Werner Leich

Prayer for peace in the Gera Johanniskirche : on the left the Gera pastor Joachim Urbig, on the right regional bishop Werner Leich

Werner Leich (born January 31, 1927 in Mühlhausen / Thuringia ) is a Protestant theologian and was regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia from 1978 to 1992 .

Life and work

Leich attended the National Political Education Institute (NAPOLA) from Schulpforte near Naumburg and then the Ernestinum grammar school in Gotha . From 1942 to 1945 he took part in the war voluntarily as an air force helper and as a Wehrmacht soldier with the rank of Fahnenjunker , because he wanted to "fight to save Germany". After the Second World War , he began an apprenticeship as a locksmith and made up his Abitur. From 1947 he studied Protestant theology in Marburg and Heidelberg . To finance his studies, he worked underground in Gelsenkirchen in the mine. He joined the striking association “ Landsmannschaft Hasso Borussia Marburg ” in the Coburg Convent (CC) and was involved in the university's AStA against emancipatory approaches . He has been married since 1952 and has a son and a daughter.

After completing his studies in 1951, he was vicar in Angelroda until 1953 and pastor in Wurzbach / Thuringia from 1954 . In 1969 he was appointed superintendent in Lobenstein . Since 1960 he has also been a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia, in which he was elected Vice President in 1967. He was able to exercise this office until 1978, when he became regional bishop of the Thuringian regional church in Eisenach . The Synod elected him in December 1977 to succeed Ingo Braecklein in this office.

Since 1969 Leich was also a member of the church leadership of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD) - East Area (VELK GDR), of which he was the leading bishop from 1983 to 1986. In addition, he was the successor to Johannes Hempel, chairman of the Conference of Church Governments of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR (BEK) from 1986 to 1990 . The VELK GDR dissolved in 1988, the BEK after the fall of the Wall.

On October 3, 1990, Leich recommended that the parishes generally ring church bells. A few months earlier he had spoken out in favor of dropping the formula “Church in Socialism” in favor of the term “Evangelical Church in the GDR ”.

In 1992 Leich retired. The Thuringian Synod elected Roland Hoffmann as his successor as regional bishop . In 2011 he went public again as a co-signer of an open letter from several former bishops of the Protestant regional churches, which speaks out clearly against the ordination of pastors who live in same-sex partnerships.

Honors

• 1983: Honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Dr. hc)
• 1989: Honorary doctorate from the theological institute of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Hungary
• 1990: Honorary doctorate from Wittenberg University Springfield / Ohio
• 1984: Four Freedoms Award in the religious freedom category * 2004: Thuringian Order of Merit

Works

• Rejoice, heaven - rejoice, earth. A Christmas book . SCM Brockhaus, Wuppertal 1993.
• But YOU stay - in the change of horizons. Life memories. Wartburg-Verlag, Weimar 2002, ISBN 978-3-86160149-4 . (Revised and significantly expanded new edition of the memoirs from 1992.)
• Sent for service. Wartburg-Verlag, Weimar 2002, ISBN 978-3-86160142-5 .

literature

• Ehrhart Neubert :  Leich, Werner . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Werner Leich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Werner Leich in the catalog of the German National Library
• “I was too scared” , interview in Der Spiegel , April 13, 1992

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://jungefreiheit.de/service/archiv/?www.jf-archiv.de/archiv05/200541100737.htm
2. ↑ The open letter of the old bishops against homosexual pastor couples