Theophil Krawielitzki

Theophil Krawielitzki (born June 22, 1866 in Rauden, † March 22, 1942 in Marburg ) was a German Protestant pastor and director of the German Community Diakonieverband .

Life

Krawielitzki was born on June 22, 1866 in Rauden, West Prussia, as the only child of a pastor's family. He studied theology in Berlin and Königsberg (Prussia) . During his studies he became a member of the Königsberg fraternity in Gothia in 1886 . In the autumn of 1894 he was appointed pastor in Vandsburg. There he married Thusnelda, née von Kolkow. Krawielitzki attended the community hours of the regional church community in Vandsburg and had a conversion experience in November 1895 . Afterwards he shaped his community in the spirit of the sanctification movement and became the leading figure of the West Prussian community movement .

In 1900 he took over the management of a "community nursing home". After the deaconess work had grown to almost 200 sisters, Krawielitzki resigned his pastoral office in 1906 and moved to Marburg in Hesse in 1908 to organize a branch.

Foundation of the DGD

In 1922, Krawielitzki organized his four deaconesses mother houses and the Tabor Brothers House under the name of the German Community Diakonie Association (DGD) based in Marburg, of which he became the first director.

Attitude in National Socialism

During the Third Reich, Krawielitzki did not take a negative stance on National Socialism, but rather saw Adolf Hitler as the “savior once again given by God”. After recommending his employees to join and work in Nazi organizations at the beginning, he refrained from doing so from the end of 1934, but cooperated with the National Socialist state in many areas. As early as April 1933, Krawielitzki wrote to the Gnadauer Praeses Walter Michaelis : “And I mean, the less we stand aside with concern and disapproval, the more freedom we will later have for real missionary work to win souls.” Even when these dreams failed, the preservation was retained evangelistic opportunities are top priority. In January 1935, this finally led to the resignation from the Gnadau Association , whose course was considered too critical of the state. In 1946 one was again accepted into the Gnadauer Verband, after which one had to officially declare, among other things: "The leading point of view in questions of the various works of God is not salvation of souls at any price, but the will of God at any price." anniversary in 1999, a general admission of guilt involvement in the time of National Socialism.

literature

• Hans Bruns : A father, a first picture of Theophil Krawielitzki's life. Otto Bauer Verlag, Stuttgart 1948.
• Fritz Mund : Theophil Krawielitzki. A witness from recent revival and diakonia history. Marburg 1954.
• Werner Raupp : Art. Krawielitzki, Theophil, in: Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, New York [et al.] 1998, p. 376.
• Elmar Spohn : Between adaptation, affinity and resistance. The faith and community missions in the time of National Socialism , contributions to missiology and intercultural theology, Volume 34, LIT Verlag, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-13213-0 , pp. 154–177

Web links

• Literature by and about Theophil Krawielitzki in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gerhard Ruhbach : Krawielitzki, Theophil (1866–1942) . In: Helmut Burkhardt, Uwe Swarat (ed.): Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . tape 2 : G-N . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1993, ISBN 3-417-24642-3 , p. 1177 .
2. ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 110.
3. ↑ History of the DGD  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Tabular overview, accessed on August 6, 2010.  
4. ^ Karl Heinz Voigt :  Krawielitzki, Theophil. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 631-632. , accessed on August 6, 2010.
5. ↑ The German Community Diakonieverband ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Evangelical University of Tabor, accessed on November 6, 2011. 
6. ↑ Monica Kingreen: After the Kristallnacht - Jewish life and anti-Jewish politics in Frankfurt am Main 1938–1945. Campus Verlag, 1999
7. ^ Frank Lüdke: Diakonische Evangelism. Stuttgart 2003, p. 205.
8. ^ Frank Lüdke: Diakonische Evangelism. Stuttgart 2003, p. 179.
9. ↑ dgd.org ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .