Rolf-Michael Turek

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Rolf-Michael Turek (born May 18, 1949 in Leipzig ) is a German Protestant - Lutheran pastor i. R. In the 1980s he was a representative of the civil rights movement in the GDR and a supporter of the subversive groups in Leipzig, especially from 1988 onwards in the organization of the prayers for peace in the Nikolaikirche . From these the Monday demonstrations and the Peaceful Revolution in autumn 1989 developed.

Life

Youth and education

Rolf-Michael Turek was born into a Christian family. His mother had a critical and distant attitude towards developments in the GDR. Rolf-Michael Turek belonged neither to the Young Pioneers nor to the FDJ . He did not take part in the youth consecration . He and his two sisters attended the Young Congregation . After school he completed an apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic.

The wish to study nautical science in Rostock remained unfulfilled. In 1972 Rolf-Michael Turek began to study theology in Leipzig, was ordained on August 10, 1980 and worked as a clinic chaplain in the district hospital for psychiatry in Leipzig-Dosen , among others with mentally handicapped children and adolescents. A special pastoral training followed. From 1984 to 1997 Rolf-Michael Turek was pastor of the Markus parish in the Leipzig district of Reudnitz .

Political-subversive engagement up to the 1989 revolution

Rolf-Michael Turek endeavored to publicize controversial topics, e.g. For example, after the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986 , he organized a nuclear energy seminar in January 1987 , in which founding members of the human rights working group also took part. In August 1988, Superintendent Friedrich Magirius deposed the coordinator of the prayers for peace at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, Christoph Wonneberger . Even Christian leaders , the pastor of St. Nicholas Church, bowed to pressure from government agencies and supported the superintendency East in excluding the Leipzig civil rights groups on the design of prayers for peace. Only after several months of intense protests could Christoph Wonneberger and organized Leipziger opposition - as Human Rights Working Group , Working Group on Justice Leipzig , Initiative Group Life , Working Group on Environmental Protection , Women for Peace - reach a compromise that the groups from April 1989, the design of the prayers for peace under the Management and responsibility of a pastor made possible. In addition to Wonneberger, the groups were then supported by pastors Rolf-Michael Turek and Klaus Kaden as well as by priest Hans-Friedrich Fischer . The discussion group for peace and justice , composed of Andreas Ludwig, Rainer Müller (both members of the Leipzig Justice Working Group ) and others , met every week in the Markuskirchgemeinde Leipzig-Reudnitz . a. belonged to.

In 1989, the Saturday Circle met several times in Rolf-Michael Turek's community rooms (as well as in the neighboring community of Leipzig-Volkmarsdorf and in the student convict of the Theological Seminary in Leipzig ). The library of the Markus parish "Peace-Justice-Environment" was open regularly . The planning and preparation group for the establishment of a communication center for subversive groups, which u. a. Martin Jankowski , was successfully thwarted by Superintendent Friedrich Magirius until autumn 1989.

Work since the unification of Germany

In the 1990s, Turek founded and moderated the ecumenical working group “Law and Reconciliation” in Leipzig , in which Ute Leukert , Roland Brauckmann u. a. participated. In this circle, even a few former State Security officials were ready to talk about their lives. The Markus parish was the first parish in Saxony to host a church asylum with a wide range of supporters in the summer of 1995. It was a family of 12 from Palestine who were to be deported to Tunisia. Rolf-Michael Turek was pastor of the Markus parish in the Leipzig district of Reudnitz until 1997.

He then worked as a pastor at the Leipzig University Hospital until his retirement in 2014 . He was active in nursing classes as well as in the further training of the nursing staff, maintained contacts with the hospital administration as well as with the local parishes and synods and accompanied volunteer workers in this area. At the university clinic, he suggested the establishment of two ethics committees and worked on them. Even after retiring, he was asked to continue his work on these committees. In this way, he is still active at the clinic today, as chairman of an ethics committee and often as a moderator in ethical conflict cases. Articles emerged from lectures and workshops on the topic. At the present time, he sees the political dimension of this work primarily in counteracting the increasing economization of all areas of life.

Rolf-Michael Turek is a member of Humorcare , the society for the promotion of humor in therapy, care, education and counseling , and is still involved in further training at the Academy for Palliative Medicine .

literature

Web links

Commons : Rolf-Michael Turek  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

TV and radio documentation

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See mdr-Figaro meets Rolf-Michael Turek.
  2. ^ Robert Havemann Society: Peaceful Revolution 1989/90. Cf. Christian Dietrich, Uwe Schwabe: Friends and Enemies. Documents on the prayers for peace in Leipzig between 1981 and October 9, 1989 . Edited on behalf of the Archive Citizens Movement Leipzig e. V., Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-374-01551-4 . See also Peter Wensierski : Acting instead of praying. in: Der Spiegel, No. 43, October 19, 2009, pp. 42–46.
  3. ^ New Forum Leipzig: On the history of prayers for peace . 25 years of prayers for peace in St. Nikolai 2007.
  4. ↑ Curiosity about one another. Stasi victims and Stasi perpetrators try to come to terms with their past in joint conversations, in: Der Spiegel 11 (1992), pp. 41–44.
  5. ↑ Cf. Sibylle Kölmel: Dream of the seaman is unfulfilled. Pastor Rolf-Michael Turek works as a hospital chaplain at the University Clinic , in: Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) from November 21-22, 2009, p. 20.
  6. ↑ Some articles are available on the Internet at Humor Academy .
personal data
SURNAME Turek, Rolf-Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Evangelical Lutheran pastor, civil and human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig