Robert Kwami

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Robert Stephen Kwami (born November 24, 1879 in Togo (today: Eastern Ghana ), † 1945 ) was a pastor and leading clergyman in Togo.

Life

Robert Kwami was the son of a family of teachers and catechists in the then still German colony of Togo. His father was still sold as a slave, but was ransomed by Christian missionaries in Anyako , which prompted Kwami to be baptized and attend the mission school. In 1894, when he was 15 years old, he traveled to Germany for the first time, where he attended the denominational Ewe school in Westheim near Schwäbisch Hall from 1894 to 1897 . Here he also came into contact with the Swabian pietistic awakening movement, which was to be formative for his further life.

In 1897 Kwami returned to Togo and taught as a prospective teacher in the city of Ho . He turned down the offer made in 1911 to work as the African head of the German colonial administration in Togo. Kwami chose the church instead and was ordained a pastor in Amedzofe on November 26, 1911 . In the course of the development of the First World War , the German colonial rulers were expelled from Togo and the area was divided between the two colonial powers France and Great Britain in 1916. In 1922, at the suggestion of the Scottish Mission in the British part of Togo, the independent Evangelical Ewe Church was founded. Kwami, at that time head of the Christian community in Amedzofe, became its secretary and eventually took over the management of the young church and maintained close contact with the North German Mission Society . In view of the sharp decline in donations from Germany due to the global economic crisis, Kwami set out on an invitation from the North German Mission Society in 1932 to give a lecture tour to Germany. 60 lectures were planned, and due to the great interest, 150 lectures were finally held at 82 locations in Lippe , East Friesland , the Grafschaft Bentheim and in the Oldenburger Land .

At a time when the National Socialists were already celebrating major electoral successes, the African pastor only encountered difficulties in the city of Oldenburg. The National Socialists already provided the state government here, and the Prime Minister and National Socialist Gauleiter of Weser-Ems, Carl Röver , incited racist tirades against Kwami and the event planned for September 20, 1932 in the Oldenburg Lambertikirche . The so-called " Kwami Affair " caused a sensation not only in Oldenburg. The racist threats by Röver were reported in Dutch and English daily newspapers, among others. In the parish journal “Peace be with you!” In Lomé , Robert Kwami looked back on his 1934 trip to Germany and the incidents in Oldenburg: “And no other city welcomed me with greater joy than in Oldenburg. People who normally don't go to church came so that the church was packed. Many couldn't find a place and had to stand during the whole service. My heart was full of joy and thanks to God. A large crowd of worshipers waited outside in the cold until I came out, wishing me a safe journey and well-being with great enthusiasm. At 11.30 a.m. I came back to Bremen with a bouquet of roses, which I handed to Inspector Stoevesandt, who was waiting for me very much. God had turned the evil that my enemies had planned against me for the good of his work and for me. So only trust God, pray, then nothing bad will hit you. ”Röver's racist failures as part of Robert Kwami's lecture tour led the Oldenburg pastors to speak out in the winter of 1932 with nine theses against National Socialist racial doctrine - one of the earliest Church statements on racism in Germany.

Robert Kwami died in Togo in 1945. In May 2009 the Oldenburg Church honored the Ghanaian pastor as the namesake for the “Robert Kwami Hall” in the St. Lamberti Church.

literature

  • Ralph Hennings: The Kwami Affair in September 1932 . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2017.
  • Kokou Azamede: transculturations? Ewe Christians between Germany and West Africa, 1884–1939. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 185–199.
  • Jörg Nielsen: 80 years ago the black pastor Robert Kwami prevailed against the resistance of the NSDAP. With trust in God against the Nazis . In: Evangelische Zeitung , Zwischen Weser & Ems, September 30, 2012, p. 15
  • Martin Pabst: Mission and Colonial Policy. The north German mission society on the Gold Coast and in Togo until the outbreak of the First World War. Anarche Verlag, Munich 1988.
  • P. Wiegraebe: Pastor Robert Kwami. A witness and testimony of the gospel in West Africa. Anker-Verlag, Bremen 1948.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Kwami in: Peace be with you! , Lomé 1934. Quoted from: The “Kwami Affair” , accessed on July 11, 2020.
  2. ↑ Reinhard Rittner: Sketches from the more recent Oldenburg church history. In: Britta Konz, Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (ed.): Vision and responsibility. Festschrift for Ilse Meseberg-Haubold. Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7323-4 , pp. 106–119, here p. 109.
  3. ↑ St. Lamberti Church names room after Robert Kwami, press release of May 18, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Kwami, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kwami, Robert Stephen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pastor and leading clergyman in Togo
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Togo (today: East Ghana )
DATE OF DEATH 1945