Theodor Scheinpflug

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Theodor August Scheinpflug , Latvian Teodors Augusts Šeinpflugs (* 6 May July / 18 May  1862 greg. In Pernau , Livonia Gouvernement , Russian Empire ; † March 14, 1919 in the Bickern Forest near Riga , Latvia ) in his personal environment mostly from called her Tutti during his studies at the University of Dorpat , was a German-Baltic pastor . He is considered a Protestant martyr and is recorded on the Riga Martyrs Stone.

family

Theodor Scheinpflug was the eldest child of the pastor-deacon of the St. Nikolai parish in Pernau , Friedrich August Scheinpflug (born November 11, 1832 in Riga, † February 24, 1902 in Pernau). His wife was Luise Amalie Scheinpflug, née Häussler (born July 31, 1842 in Ascheraden , † December 6, 1916 in Pernau). Theodor Scheinpflug had numerous siblings. His sisters were Magdalena Agnes Scheinpflug, married Schilling-Frankhaenel (* May 24, 1876 in Pernau; † February 13, 1949 in Wetzlar ) and Gertrud Beate Scheinpflug, married Frankhaenel (* January 28, 1878 in Pernau; † March 18, 1917 in Simferopol ). Magdalena Agnes Scheinpflug married the pastor Karl Schilling , who was killed during the Russian Revolution of 1905 .

Theodor Scheinpflug was from October 30th July. / November 11,  1891 greg. married to Elisabeth (Lisbeth) Wilhelmine, geb. Guleke (June 1, 1866 - March 9, 1939), a daughter of the provost Rudolf Guleke in Alt-Pebalg in Livonia. The couple had 7 children, all of whom were born in Pernigel (dates of birth according to the Gregorian calendar):

  • Harold August (born February 27, 1892 - † January 16, 1967), who completed his medical degree in Jena in 1922 ,
  • Lisbeth Louise, married Lauezzari (April 8, 1895 - July 4, 1964),
  • Helmut Heinrich (born November 20, 1896 - † January 7, 1960),
  • Eva Gertrude (born June 22, 1898 - † July 23, 1917),
  • Erika Mary, married Berkholz (* December 18, 1899 - March 10, 1978 in Hanover ),
  • Hans Albert (born July 5, 1901 - † November 22, 1926),
  • Ilse Alma (* May 4, 1903; † October 21, 1990), married to Wolfgang Bernewitz , son of Pastor Theodor Friedrich Bernewitz (* August 24, 1868 in Gr. Blieden ; † October 26, 1940 in Posen ). Theodor Bernewitz is a cousin of the later first bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran. Regional church in Braunschweig Alexander Bernewitz and was his successor as pastor in Neuchâtel . He was like this successor to his grandfather. From 1806 to 1920 there were 4 Pastors Bernewitz in Neuchâtel (Latvian Jaunpils) in 3 generations. A brother of Theodor Bernewitz was the sculptor Carl Hans Bernewitz .

Life

The dates in this chapter are based on the Julian calendar for the period prior to 1918 unless otherwise noted.

education

Theodor Scheinpflug was said to have retained a childlike good nature all his life. He is never said to have used indecent language. He went to the Neumann elementary school and grammar school in Pernau, which he graduated from high school in 1881.

During his theology studies from 1881 to 1888, he struggled with himself until he found his own access to faith in Christ. From August 31, 1883 to 1887 he was a member of the Dorpat Theological Association . He was also a member of the Fraternitas Rigensis . In 1886 he worked as a private tutor in Puderküll in Livonia.

After passing the exam before the Livonian Evangelical Lutheran consistory in October 1888, Theodor Scheinpflug spent his probationary year from 1888 to 1889 with Provost Kaehlbrand in Neu-Pebalg and with Pastor Keussler in Schwanenburg in Livonia.

On November 19, 1889, he was ordained in Riga by the retired provost Schilling as pastor- adjunct for Erlaa in Livonia. He stayed in Erlaa until 1891. Then, also in 1891, he was pastor-vicar of the district of Wenden and served as such in Schujen in Livonia. He was excited to preach.

Inauguration into Pernigel and theological positions

Pernigel Church (Liepupe) (2012)

On September 8, 1891, Theodor Scheinpflug was finally introduced to his office as pastor in Pernigel, which is isolated on the Livonian coast. The German-Baltic church patron had chosen him for it.

In Pernigel he got the theology student Alexander Burchard (see chapter "Literature"), who later became the last provost of the German congregation in Riga , to give his first sermon to the small German congregation, which only existed in the summer.

Outwardly, Burchard describes Scheinpflug as tall and blue-eyed, and he also mentions his blond beard. In terms of personality, he describes him as a pure soul and a happy, childlike, believing person who had a strong influence on him. Scheinpflug's faith was based on the Bible, he did not value theological disputes and human appendages. For example, he rejected the discussion of Ernst Haeckel's work Die Weltträtsel as superfluous. He believed that the message of the Bible was accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of education. His sermons focused on who Christ is to us and that the kingdom of heaven is dawning in us . In the course of his life he came to the view more and more that it was not the words of the sermon that were most effective, but what the community lived as Christianity. So he asked his future wife, alluding to Martin Luther's song A strong castle is our God :

"Can you sing with me: take the body ..."

With this attitude, his whole life became a preparation for suffering, persecution, and death for faith. He only expressed fear of perhaps not being strong enough in this sense. In the situation he was comforted by the verse: “Christ is a prince of victory, shame if you are struck”.

Educational talent

Theodor Scheinpflug was considered a good preacher, especially towards children. He wrote two small volumes of books with children's sermons under the title “Up to Jerusalem” , which were published in 1905 and enjoyed great popularity. (See chapter “Works”.) He was considered a talented teacher. As an example, Burchard cites an incident in which Scheinpflug's son refused to drink his warm milk because a skin had formed on it. Scheinpflug asked the boy to give him the "beautiful skin", whereupon his son wanted to keep it and quickly ate it up. Theodor Scheinpflug often visited Alexander Burchard in Riga, whose children appreciated Scheinpflug's humor. Theodor Scheinpflug's popularity with the children of his community also won their parents over to him. Some of the people who were initially hostile to him became best friends.

Exile in Pernau during the revolution of 1905

Both revolutionaries and Latvian nationalists agitated against Scheinpflug in his community. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, some parishioners shouted at parish meetings: "Get away with the pastor!" On December 9, 1905, an executive committee finally forced Scheinpflug to leave the place and hand over the keys to the church and the parish archives. He fled to Pernau.

In 1906, Scheinpflug from Pernigel was sent a list with 250 signatures from parishioners and a request to return. At first he did not follow this call.

A few weeks later, in February, he received another letter from the church guardians and church elders in his ward. In it the regret of the undersigned and the repentance of the congregation, which recognized their error, were affirmed. The longing of the congregation for the preaching of the word of God had grown strong, he should satisfy this longing. The undersigned pledged not to allow any further “false doctrines,” as they called it. This letter led to Scheinpflug's return to Pernigel.

Return to Pernigel and the consequences of the revolutionary incidents

Scheinpflug held his first service after his return on the day of repentance in the well-filled church. There had been no services here for two months. The admonition seemed to impress the congregation, the question of whether the congregation members repented of their sins and wanted to rededicate their lives to God was answered with a loud and unanimous “Yes!”. The service took place in fine spring weather, which followed a winter storm of the previous days. The Düna newspaper expressed the hope that the change in the weather could be a good sign for the improvement of the relationship between God and the community in Pernigel.

On March 13, 1907, the incidents of Scheinpflug during the revolution were tried before the Lemsal District Court at the request of the Procuratorate . Scheinpflug declined to prosecute the actions against him, so the trial ended without further punishment of the committee members. They had already been sentenced to two months' imprisonment.

He commented on the difficulties that Scheinpflug had during the revolution and the happy outcome:

"The next time it will be worse, then you have to be ready to suffer death too."

Member of the German Association

Scheinpflug was a member of the German Association . On December 19, 1906, he initiated the social part of a meeting of the newly founded association in Lemsal in the evening with a lecture on the children's magazine "Der Hauslehrer". In doing so, he recalled the negative behavior in his judgment of parts of the youth during the revolution. He used this to point out the importance of youth work. He mean:

“Our future, the future of our country, our church depends on our youth. The child is the father of the man. "

He considered the "private tutor" a valuable tool for educational work. He also did not fail to advertise his two volumes with sermons for children as a supplement. Finally he read an article from the "Head of House" entitled "The Wedding of the King of Spain."

On February 19, 1907, he opened a family evening of the association in the same place. He compared the club with a bundle of brushwood. If the association succeeds in inducing the right attitude in its members, they are unbreakable. The members then enthusiastically sang the Heimatlied.

On December 6th held a slide show about India in front of the club in Lemsal.

Wartime

In 1917, during the First World War , Theodor Scheinpflug was arrested by the Russian side. Before he was taken away, he was able to hold a prayer service with his family. He sang: " If God is for me, then step ". His subsequent prayer was so fervent that the soldiers were very impressed and quietly awaited the end of the prayer, although they hadn't understood a word of his German-language prayer. Then the pastor was taken away. He was detained in several different prisons, the last one in Riga, where he was unexpectedly released. He was able to return to his family in May 1917, who had previously had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

The German conquest of Riga took place in September 1917. Pernigel remained outside the territory of the German occupation. The first Latvian revolution came, in which the pastor was summoned to the tribunal in Wolmar . Before a corresponding arrest by revolutionaries could take place, Pernigel was also captured by the German army, which initially preserved the clergy's freedom. He was happy about the conquerors, because he felt that he was in good hands with them as a Protestant German-Baltic. This led to the occupiers appointing him a shop steward and as such he was given a band in the colors of the German Empire at the time. He said that he could benefit his community with it. The bandage would later be his undoing.

In November 1918 the German army was withdrawn. Thereupon the Bolsheviks again took control of Pernigel. All the Baltic Germans in the community fled to Riga. The pastor stayed with his congregation even though his family urged him to flee as well.

Sermons in Riga

A circular from the consistory, which advised the clergy not to risk their lives senselessly, changed his mind, so that on December 29th, Scheinpflug moved with his family to Riga, even though this was also controlled by communists.

On December 30th there was a careful search of the house in the pastorate in Pernigel with the aim of finding Scheinpflug and the German armband. Both failed. For a month, Scheinpflug was able to enjoy the company of his family and the other refugees in Riga. Instead of hiding, Scheinpflug preached sermons in the church of the deaconess house despite the ban. The text of his penultimate sermon was Rom. 8: 35ff, with the beginning: “Who will part us from the love of Christ?”. He spoke about the difficult time that had begun, but comforted the congregation with the words of Paul of Tarsus : "In all this we overcome far."

Arrest and Detention

A community member denounced him and was arrested on January 27th. Scheinpflug said:

"If he has decided, I will indefatigably go to my fate."

His letters from prison were full of gratitude, he wrote:

"My heart is full of peace."

and:

"The beautiful peace does not leave me."

Most of the time, Scheinpflug had the same cellmate. He was released on May 22nd, 1919 and was able to report on the time he had spent with the pastor. He rated it as very positive. From an earlier time there is a saying by the clergyman:

“I feel like I'm working in vain. If only God wanted to give me the grace to at least know about a soul that I helped to believe. "

Scheinpflug granted this wish while in custody. While his fellow prisoner was full of restlessness and dissatisfaction before the encounter, he now found his peace in the Christian faith. So both were served with their meeting. In the prison yard the pastor met an acquaintance, a Latvian who had belonged to the neighboring congregation. This was later also killed. Before that he could tell his wife about the meeting with Scheinpflug. He said, translated from Latvian: "After we greeted each other, we cried together, then we prayed together, and then he prepared me so that I could die blessedly".

At the beginning of March, Theodor Scheinpflug sent Alexander Burchard, who had also been imprisoned, a flowering willow branch as a Palm Sunday greeting through the forestry councilor Eugen Ostwald , who served as the food carrier in prison, to inform him of his arrest.

execution

On March 14, 1919, Theodor Scheinpflug was called out of his cell to be executed. He said goodbye to his fellow prisoner and allowed him, whom he had led to believe, to grant absolution. Then he and over 60 people, including Pastor Eugen Berg , walked a long way to the Bickern Forest, where he recited or sang the second stanza of “Du Stern Jakob”:

“I sit in the shadow of this world,
Since everything is ordered in mourning.
And live far away;
But you shine, Lord, in my heart
With my dark soul pain
With your star of grace.
This light cannot go down,
must also exist
in death;
Let not spoil in death. "

All the prisoners who were taken into the forest, including Theodor Scheinpflug, were shot.

Mass graves

The victims of the shootings by the Bolsheviks were placed in mass graves. In the vicinity of the entrance to the Riga Forest Cemetery there were four such graves for a total of 30 men shot in 1919, including Theodor Scheinpflug. Other victims were found in pits in the Bickern Forest. After Rigas was conquered by the Baltic State Armed Forces , many of the relatives had them exhumed and buried in their family graves.

Theodor Scheinpflug shared his grave with his later deceased wife, who was buried at his side at his own request, Ludwig Masing, Tahlmann, Senkewitsch, Johann Kundsin, Indrik Jansohn and Ohrning. In the second grave there were eight strangers, in the third Gotthard von Vegesack , Welde, Sließe, two strangers, August Baron and Dr. med. Johann Müller, who was later buried there. Rudolf Adler, Johann Bicksche, Reßnis, Peter Ehlert, a stranger, Adolf Weichert and Graß were buried in the fourth grave.

Theodor Scheinpflug had chosen Acts 4,12  LUT as a grave inscription : "There is no salvation in anyone else, and no other name is given to people in which we should be saved."

In May 1939, just in time for the twentieth anniversary of the conquest of Riga, a large oak cross with an inscribed marble plaque was erected over the four mass graves on behalf of Burchard, now provost of the German community of Riga. The inscription read:

The 30 victims of the Bolshevik rule in 1919, the German Evangelical Lutheran. Parishes in Riga 1939.

"God will wipe away all tears and death will be no more." 21, 4.

(Compare Rev 21 : 4  LUT .)

Works

  • Up to Jerusalem. Ten sermons for children . Publishing house GK Th. Scheffer, Leipzig 1905
    Book title: Up to Jerusalem! - Ten sermons for children (with a dedication by Theodor Scheinpflug)
  • Up to Jerusalem - second ribbon. Sermons for children . Publishing house GK Th. Scheffer, Leipzig 1905

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Domestic. in the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 57, March 9, 1902, online under Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  2. ↑ Art and Spiritual Life. in the Rigaschen Rundschau , No. 170, August 3, 1922, online under Theodor Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  3. ↑ Harold Scheinpflug: About Hungerosteopathie and Paget's Disease , Jena 1922
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Bernewitz: The Kurländische literati family Bernewitz , in: Baltische Ahnen und Stammtafeln, 22 year Cologne 1978, Ed. Isabella v. Pantzer
  5. ^ Calendar reform by the Bolsheviks on February 1st July. / February 14,  1918 greg. , Declaration of independence of Latvia on November 5th jul. / November 18,  1918 greg.
  6. ↑ On the October Juridik the Livonian Lutheran consistory in Riga Zeitung ., No. 284, December 13, 1888, online at Scheinpflug | issue type: P
  7. ↑ Domestic. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 45, February 22, 1891, online under Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  8. ↑ Domestic. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 192, August 26, 1891, online under Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  9. ↑ Pernigel. Return of the Evangelical Lutheran preacher. in the Düna-Zeitung , No. 46, February 25, 1906, online under Pastor Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  10. ↑ Domestic. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 61, March 15, 1907, online at Scheinpflug Pastor Pastor Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  11. ^ Lemsal. German association. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 1, January 15, 1907, online under Pastor Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  12. ^ Lemsal. German association. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 45, February 23, 1907, online at Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  13. ↑ Latest news. in the Rigaschen Zeitung , No. 284, December 7, 1907, online under Pastor Scheinpflug | issueType: P
  14. ↑ Twenty years ago. in Evangelium und Osten: Russian Evangelical Press Service , No. 5, May 1, 1939, online at Marnitz | issueType: P
  15. ↑ The cross in the middle of the mass graves. in Ev.-Luth. Church paper for the German parishes of Latvia , No. 21, May 19, 1939, online at Scheinpflug | issueType: P
personal data
SURNAME Scheinpflug, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scheinpflug, Theodor August (full name); Dummy plow, tutti; Šeinpflugs, Teodors Augusts (lvS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Baltic pastor
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Pernau , Livonia Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1919
Place of death Bickern Forest near Riga , Latvia