St. Gabriel (Salzgitter)

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St. Gabriel Church

The Sankt Gabriel Church is the Catholic church in Gebhardshagen , a district of Salzgitter in Lower Saxony . As a branch church, it belongs to the parish of St. Marien with its seat in Salzgitter-Bad and thus to the Deanery of Goslar-Salzgitter. The church in Sandgrubenweg 19A (corner of Haßjägerweg) is the only church in the Hildesheim diocese that is named after the Archangel Gabriel .

history

The region of today's Salzgitter was Christianized at the end of the 8th century. The starting point for the conversion to Christianity was the monastery in Fulda , founded in 744 . After Ludwig the Pious founded the duchy of Hildesheim in 815 , today's Salzgitter belonged to his sphere of influence, Gebhardshagen belonged to the church district ( archdiaconate ) Barum.

In 1542 the Reformation was introduced for the first time after the victory of the Schmalkald troops against Duke Heinrich the Younger . When Charles V defeated the Schmalkaldic troops five years later , Duke Heinrich d. J. return to his duchy and subsequently ordered the return to the Catholic faith. The Reformation was finally introduced in 1568 when his son Duke Julius took over the throne.

With the arrival of numerous employees as part of the development of the Reichswerke AG for ore mining and ironworks "Hermann Göring" , which was founded in July 1937, the number of Catholics in the area of ​​today's Salzgitter rose sharply again. In 1938/39 the Diocese of Hildesheim began planning church buildings in this area. In the summer of 1939, however, Adolf Hitler decided "that no building sites should be provided for churches in the new settlements such as Linz , Fallersleben , at the Hermann Göring works, etc." Hitler had also answered the question of whether places should be kept free for church buildings for any later need.

At that time Gebhardshagen belonged to the parish of St. Petrus in Wolfenbüttel, about 15 kilometers away . From 1939 until the war-related cessation of housing construction in 1942, over 700 apartments were built in Gebhardshagen, as well as barracks for residential purposes.

After France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and two days later an offensive against the Saar area began, Saarlanders were evacuated into the interior of the Reich area. As a result, Catholic services were also held in Gebhardshagen. Gebhardshagen came to the newly founded local chaplaincy Lesse , which was attached to the vicarie "Reichswerke Hermann Göring-West" located in Krähenriede , or to the vicarie "Reichswerke Hermann Göring-Ost" based in Barum . After the repatriation of the Saarlanders after the western campaign won by the Wehrmacht in July 1940, the tavern in Gebhardshagen was again withdrawn from church use in autumn 1940.

Bust of Johannes Wosnitza

In the spring of 1941, parts of the Wolfenbüttel parish were separated as independent curates due to the increased number of Catholics. From March 1941, Gebhardshagen formed the curate “Wolfenbüttel Land IV”, to which 1214 Catholics belonged, together with the surrounding villages. From 1941 also were at St. Gabriel Church books out. Johannes Wosnitza (1908–1995), who was originally from Upper Silesia and previously worked as a chaplain in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg , was called to Gebhardshagen as the first pastor in March 1941 . Up until March 19, 1943, services could only take place in the parish priest's living room or in other private apartments. All attempts to get to a larger room or a barrack for worship were prevented by the Secret State Police and other authorities. While public Catholic services were still forbidden in Gebhardshagen, an interned French clergyman succeeded in converting a barrack into a camp chapel in Gebhardshagen's Camp 4 and holding daily services there for the prisoners.

On February 19, 1943, when the Battle of Stalingrad became a turning point for Germany in World War II , state police approval for a church service room in Gebhardshagen was granted. On March 21, 1943, an empty room in the Leschin restaurant (“Zur Eiche”) was inaugurated for church services. From late summer 1944, Catholics evacuated from the Aachen area came to the state of Braunschweig before the advance of the Allies . Although the NSDAP district leadership had declared the area of ​​the Reichswerke to be a “restricted area” due to the shortage of living space, in which “refugees [...] were only allowed to stay with close relatives [...]”, evacuees also settled here. After the hall of the restaurant was destroyed by a bomb on November 30, 1944, the services initially took place in the parish apartment again. From the end of December 1944, the Catholic community was allowed to use the Protestant St. Nicolai Church .

On April 10, 1945, the Salzgitter area was captured by American troops. From summer 1945 the services took place in different rooms of the school on the Sonnenberg. The clergy from Gebhardshagen also held services in the neighboring district of Heerte , about four kilometers away , where a Catholic emergency chapel was temporarily located.

As a result of the Second World War , the number of Catholics in Gebhardshagen increased further due to the influx of Catholic refugees and displaced persons from the eastern regions of the German Empire . In 1953 the foundation stone was laid for the St. Gabriel Church, and on December 13, 1953, the benediction by Bishop Joseph Godehard Machens followed . In 1955 the foundation stone was laid for the rectory, and today the building is used as a day care center for 32 children. In 1959 the newly built neighboring Catholic old people's home Maria im Tann opened . On April 1, 1961, the parish of St. Gabriel was established. In 1972 the church was rebuilt. The construction of a bell tower had been postponed for cost reasons; it was only erected in 1982 on the existing substructure. Previously, a small free-standing tower behind the church, which is still there today, served as a replacement.

In 1981, Pastor Johannes Wosnitza was appointed Chapter of Honor and in 1985 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. In 1986 he retired after 45 years in Gebhardshagen. In 1989 he, who lived in Gebhardshagen until his death in 1995, was granted honorary citizenship of the city of Salzgitter. A street in Gebhardshagen is also named after him. Since 2016, a bronze bust created by the Braunschweig sculptor Sabine Hoppe and displayed on Weddemweg has also been a reminder of Wosnitza.

Since November 1st, 2006 the St. Gabriel Church belongs to the parish “St. Marien “, the parish of St. Gabriel was abolished in this context and its church records were closed. Since July 1, 2007, the church has belonged to the then newly established Deanery Goslar – Salzgitter, previously it belonged to the Deanery Salzgitter, founded in 1952.

Architecture and equipment

inside view
organ

The church, located around 142 meters above sea level , was built according to plans by the architect Josef Fehlig and offers around 252 seats. A relief above the main entrance shows the Archangel Gabriel, the patron saint of the church.

The interior of the church surprises with its extensive equipment for a post-war church. Saint Joseph of Nazareth is depicted in the entrance room , with St. Peter's Basilica as a symbol for Joseph as the patron saint of the Catholic Church and a lily as a symbol of his chastity . The chancel is dominated by a crucifixion group , below is the tabernacle . On the altar is the scene from the 1st Book of Kings when an angel touched Elijah and said: “Get up and eat!” At the sacrificial table , the scene from the Bible is shown how the Israelites pick up the manna that was on theirs 40 years of wandering through the desert served as food. To the left and right of the chancel, statues show Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd and Mary the mother of Jesus. There are 14 small stations of the cross on the two long walls . The Apostles' candlesticks are marked with the names of the Apostles . The interior also includes a picture of St. Anthony of Padua and another saint. The organ was re-assembled from components from several old organs.

A chapel attached to the nave with around 30 seats is available for small church services and is dedicated to St. Barbara of Nicomedia , the patron saint of miners and smelterers. In it there is a wall mosaic of St. Barbara and a picture of Mary.

In the church tower , three stages is lower than the nave , the baptistery . The baptismal font has its place in it, a statue represents John the Baptist . In the passage room to the baptistery there is a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help , in front of which sacrificial candles can be set up, as well as a statue of St. Anthony of Padua.

In the vicinity of the church there are further Catholic facilities, a kindergarten, the “Maria im Tann” old people's home, old people's apartments, and a branch of the Judith home in Ringelheim .

See also

literature

  • 40 years of St. Gabriel in Gebhardshagen. (Leaflet) Salzgitter 1981.
  • Willi Stoffers: Diocese of Hildesheim today. Hildesheim 1987, ISBN 3-87065-418-X , pp. 62-63, 65.
  • Thomas Flammer: National Socialism and the Catholic Church in the Free State of Braunschweig 1931–1945. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2013, pp. 126-127, 132, 133, 158, 160, 161, 166, 167, 170-171, 185-186, 191-192, 199, 203-204, 234-235, 244 -245, 261, 270, 275, 280, 287.
  • Maria Kapp: The inventory of Catholic churches in Salzgitter. In: Salzgitter Yearbook 2005/2006 , pp. 109–114.
  • The Way of the Cross in St. Gabriel. 1991.

Web links

Commons : St. Gabriel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City without churches ( Memento from March 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Thomas Flammer: National Socialism and the Catholic Church in the Free State of Braunschweig 1931–1945 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2013, p. 160
  3. ^ Church registers in the diocese archive in Hildesheim
  4. ↑ http://www.wohnen-im-alter.de/altenheim-pflegeheim-katholisches-senioren-pflegeheim-maria-im-tann-salzgitter-9105.html
  5. ↑ http://wiki-bistumsgeschichte.de/wiki/index.php5?title=Spezial%3ASuche&search=Gebhardshagen&go=Seite
  6. ↑ KirchenZeitung. Edition 29/2016 of July 17, 2016, p. 12.
  7. ↑ Episcopal General Vicariate (ed.): Kirchlicher Anzeiger. No. 10/2006, Hildesheim 2006, pp. 322-324
  8. ↑ Episcopal General Vicariate (ed.): Kirchlicher Anzeiger. No. 6/2007, Hildesheim 2007, pp. 142-143
  9. ↑ http://www.kindergarten-salzgitter.de/index.html
  10. ↑ http://www.maria-im-tann.de/node/1
  11. ↑ http://www.judith-wohnheim.de/judith-wohnheim/seniorenwohnbereich-salzgitter-gebhardshagen/index.html

Coordinates: 52 ° 6 ′ 40.5 ″  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 51.7 ″  E