Walter Birnbaum (theologian)

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Friedrich Walter Birnbaum (born April 6, 1893 in Coswig (Saxony) , † January 24, 1987 in Munich ) was a German theologian and university professor . During the time of National Socialism he was a member of the German Christians .

Life

Birnbaum was the son of a railway official. He passed his Abitur in Dresden and studied Protestant theology in Tübingen and Leipzig . He belonged to the German Christian Student Association and in 1914 volunteered for the army and became a paramedic. In 1918 he completed a vicariate in Bernstadt ad Eigen (Oberlausitz). From 1921 he continued his education at the Predigerkolleg St. Pauli in Leipzig. He was pastor in Radeberg until 1924 , but pressed for economic difficulties, he applied to the Rauhen Haus in Hamburg , where he became managing director of the Wichern Association . In several popular missionary campaigns, he and other employees drove to de-churched places and villages to win back members of disappointed working groups for the church.

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, he found a connection with the German Christian Movement, in whose Reich leadership he rose. In the same year he became senior church councilor in the imperial church government. As such, he organized the memorial service for President Paul von Hindenburg and the inauguration of Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller . It is not clear whether he was a member of the NSDAP .

Since 1935 he has held a professorship for practical theology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen without having met the academic requirements. In 1939 he declared his collaboration with the Institute for Research and Elimination of the Jewish Influence on German Church Life . During the Second World War he gave lectures to Wehrmacht soldiers at the request of Hermann Göring . Towards the end of the war he returned to the faculty and organized the air raid.

After the end of the war he was dismissed from the academic service. In 1948 he was a co-founder of the association of ousted university teachers , of which he was also a member. With the law regulating the legal relationships of persons falling under Article 131 of the Basic Law in 1951, Birnbaum received his pension entitlements as Professor z. Wv. (For reuse), but without assignment to a faculty. His retirement took place in 1965. In 1973 he wrote in his autobiography that under no circumstances should the church be “a general conglomeration that cannot be racially integrated among the people”.

In the Soviet zone of occupation , Birnbaum's essay The Essence of the Community and its Today Necessary Form , and in the German Democratic Republic, His Against the Front of Godlessness, were placed on the list of literature to be segregated.

Fonts

By and in participation with Walter Birnbaum from the catalog of the German National Library (chronological):

  • Socrates will never die: stage plot about Socrates of Athens. M. Freudenberger, Faulbach am Main 1983
  • Organic thinking as a way into the future. Katzmann, Tübingen 1982
  • Socrates: archetype occidental. Thinking. Musterschmidt, Göttingen, Zurich, Frankfurt (Main) 1973
  • Witness of my time: statements about 1912 - 1972. Musterschmidt, Göttingen, Frankfurt [Main], Zurich 1973
  • Theological changes from Schleiermacher to Karl Barth: An encyclopedia. Study z. practical theology. Katzmann, Tübingen 1963
  • Christianity in Soviet Russia: What Do We Know About It? Katzmann, Tübingen 1961
  • Organic thinking: lecture to celebrate d. 85th birthday of Albert Schweitzer. [on January 14, 1960 in Munich] Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1960
  • The cross under palm trees: a report on d. Missionary work on d. Admiralty Islands in d. Years 1939-1953. Buchh. d. Liebenzeller Mission, Bad Liebenzell (Württ.) 1953
  • The inviolable law in the death of Socrates. Göttingen Publishing House, Göttingen 1953
  • You and your church: a word to young people. Agency d. Rauhen Haus, Hamburg [1940]
  • The free organizations of the German Protestant Church: origin, forces u. Bindgn, forms of activity. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1939
  • The essence of the community and its necessary shape today. Winter, Gnadenfrei 1936
  • The way of the German Christians to German Christianity: sermon for the morning service as well as lectures for the state training conference d. German Christians in Dresden on June 24, 1934. German-Christian. Verl., Dresden 1934
  • Wichern, a man for our day. Wichern-Vereinigung zur Weckg u. Förderg christl. Volksleben, Hamburg 1933
  • as publisher: From village to village in the gospel chariot: New ways d. Word proclamation. Salzer, Heilbronn 1933
  • Against the front of godlessness: defense or preaching? Foundation publisher, Potsdam 1932
  • Against the front of godlessness: defense or preaching? Foundation publisher, Potsdam 1931
  • Hünefeld: A life d. Did. Harvest Publishing, Potsdam 1931
  • Hünefeld: a life d. Deed: [Escort: Crown Prince Wilhelm]. Harvest Publishing House, Potsdam 1930
  • as publisher: Wichern, Johann Hinrich: Diary sheets of love: From Wichern's bridal letters. Agency d. Rauhen Haus, Hamburg 1929
  • Defend death! : The young Hünefeld Werden u. Path. Harvest Publishing House, Potsdam 1929
  • Immermann, Marianne: A German woman: letters to e. engl. Friend of Marianne Wolff. [Ed. in conjunction with Walter Birnbaum by Felix Wolff.] Harvest-Verlag, Hamburg 1928
  • You and your church: a word to young people. Agency d. Rauhen Haus, Hamburg 1928
  • The German Republic as reflected in its constitution: for schools and House. [edit. by Friedrich Walter.] Konkordia AG, Bühl Baden 1927
  • The new language in the preaching of the word. Rauhen Haus agency, Hamburg [1926]
  • The Catholic Liturgical Movement: Darstellg u. Criticism. C. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1926
  • Immermann, Marianne: Marianne Wolff née Niemeyer, Karl Immermann's widow: Leben u. Letters. [Ed. in connection with Walter Birnbaum by Felix Wolff.] Harvest-Verlag, Hamburg 1925
  • The Treaty of Versailles: For d. German youth. [shown by Friedrich Walter.] Konkordia AG, Bühl Baden 1925
  • Prény, Mousson, Priesterwald: What I can tell you about it ...; Lecture given to comrades in enemy territory on Aug. 18, 1916. [by Friedrich Walter.] Appelhans, Braunschweig 1916
  • The plane problem of the flapping wing. o. O., o. J.
  • The religious problem and the liturgical movements of the 20th century. [2 vol.] Katzmann, Tübingen o. J.
  • as editor: Deeds with God: reports and pictures from the battlefield d. Gospel. Salzer, Heilbronn no year

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ on this section see: Matthias Wolfes :  Walter Birnbaum (Theologe). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 129-146.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  2. ↑ Heinrich Becker u. a. (Ed.): The University of Göttingen under National Socialism . Munich 1998.
  3. ^ Matthias Wolfes :  Walter Birnbaum (theologian). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 129-146.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  4. ↑ Ericksen, Robert P .: Theologians under Hitler. The alliance between Protestant dogmatics and National Socialism. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Vienna 1986, p. 230
  5. ↑ Hans Prolingheuer: We went astray . Cologne 1987.
  6. ↑ On Birnbaum's activities in the post-war period, cf. Ernst Klee : The personal dictionary to the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Frankfurt a. M. 2003, p. 50f.
  7. ↑ Walter Birnbaum: Witness of my time. Statements from 1912 to 1971 . Göttingen – Frankfurt – Zurich 1973, p. 204. He added, however: "... but she (sc. The church) is also not allowed to find the limit of her love at a racial barrier for real emergencies." And it was also clear to him: " It goes without saying that baptized and believing Jews belong to the one church of Jesus Christ. But the one congregation of Jesus Christ is not identical with the local congregation of the evangelical church, rather the members of the true congregation live in different denominations, regional and non-regional ”(ibid.).
  8. ^ Transcript of the lists from 1948 and 1953 at polunbi.de
personal data
SURNAME Birnbaum, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Coswig (Saxony)
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1987
Place of death Munich