Walther Bienert

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Walther Bienert (born August 26, 1909 in Cologne ; † March 22, 1994 ibid) was a German Protestant theologian .

Life

Bienert grew up in Cologne and Barmen . After graduating from high school in Cologne's Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium (1928), he studied in Bonn (until 1930), later in Halle, Protestant theology and philosophy. He received his doctorate in philosophy in 1934 at Paul Menzer Dr. phil. and in theology with Ernst Barnikol to Lic. theol. During his studies he joined the Christian student associations Kölner Wingolf (1928) Hallenser Wingolf (1934), to which he remained connected throughout his life. Following Bienert was 1934/35 in labor service . He had received his doctorate in both subjects with summa cum laude , which seemed to mark out his university career, especially since he had also joined the NSDAP in 1930 . However, Bienert already dealt with the emerging right-wing radicalism during his studies. When the National Socialists took power in January 1933, he ran into difficulties because he was not loyal to the line. Since he did not pay his party membership fees, he was removed from the membership list. His habilitation process was delayed for three years. Thanks to the advocacy of his professors in Halle and his re-entry into the party, he did his habilitation in 1936 and was appointed lecturer in the history of the church and dogma on March 31, 1937. He was also noticed positively in 1937 by the Gau lecturer union leader Wilhelm Wagner in the fight against the Confessing Church . In 1939 he was drafted into the police force, but soon released for health reasons. However, the Nazi Ministry of Culture in Berlin finally prevented his appointment as an extraordinary professor in 1943. For family reasons, after careful consideration, Bienert decided not to emigrate and finally took a pastor's position in Halle- Diemitz in March 1940 in order to make ends meet and was also the inspector of the Tholuck Konviktes . In July 1940 he passed the second theological exam with very good .

When parishioners of his parish fell victim to the National Socialists' euthanasia program , Bienert denounced this with clear words at the funerals with reference to the Fifth Commandment. Bienert escaped the threat of internment in a concentration camp because he was drafted into the Wehrmacht on June 5, 1941 by the military commander he knew. There he served in a replacement intelligence battalion, later as a gunner. In 1942 he was awarded the East Medal for missions in the Caucasus and Lake Ladoga, and in 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant.

At the beginning of May 1945 he became an American prisoner of war and was able to return to Halle at the end of June and resume his professional activity as a pastor and lecturer at the university. He soon lost the latter, however, when the Soviets soon filled all offices with communists after the Americans took over the city of Halle in July 1945. He joined the Eastern CDU in 1946 and his anti-fascist stance was soon formally established . In 1947 he was able to work as a pastor again.

Bienert had already dealt intensively with Marxism during his student days and considered this to be incompatible with the Christian faith. In his sermons, but also in public discussions, he took a strong stand against the Marxist worldview. Constant surveillance by police spies and regular interrogations by the administration were the result. Finally, a move to the West seemed urgently needed, which he managed in March 1950 through the mediation of Bishop Otto Dibelius and the Rhenish President Heinrich Held .

In the fall of 1950 he took up a pastor's position in Frechen . In the following years he played a major role in the reconstruction of the then 8,000 community members (half of them refugees) and also in the construction of the Martin Luther Church in the Gleuel district of Frechen . Nevertheless, the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia gave him the part-time lecturer at the vocational education institute in Cologne as early as 1953. On the Protestant side, he was the leader of the joint social work of the denominations in the Rhenish lignite mining area , and from 1963 at the same time lecturer at the Evangelical Higher Technical School for Social Work Michaelshoven in Rodenkirchen .

In 1961 he was called to found an academy for adult education in Cologne. He held the first seminars from May to August 1961. On October 1, 1962, the Melanchthon factory was officially opened, which was renamed the Melanchthon Academy in 1963 and its events in 1973 - Bienert's last full year of service - had almost 63,000 participants had.

He retired in 1974, but wrote numerous other books.

Bienert was married and had a daughter.

Publications (selection)

  • That was - what will be ?, Düsseldorf, Archive of Evang. Church in the Rhineland, 1994
  • Russians and Germans, Stein am Rhein, Christiana-Verl., 1990, 1st ed.
  • Look at this new people, Giessen, Brunnen-Verl., 1988
  • War, military service and conscientious objection according to the message of the New Testament, Niederbüren, Esras.net, 2018, 3rd edition (expanded with an article by Herbert H. Klement, "War and Peace in the Old Testament")
  • Reflection on peacemaking, Neuhausen-Stuttgart, Hänssler, 1984, 2nd edition.
  • Fascinating Marxism - Today, Neuhausen-Stuttgart, Hänssler, 1984
  • Martin Luther and the Jews, Frankfurt am Main: Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1982
  • Beyond Marx to being truly human, Frankfurt am Main, Lembeck, 1979
  • Der überholte Marx, Stuttgart: Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1975, 3rd ed.
  • Revolt or reform, Königsdorf: Reykers, 1968
  • Evangelical adult education, Weiden: Reykers, 1967
  • The craftsman today and tomorrow, Gütersloh: Verl. Kirche u. Man, [1961]
  • Working according to the teaching of the Bible, Evang. Publishing work, 1954
  • The people in the light of the Bible, Berlin-Spandau, Wichern-Verl., 1949
  • The oldest non-Christian report on Jesus, Halle: Akad. Verl., 1936
  • Goethe's pietistic-humanistic private Christianity, Halle: Akad. Verl., 1935
  • The dawn of the Christian German modern age, shown. in Science and Faith of Christian Thomasius, Halle, Akad. Verl., 1934
  • The Doctrine of Faith of Christian Thomasius, Halle (Saale), 1934
  • The philosophy of Christian Thomasius, Halle (Saale), 1934

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Verband Alter Wingolfiten eV (Ed.): Vademecum Wingolfiticum , 17th edition, Lahr / Schwarzwald 1974, p. 98.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bienert, Walther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bienert, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1994
Place of death Cologne