Wilhelm Pressel (theologian)

Wilhelm Gustav Heinrich Otto Pressel (born January 22, 1895 in Creglingen ; † May 24, 1986 in Tübingen ) was an Evangelical Lutheran theologian .

Pressel took part in the First World War as an officer. After his ordination in 1921, he was from 1923 to 1925 Repetent at Tubingen seminary. From 1925 to 1929 he was the parish priest in Nagold . From 1929 to 1933 he was student pastor in Tübingen and from 1932 to 1933 he was a member of the German Christians (DC) and the National Socialist Pastors' Association. Thanks to the influence of the DC, he became senior church councilor of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg in Stuttgart in June 1933 . But he broke with the DC in 1933 and became a confidante of the regional bishop Theophil Wurm . In May 1934, Pressel took part in the Barmen Confession Synod, at which the Barmen Theological Declaration was adopted. In 1935 Pressel was expelled from the NSDAP . In February 1936 he became a member of the Reich Brotherhood Council , and later that year he became a permanent representative in the Luther Council

After the end of the Second World War, the tension between Wurm and Pressel increased. Pressel criticized Wurm's approach to the Reich Brotherhood Council at the Treysa Church Conference . In August 1945 Pressel took over the management of the newly founded aid organization of the EKD in Württemberg and resigned from the Stuttgart upper church council with effect from March 1, 1946. From 1950 to 1960 he was a hospital pastor in Stuttgart.

Wilhelm Pressel should not be confused with his son, the author of the much-cited study The War Sermon 1914-1918 in the Protestant Church in Germany . Since the winter semester 1913/14 he was a member of the student association AV Igel Tübingen .

literature

Johannes Michael Wischnath: Wilhelm Pressel (1895-1986). In: Rainer Jungs, Jörg Thierfelder (Ed.): We could not escape. 30 portraits on the Church and National Socialism in Württemberg. Quell, Stuttgart 1998, pp. 299-310.

Web links

Works by and about Wilhelm Pressel in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

↑ Resistance !? Evangelical Christians under National Socialism .
↑ Dietmar Merz: The Evangelical Relief Organization in Württemberg from 1945 to 1950 . Epfendorf 2002, p. 24 .
^ Jörg Thierfelder: Collapse and a new beginning. The Protestant Church after 1945 using the example of Württemberg. Quell, Stuttgart 1995, p. 62; Dietmar Merz: The Evangelical Relief Organization in Württemberg from 1945 to 1950. Epfendorf 2002, p. 25.

personal data
SURNAME	Pressel, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pressel, Wilhelm Gustav Heinrich Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	January 22, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH	Creglingen
DATE OF DEATH	May 24, 1986
Place of death	Tübingen

[1] Resistance !? Evangelical Christians under National Socialism .

[2] Dietmar Merz: The Evangelical Relief Organization in Württemberg from 1945 to 1950 . Epfendorf 2002, p. 24 .

[3] Jörg Thierfelder: Collapse and a new beginning. The Protestant Church after 1945 using the example of Württemberg. Quell, Stuttgart 1995, p. 62; Dietmar Merz: The Evangelical Relief Organization in Württemberg from 1945 to 1950. Epfendorf 2002, p. 25.