Waldemar Petersen (Pastor)

Claus Lave Waldemar Petersen (born June 22, 1850 in Norderbrarup , Schleswig , † January 19, 1940 in Darmstadt ) was a German Protestant clergyman and superintendent in Hesse.

Life

Waldemar Petersen was born as the second eldest son of the businessman Matthäus Petersen (1816–1862) and his wife Juliane Bude in Norderbrarup in the then Danish Duchy of Schleswig . After the early death of the father, the mother tried to bring the family through life as a "hood and glove seamstress and laundress".

Waldemar Petersen received a scholarship at the age of 17, which gave him the opportunity to attend a boys' boarding school in Altona . The school there was connected to an evangelical preparation institute that prepared for university studies. Petersen successfully graduated from the preparatory institute in August 1871 with the school leaving certificate and began studying Protestant theology at the University of Kiel in the winter semester of 1871/72 . After three semesters he moved to the University of Jena . After completing his studies in 1875, on the recommendation of Otto Pfleiderer, he became the educator of the family of the Duke of Sonderburg-Glücksburg, who later became King Friedrich VIII. Here he met his brother Georg , who had been King of Greece since 1863. At the end of 1875, Petersen accepted his offer to come to Athens. In the late autumn of 1876, Waldemar Petersen married his childhood sweetheart Theodore Saggau (1855–1925) and traveled to Athens. The couple's children Elisabeth (1877–1955), Waldemar Petersen , Theodor (1884–1961), Hans Petersen and Wilhelm Petersen were born in Athens .

In the following 15 years Waldemar Petersen worked at the court of the "King of the Hellenes" as senior court preacher, librarian and teacher of the eight royal children. He summarized his experiences in Greece in two writings in 1914 and 1915.

In the fall of 1891 the family returned to Germany. Initially, Petersen accepted a pastoral position in the rural parish in Mainz . In the following year, he switched to the position of city pastor in Darmstadt. He held this office for ten years.

Petersen rose quickly in the hierarchy of the Evangelical Church of the Evangelical Church in Hesse of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . In 1902 he was appointed superintendent by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig . In 1904 he received from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Giessen , at the request of Paul Drews the honorary doctorate because of his high position in the Protestant church and of his services. In 1909 he was appointed secret senior consistorial councilor.

Petersen retired on October 1, 1925. After his wife died of heart failure in June 1925, he had almost completely withdrawn into private life.

Waldemar Petersen died in Darmstadt in January 1940 at the age of 89.

Honors

• 1903: Permission to accept and wear the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Redeemer awarded to him by the Greek king
• 1904: Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Giessen.
• 1912: Awarded the Cross of Honor of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous .

Publications

• Greek travel and summer getaways . Giessen 1914.
• Our Greek summer retreat . Giessen 1915.

literature

• Adelheid Petersen: Wilhelm Petersen. Sketch of his being and life . Darmstadt 1962.
• Manfred Efinger : Waldemar Petersen. Athens - Darmstadt - Berlin . Justus von Liebig Verlag, Darmstadt 2014, ISBN 978-3-87390-350-0 .