Walther Paucker

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Walther Paucker

Walther Paucker (* March 7 jul. / 19th March  1878 greg. In the rectory of St. Simonis (Estonian Simuna ), today rural municipality of Väike-Maarja , Estonia ; † 6. January 1919 in Wesenberg (Estonian Rakvere ), Estonia) with full name Walther Hugo Theodor Paucker , was a Protestant pastor . He is considered a martyr in the Evangelical Church in Germany .

The dates in this article are based on the Julian calendar for the period up to 1918 unless otherwise noted.

Life

Walther Paucker was born into an old Estonian family of theologians. Both his father Eduard Paucker (1843–1921) and his grandfather Hugo Richard Paucker (1807–1871) and his great-grandfather Heinrich Johann Paucker (1759–1819) were pastors of St. Simonis; the community had been looked after by members of the Paucker family for 130 years. Walther Paucker's mother was Agnes Wilhelmine Alexandra Paucker, b. Hoffmann (1855–1939), whose brother Theodor Hoffmann (1865–1919), like Walther Paucker, became pastor and was killed by the Bolsheviks . Walther Paucker had four brothers and three sisters. Walther was the oldest of the siblings and was baptized on April 3, 1878.

Walther Paucker attended Nikolaus I. Gymnasium in the Estonian capital Tallinn (Reval). On July 23, 1894, he was confirmed in St. Simonis.

From 1897 to 1905 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Tartu in accordance with family tradition . He passed his probationary year with his father in St. Simonis.

On April 1, 1907, Paucker was ordained in the Tallinn Church of the Holy Spirit . First he was adjunct pastor there, then from 1907 to 1919 pastor secundarius of the parish of Wesenberg. He particularly helped the Primarius with preaching and caring for the poor.

At the beginning of the First World War , when his superior was away, Paucker looked after the community alone. As a pastor, he also had to perform the duties of a registrar, which brought him immense paperwork because of the mobilization of those fit for military service. He strengthened and comforted those called up and their relatives. At that time he celebrated every evening service with the congregation, almost daily with communion . The helpfulness of the young clergyman during this time won him the sympathy of his community. As a teacher, he was considered capable and kind, which won over both his colleagues and his students.

Whenever possible, he traveled to nearby St. Simonis to help his father. Here, too, he was very popular, and therefore regarded as the future successor of his father. In autumn 1918, on his 50th anniversary in office, he was retired and Walther Paucker was actually elected as his successor. He gladly accepted the election. For a transitional period he stayed in Wesenberg. Before he could take up his new position, the German army withdrew from Estonia. So it came to the Soviet-Russian occupation of Estonia. Jaan Anvelt became chairman of the country's Bolshevik government . Wesenberg was occupied on December 16, 1918. This caused many to flee, but Paucker stayed with his previous community during the Estonian War of Freedom . He wrote to his parents that he was otherwise like a shepherd who leaves his flock when the wolf comes, and expressed his hope for God's help.

Just a day later, the Bolsheviks captured Paucker. One of his previous confirmands, now a leading communist, offered him to flee. Paucker only wanted to accept his release if the ex-confirmand had made sure that he could continue to freely serve his community. Since the young inspector could not give him this assurance, the pastor remained in custody.

On December 29, 1918, the Anvelts government banned the holding of religious services in Estonia.

Walther Paucker was taken to the place of execution on January 6, 1919 with numerous other prisoners after three weeks of imprisonment, during which he provided spiritual support to his fellow prisoners. He prayed intensely, including for the other prisoners and those who were about to kill him. Then he sang, "Let me go, let me go, that I may see Jesus". The other prisoners sang along until they were shot. Walther Paucker was executed at the age of forty. He remained unmarried throughout his life.

funeral

First of all, Walther Paucker was put in a mass grave.

When the carpenter Kuldwere heard that his son, who was a Bolshevik, had also signed the death sentence against Paucker, he suffered a stroke.

After the withdrawal of the Bolshevik troops, Paucker's body was exhumed two weeks after his death and taken to the Wesenberg church. His elderly father and pastor friends led the funeral service in the fully occupied church. The service looked like a victory celebration. His remains were, with great public interest, accompanied by countless Wesenberg parishioners, with the singing of resurrection songs, including Jerusalem, you high-rise city , to St. Simonis. The community said goodbye to him at the city limits and thanked him. Many touched his coffin and said a silent prayer.

The church elders of St. Simonis welcomed the deceased, whose election as pastor of this place had meanwhile been confirmed. In his Baltic Martyrs book , Oskar Schabert rated Paucker's death as the “first and most powerful sermon” of the pastor for his new congregation about fidelity to death and the faith that overcomes the world. Walther Paucker is now buried in the St. Simonis cemetery.

More victims

Anvelt's rule was marked by numerous acts of revenge and massacres in Wesenberg and Tartu , which, in addition to Paucker, also included the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Tallinn, Platon Kulbusch (canonized in 2000), and the Lutheran pastors Traugott Hahn (listed in the Evangelical calendar of names since 1969) and Moritz Wilhelm Paul Schwartz fell victim.

During the occupation of Wesenberg by the Bolsheviks, the following were killed in addition to Paucker:

Riga Martyr's Stone

In memory of Paucker and other Baltic martyrs, the Riga Martyrs Stone was erected in the Great Cemetery in Riga in the 1920s next to the New Chapel . It was a black granite obelisk with the names of the pastors killed in the Riga Central Prison in the upper area (see the article about Marion von Klot , who was also killed in the process) and in the lower area the names of 32 other clergymen Victims, including Paucker, were listed. The inscription read:

"Heb. 13.7 Remember your teachers: Pastors Bergengruen , Doebler , Eckhardt , Hoffmann , Savary , Scheuermann , Taube , E. Treu , who died as a witness in Riga on May 22nd, 1919. Besides these, the pastors Adolphi , Berg , Bernewitz , Bielenstein , Bosse , Gilbert , Grüner , Prof. Hahn , Haßmann , Hesse , Jende , Marnitz , Moltrecht , died as martyrs in the Baltic countries during the time of the Bolshevik reign of terror and the persecution of Christians in 1918/1919 , Paucker, Rutkowski , Scheinpflug , Schlau , Schwartz, Strautmann , P. Treu , Tschischko , Uhder , Wühner , Wachsmuth . The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Pastors Bidder , Cleemann , Frese , Geist , Gross , Kaspar , Rosenberg and Walter died as Confessors . He who endures to the end will be saved. Matth. 24.13 "(For the biblical quotations see Hebr 13,7  LUT and Mt 24,13  LUT .)

After the Second World War , the stone was destroyed by the Soviet administration. In the course of efforts to restore the Great Cemetery, the Martyr's Stone was rededicated in 2006.

Remembrance day

The Evangelical Church in Germany commemorates Walther Paucker with a day of remembrance in the Evangelical Name Calendar on January 6th .

The day of remembrance was first introduced by Jörg Erb for his book Die Wolke der Zeugen (Kassel 1951/1963, Vol. 4, Calendar on pp. 508-520). The Evangelical Church in Germany took over this Memorial Day in the then established name calendar year 1969th

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ WALTER HUGO THEODOR PAUCKER in VAIMULIKE ELULOOD, accessed on May 24, 2018
  2. ↑ From Kur, Livonia and Estonia. In the Libauschen Zeitung , No. 22, January 27, 1919.
  3. ↑ Jaan Anvelt's biography (Estonian)
  4. ↑ Memorial plaques and monuments on the website of Domus Rigensis ( Memento from March 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Frieder Schulz, Gerhard Schwinge (editor): Synaxis: Contributions to the liturgy , Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997 , ISBN 3-525-60398-3
personal data
SURNAME Paucker, Walther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paucker, Walther Hugo Theodor; Paucker, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Baltic pastor and evangelical martyr
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Simuna , Estonia Governorate
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1919
Place of death Rakvere , Estonia