Rudi Bellmann

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Rudi Bellmann (* 6. November 1919 in Lengefeld , † 6. January 2002 ) was a functionary of the SED in the GDR .

Life

Second World War and employee of the Central Committee

After attending elementary school from 1934 to 1937, the son of a worker completed vocational training as a paralegal and litigation agent and then joined the Wehrmacht as a soldier . During the Second World War he was taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1944 , during which time he attended an anti-fascist school and became a member of the National Committee for Free Germany (NKFD).

After his return to Germany, he became a member of the SED in 1946 and then worked as a press editor in the German Administration for National Education (DVV) before he was head of a department in the information administration of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) between 1947 and 1949 . After the founding of the GDR in 1949 he was first head of the information control department in the Office for Information and Publishing and then head of the Printing Permit Department in the Office for Literature and Publishing.

After studying at the 1954-1955 Administrative School " Edwin Hoernle " in Weimar had graduated, he joined and later became deputy head of the working group church problems affecting the SED Central Committee . He completed a correspondence course in philosophy at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in 1969 as a graduate philosopher and was subsequently jointly responsible for the courses organized jointly by the working group and the State Secretary for Church Affairs for the officials for church issues in the district leaderships of the SED and speakers at the councils of the districts . As deputy head of the working group, he traveled the end of March 1968 during the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia , in which, after presentation of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) Čestmír Císař a dispute with the Vatican was necessary because it "attempts by the renaissance of Catholic Church [give] that must be met ”.

Working group leader for church issues and top talks 1978

In 1977, as the successor to Willi Barth , Bellmann finally became head of the working group for church issues at the SED Central Committee and retained this function until he was replaced in 1988 by Peter Kraußer .

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED and Chairman of the Council of State of the GDR, Erich Honecker (2nd from right), received the Executive Committee of the Conference of Evangelical Churches in the GDR on March 6, 1978.
V. l. To the right: Rudi Bellmann, Hermann Kalb , Siegfried Wahrmann , Heinz Eichler , Paul Verner , Manfred Stolpe , Christina Schultheiß , Kurt Domsch , Albrecht Schönherr and Werner Krusche

While he was in charge, on March 6, 1978, he took part in a top-level meeting between the SED and the Evangelical Church . On the part of the SED, Erich Honecker , Paul Verner , Hermann Kalb and Bellmann took part, while on the part of the Protestant Church Albrecht Schönherr , Werner Krusche , Kurt Domsch , Siegfried Wahrmann , Christina Schultheiß and Manfred Stolpe took part.

Schönherr was instrumental in the internal church agreement on the formula “Church in Socialism ” (“not against, not alongside, but in socialism”), which was interpreted as “Church for others” based on Bonhoeffer. The meeting on March 6, 1978 between the delegation of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR and the chairman of the GDR State Council, Erich Honecker, marked the turning point towards a more moderate church policy that promised the Evangelical Church gains in autonomy in return for renouncing confrontation. Schönherr participated in the separation of the churches in the GDR from the EKD .

In 1978 Bellmann played a key role in planning the commemorative event for the 40th anniversary of the so-called "Kristallnacht", the November pogroms in 1938 . Bellmann, who was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold in 1979 , was also secretary of the working group established by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the SED on September 29, 1982 and led by Paul Verner to coordinate and control political activities in connection with the honor of Martin Luther in 1983. After developing a documentation about Jews in the GDR in 1986 and 1987, he was involved in the preparation of public commemorative events for the 45th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference in cooperation with the Jewish communities .

Contacts to Manfred Stolpe

In the course of his activity as head of the working group on church issues, Bellmann had more and more contacts with Manfred Stolpe, who was later accused of having contacts with the Ministry for State Security. As early as December 15, 1980, Stolpe, at the time the head of the secretariat of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR , had expressly assured that the "Evangelical Church would not allow itself to be pushed into the role of a political reaction by anyone". Furthermore, Stolpe stated that shared responsibility could "only be practiced and understood by the church in the interests of the internal stabilization of the GDR". The most important thing that Stolpe Bellmann could report in this context was the position of the bishops on the question of church reactions to a possible military intervention by the Warsaw Pact states in the People's Republic of Poland : “Problems in the church would be inevitable if the National People's Army had to intervene . It makes a difference whether something like this happens from the Soviet Union or from the GDR. "

In 1992 a protocol note from 1982 about a meeting between Stolpe, the then Consistorial President of the Eastern Region of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg and Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR and later Prime Minister of Brandenburg , with Bellmann was circulated. In it, Stolpe is quoted as saying that the Magdeburg bishop Werner Krusche was "unpredictable, but influenceable from all sides" - which Stolpe opponents interpreted as a derogatory remark about the shepherd. This statement led to public criticism of Stolpe.

In 1983 Bellmann worked with the Ministry for State Security to develop a joint concept for further influencing the official churches and for pushing back the peace circles.

Publications

  • Guide to atheism: From the hereafter to this world. Volume 1, 1959.
  • Militarism and Political Clericalism. Co-author Willi Barth, Berlin 1961.

literature

Web links

Commons : Rudi Bellmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Kubina: From Utopia, Resistance and Cold War: The Untimely Life of the Berlin Council Communist Alfred Weiland (1906–1978) , 2001, ISBN 3-8258-5361-6 , p. 3 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Stefan Karner: Prague Spring: Contributions. 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20207-1 , p. 523 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  3. ^ Working group on church issues of the Central Committee
  4. ↑ Anke Silomon, Ulrich Bayer, Joachim Mehlhausen: Synod and SED State: the Synod of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR in Görlitz from September 18 to 22, 1987 . 1997, ISBN 3-525-55724-8 , p. 25 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  5. ↑ Thomas Klein: "Peace and Justice!" - The politicization of the Independent Peace Movement in East Berlin during the 1980s. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-02506-9 , p. 192 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  6. ↑ Thomas Klein: "Peace and Justice!" - The politicization of the Independent Peace Movement in East Berlin during the 1980s. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-02506-9 , p. 84.
  7. Jump up ↑ Christ in Trials . In: FAZ , March 11, 2009
  8. ↑ Albrecht Schönherr died . In: FAZ , March 10, 2009
  9. ↑ Klaus Schroeder, Peter Erler: History and Transformation of the SED State . 1994, ISBN 3-05-002638-3 , p. 154 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  10. ^ Church as a flycatcher . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1992, pp. 33–35 ( online - here p. 33).
  11. ↑ Thomas Klein: "Peace and Justice!" - The politicization of the Independent Peace Movement in East Berlin during the 1980s. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-02506-9 , p. 196 f.
personal data
SURNAME Bellmann, Rudi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German functionary, working group leader of the Central Committee of the SED
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Lengefeld
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 2002