Reinhard Wester

Bishop Wester at the general synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany ( VELKD ) in Kiel in 1965

Heinrich Reinhard Wester (born June 2, 1902 in Elberfeld , † June 16, 1975 in Eutin ) was a Protestant theologian and Dr. theol.

Life

Reinhard Wester studied theology in Tübingen , Rostock , Bethel and Kiel from 1923 to 1927 . His ordination as pastor of the Schleswig-Holstein regional church took place in Kiel in 1929. It was there that he began his first job as a youth pastor. In 1929 he was a co-founder of the "Brotherhood of Young Theologians". In 1932 he was appointed pastor in Westerland / Sylt . From 1931 he first sympathized with the German Christians (DC) . However, Wester quickly developed into an opponent of this organization, resigned from the state synod, which was dominated by the DC, and announced that he was leaving this organization for his community. He joined the Confessing Church and after a short time from 1934 to 1936 became chairman of the state brotherhood council of this church association, which was critical of National Socialism . Wester was subsequently monitored by the Gestapo and arrested in May 1941. After four weeks in detention, he was released because he had no criminal record. He volunteered for the military, became a prisoner of war in Egypt , where he worked as a camp pastor, and did not return from Egypt until 1947. This was followed by the appointment of senior church councilor and episcopal vicar, entrusted with the tasks of a provost for Schleswig. On November 27, 1947, he was elected as the new bishop of Schleswig , also because of his attitude during the Nazi era . After the experience with National Socialism, Wester advocated a strict separation of church and politics and tried to enforce this in his office. From 1948 to 1964 Wester was state representative for the diaconal service of the state church Schleswig-Holstein and chairman of the state association for internal mission in Schleswig-Holstein, in 1948 he was also a member of the constituent assembly of the EKD . In 1951 the theological faculty of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel made him an honorary doctorate. From 1957 to 1965 he was the EKD's representative for resettlers and displaced persons . The EKD's Ostdenkschrift in 1965, the core of which was the recognition of the Oder-Neisse border , prompted him to resign from this office. From 1964 to 1967 Reinhard Wester was chairman of the church leadership of the Schleswig-Holstein regional church . In November 1967 he sat as bishop emeritus .

medal

• 1967 Large Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Fonts

• We want to sing , Kiel: Ev. Youth pastoral office for Schleswig-Holstein in 1932.
• The guardianship of the church. A sermon given on June 23, 1935 in the church in Westerland a. Sylt , Breklum: Office for People's Mission 1935.
• The situation of the Schleswig-Holstein regional church and the responsibility of the community (1935) , in: Karl Ludwig Kohlwage , Manfred Kamper, Jens-Hinrich Pörksen (eds.): “What is right before God”. Church struggle and theological foundation for the new beginning of the church in Schleswig-Holstein after 1945. Documentation of a conference in Breklum 2015 . Compiled and edited by Rudolf Hinz and Simeon Schildt in collaboration with Peter Godzik , Johannes Jürgensen and Kurt Triebel, Husum: Matthiesen Verlag 2015, pp. 137–152 (online at geschichte-bk-sh.de) .
• Handout for confirmation classes. Considerations and experiences , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1937 (together with Paul Gerhard Johanssen ).
• Saying and song plan for handouts for confirmation lessons , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1937.
• Order of church life . Draft, in: Junge Kirche 7 (1939) 773–780; 829-832; 888-893; 8 (1940) 41-44.
• The missionary church , Berlin: Lutherisches Verlags-Haus 1958.
• The church on the border , in: Walter Bauer, Hellmut Heeger, Friedrich Huebner, Walter Zimmermann (eds.): I believe a holy church. Festschrift for D. Hans Asmussen on his 65th birthday on August 21, 1963 , Stuttgart: Evangelisches Verlagswerk 1963, pp. 175–181.

literature

• Festgabe, Bishop em. Dedicated to D. Reinhard Wester on his 70th birthday on June 2, 1972. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1972, ( writings of the Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History Series 2, 28, ZDB -ID 518520-8 ).
• Willi Schwennen: Reinhard Wester , in: Wolfgang Prehn (ed.): Time to walk the narrow path - witnesses report on the church struggle in Schleswig-Holstein , Kiel, Lutherische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2nd edition 1985, pp. 169–172 ( ISBN 3 -87503-027-3 )
• Klauspeter Reumann (Ed.): Church and National Socialism. Contributions to the history of the church struggle in the Protestant regional churches of Schleswig-Holstein Wachholtz, Neumünster 1988, ISBN 3-529-02836-3 , ( writings of the Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History Series 1, 35 A).
• Annette Göhres, Ulrich Stenzel, Peter Unruh: Bishops in Northern Elbe 1924–2008 . Lutherische Verlagsgesellschaft, Kiel 2008, ISBN 978-3-87503-131-7 .
• Karl Ludwig Kohlwage, Manfred Kamper, Jens-Hinrich Pörksen (eds.): “What is right before God”. Church struggle and theological foundation for the new beginning of the church in Schleswig-Holstein after 1945. Documentation of a conference in Breklum 2015 . Compiled and edited by Rudolf Hinz and Simeon Schildt in collaboration with Peter Godzik, Johannes Jürgensen and Kurt Triebel, Husum: Matthiesen Verlag 2015, ISBN 978-3-7868-5306-0 ; in this:
  • Jens-Hinrich Pörksen: Bishop D. Reinhard Wester (1902–1975) , p. 136 f.
  • Rudolf Hoffmann: An event in the life of Reinhard Westers (1940) , p. 153 f.

Web links

Commons : Reinhard Wester  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Reinhard Wester in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Confessing Church in Schleswig-Holstein

predecessor	Office	successor
Adalbert Paulsen (1933–45 as regional bishop for Schleswig-Holstein)	Bishop of the Schleswig district of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church Schleswig-Holstein 1947 - 1967	Alfred Petersen