Ulm Declaration

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The Ulm Declaration is a declaration of the confessional community made up of the parish emergency union , free synods and the bishops of the regional churches of August Marahrens (Hanover), Hans Meiser (Bavaria) and Theophil Wurm (Württemberg), published on April 22, 1934 in Ulm Minster which the assembly turned against the taking over of the Protestant Church by the National Socialists. The declaration was directed against the development towards the National Socialist Reich Church, which the German Christians were striving for, as well as against the uncritical adoption of National Socialist positions by most of the regional churches.

Before that, the Reich Church Government had intervened in the activities and organizational structure of the Württemberg regional church. In protest, individual congregations within the German Christians formed together with their pastors to "professing congregations". The ecclesiastical opposition distanced itself for the first time from the Reichskirchenregiment and described itself (also in distinction from the German Evangelical Church ) as the legitimate Evangelical Church in Germany: “We gathered representatives of the Württemberg and Bavarian regional churches, the Free Synod in the Rhineland, Westphalia and Brandenburg, as well Many confessing congregations and Christians throughout Germany declare that Germany is a legitimate Protestant church before this congregation and all of Christianity. … ” Bishop Hans Meiser explained for the gathered initiators: “ In order to endanger the creed, we present ourselves […] as a unit that intends to stand faithfully to the creed through the power of God, although we have to reckon with ourselves this creates a lot of hardship. … “ The Ulm Declaration marks the beginning of the Confessing Church .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Christian Luther: The church emergency law, its theory and its application in the church struggle 1933-1937. In: Works on the history of the church struggle. On behalf of the Commission of the Evangelical Church in Germany for the History of the Church Struggle, in conjunction with Heinz Bunotte and Ernst Wolf, edited by Kurt Dietrich Schmidt, Volume 21. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1969, p. 27 ( Google Books ).
  2. Unserkirche.de: The way to Barmen
  3. Sunday newspaper Bayern online, April 26, 2009