconess house in Courland during the World War in: Vierteljahrsschrift f. Inner mission. 36.1916

Afterlife

The proceeds of the biography Paul Wachtsmuth published in 1930 . A highly wandered among the number of Baltic martyrs. benefited the new building of the deaconess house. A memorial plaque in honor of Wachtsmuth was placed in the Mitau St. Johanniskirche.

literature

• Karlis Beldavs: Macitaji, kas nave gaja . Luterisma mantojuma fonds, Riga 2010, ISBN 978-9984-753-56-0 , pp. 33–36 (Latvian), with portrait photo, lmf.lv (PDF)
• Anna Katterfeld : Paul Wachtsmuth. A highly wandered among the number of Baltic martyrs. Self-published by the Deaconess House, Jelgava (Mitau) 1930
• Anna Katterfeld, Wilhelm Ilgenstein: On the bridge to eternity. End of the life of God-blessed men , volume 1. Verlag der St. Johannis-Druckerei, Lahr-Dinglingen 1954
• Oskar Schabert: Baltic Martyrs Book . Furche-Verlag, Berlin 1926, p. 100 ff., Utlib.ee (PDF)
• Harald Schultze, Andreas Kurschat (ed.): "You look at the end ..." - Protestant martyrs of the 20th century . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 978-3-374-02370-7 , Part II, Section Russian Empire / Baltic States , p. 560
• Alfred Seeberg : Album of the Theological Association to Dorpat-Jurjew . Theological Association, Dorpat-Jurjew 1905, p. 183, no. 446
• Addendum to the album of the Theological Association in Dorpat . Theological Association, C. Mattiesen, Dorpat 1929, p. 68, no. 446
• Wilhelm Wheels: Album Curonorum . Historical Commission of Curonia, R. Ruetz, Riga 1932, p. 208, No. 1537, pdf under dspace.ut.ee/bitstream/handle/10062/37391/est_a_1245_2_ocr.pdf

Web links

• Nekropole.info (Latvian)
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia. 1914.
• Portrait photo of Paul Wachtsmuth (middle row, far left)

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. ↑ M. Braun: The Jesus Church in Berlin . Commission publisher of the Vaterländische Verlags- und Kunstanstalt , Berlin 1907, p. 98 f.
3. ↑ Dorpat. Mission Conference. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 17 of January 22, 1907, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
4. ↑ Mitau. From the Courland Provincial Synod. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 207 of September 6, 1908, online under Pastor Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
5. ↑ Mitau. From the Courland Provincial Synod. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 208 of September 8, 1908, online under Pastor Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
6. ↑ The 25th anniversary of the children's services at the St. Trinity Church in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 287 of December 10, 1908, online under Pastor Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
7. ↑ Mitau. The 25th anniversary of the children's services at the St. Trinity Church in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 287 of December 10, 1908, online at Pastor Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
8. ^ Mitau local chronicle. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 48 of February 28, 1909, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
9. ^ Mitau local chronicle. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 123 of June 2, 1909, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
10. ↑ From the communications and news for the Evangelical Church in Russia in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 73 of March 31, 1910, online under Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
11. ↑ Mitau. Funeral of Mag. J. Hertel. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 104 of May 7, 1912, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
12. ↑ Kandau. Anniversary of the Diakonie Hospital. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 32 of February 7, 1913, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
13. ↑ From the pastoral conferences in Dorpat in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 12 of January 16, 1914, online under Pastor Wachtsmuth Pastor Pastor | issueType: P
14. ↑ Twenty years ago. in Evangelium und Osten: Russian Evangelical Press Service , No. 5, May 1, 1939, online at Marnitz | issueType: P
15. ^ Report on the capture and murder of the superior of the Mitau deaconess house Marie Schlieps by the Bolsheviks in the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 81 of April 7, 1919, online under Schlieps | issueType: P
16. ↑ reopening of Mitauschen Deaconess Motherhouse. in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 9 of January 13, 1930, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
17. ↑ From the book table. in the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 67 of March 22, 1930, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P
18. ↑ Blast Synod in Jelgawa. in the Ev.-luth. Church paper for the German parishes of Latvia , No. 43 of October 21, 1938, online at Wachtsmuth | issueType: P