Rainer Ehlers

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Rainer Jarchow

Rainer Ehlers (* 16th December 1941 in Hamburg as Rainer Jarchow ) is a pastor of the North Elbe Lutheran Church retired and as a foundation founder of the German AIDS Foundation initiator of the largest German AIDS charity.

Life

Jarchow was born into a Hamburg merchant family. In 1970 he took up his first pastor's position in Hamburg-St. Georg at the Trinity Church. After he revealed himself to the bishop as gay when his wife wanted to get a divorce, he worked as a pastor in Heiligenhafen for three years . Then Jarchow worked for five years as a school pastor in the Rhineland . In 1980 he resigned to join a drop-out community in Ithaca . In 1983 he and a friend opened a practice for psychotherapy in Cologne . He has had the surname Ehlers since he founded a registered civil partnership in 2011.

Fight against AIDS

In 1986, Jarchow was employed by the health department of the city of Cologne as the first national consultant for people with HIV and AIDS . He was significantly involved in the health policy against AIDS of the then head of the office, Jan Leidel , of the so-called Cologne Line , and coordinated the activities of the office and the other committed bodies in Cologne.

In the following years he quickly became a recognized expert and activist against the disease and for the rights and integration of the people affected. In 1994 Jarchow started the nationwide first pastoral care of people with HIV and AIDS in Hamburg, which he held for ten years until 2004. During this time Jarchow cared for the dying, helped with social issues and provided diverse pastoral care. In 1996, Jarchow first blessed a gay couple in the service . Jarchow is a supporter of the project "Thinking space: names and stones" and 1st chairman of the association "Memento"

Establishment of the German AIDS Foundation

Jarchow is the initiator and, together with the Association of Private Health Insurance eV, the German Red Cross and DaimlerChrysler AG , formerly Daimler-Benz AG, founding donor of the German AIDS Foundation , which supports people with HIV and AIDS, promotes projects and is in - and committed abroad against HIV and AIDS. By 2015, the German AIDS Foundation had allocated around 40 million euros in this way. Jarchow is chairman of the foundation's advisory board.

Engagement in the German AIDS Help

From 2003 to 2004 Rainer Jarchow was a member of the federal executive committee of German AIDS Aid.

Awards and honors

  • In 1989 Jarchow received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.
  • In 2005 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, by the Federal Minister of Health, "in recognition of his tireless and selfless commitment to people suffering from AIDS".
  • When he retired in 2004, Bishop Maria Jepsen paid tribute to Jarchow with the words: “Your work has changed the Church”.
  • In 2009, Rainer Jarchow was made an honorary member of the German AIDS Association for his “commitment, courage, humanity and ability”.
  • In 2013, Ehlers received the Hope Award from the South African AIDS project Hope Cape Town in Dresden for his extraordinary commitment in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The laudator was the former Prime Minister of Saxony, Georg Milbradt .

literature

  • Rainer Jarchow: Life through AIDS, fears and experiences of the AIDS pastor. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-7918-2249-7 .
  • Bernhard Rosenkranz, Gottfried Lorenz: Hamburg on other ways. Lambda Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-925495-30-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The "Dino of Aids Pastoral Care" - live high! , Blog post on aidshilfe.de from December 16, 2011, accessed on January 28, 2013.
  2. ↑ Memento eV on memento-hamburg.de
  3. ↑ Press release of the German AIDS Help on aidshilfe.de
  4. ↑ Hope Gala closed, donation box open . In: Saxon newspaper . October 25, 2013 ( online [accessed November 27, 2018]).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ehlers, Rainer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jarchow, Rainer (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German AIDS pastor
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg