Wilhelm Scheperjans

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Monsignor Wilhelm Scheperjans (born June 4, 1912 in Lorup ; † January 6, 1998 in Sögel ) was a German Catholic clergyman. He is the founder of the Neu-Böseckendorf settlement , the Ermlandsiedlung in Emstekerfeld (city of Cloppenburg), the Friedland settlements in the Lippetal in Lippborg , Herzfeld , Hovestadt , Oestinghausen , and in Freckenhorst and Borken.

Career

Scheperjans was the second youngest of six children of the farmer Franz Scheperjans (1870–1950) and Gesina Scheperjans, nee. Pohlablen, (1876-1949). He graduated from high school in Meppen in 1934 and then began studying theology at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, which he completed in Münster . On September 29, 1939 he was ordained a priest in Osnabrück. After his time as chaplain , he was drafted as a naval pastor in Kiel and sent to Russia, Finland and Norway. He was taken prisoner of war , from which he returned at Christmas 1945.

From 1946 he was again active as a pastor in Eutin , Dörpen , Spahnharrenstätte , Twistringen , from 1954 as a seaman's pastor in Bremerhaven and as a pastor in Grafeld near Berge. In 1960 he became a pastor in the Friedland transit camp , where he took care of the spiritual care of returnees, refugees and displaced persons.

After 16 families from Böseckendorf im Eichsfeld with 53 people, including 21 children, fled across the inner-German border on the evening of October 2, 1961, followed by 13 other people a year and a half later, Scheperjans tried to resettle them in the settlement as closely as possible Neu-Böseckendorf near Angerstein . For 75 families from Warmia , he initiated the construction of the Warmia settlement in the Cloppenburg district of Emstekerfeld, which was opened in 1967. Scheperjans had collected donations totaling 7 million D-Marks and 68,000 m² of building land for this purpose.

After a severe heart attack, he gave up his job in Friedland in 1973 and moved to Resthausen (municipality of Molbergen). From 1973 to 1992 he was the episcopal representative for settlement issues at Friedland-Caritas. A total of 26 small settlements with 1,350 houses for 1,600 families were built at his instigation by 1992.

Honors

  • 1964: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 1972: Honorary citizen of the Lorup community
  • 1973: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 1973: Silesian shield
  • 1981: Honorary citizen of the community of Molbergen
  • numerous awards from associations of expellees

Works

  • Prayer and hymn book - Kevelaer, 1972 (as editor)

literature

  • Erich Behlau (with the support of Thekla Brinker and Franz Scheperjans): Monsignore Wilhelm Scheperjans (1912–1998) , In: Biographies and pictures from 575 years of Cloppenburg city history - Münster: Aschendorff, 2011
  • Hans Jürgen Brandt, Peter Häger (ed.): Biographical Lexicon of the Catholic Military Pastoral Care of Germany 1848–1945 - Paderborn, 2002, p. 700
  • Thekla Brinker: Monsignore Wilhelm Scheperjans his eightieth birthday , In: Yearbook of the Emsländischen Heimatbundes 41 (1995)
  • Brunhild Gries: Construction and development of the Ermlandsiedlung, In: Hildegard Kuhningk (Hrsg.): 25 years of the Ermlandsiedlung in Cloppenburg - Cloppenburg, 1992, pp. 27-44
  • Andreas Kathe: Wilhelm Scheperjans (1912–1998) , In: Willi Baumann, Peter Sieve (Ed.): The Catholic Clergy in the Oldenburger Land - Münster, 2006, pp. 481–484
  • Heinz Strickmann: 48 farming families from the East Prussian Warmia got a new home in 1967. Monsignor Wilhelm Scheperjans founder of the Warmia settlement. In: Bi us to Hus , Meppener Tagespost, May 30, 1992

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 43, March 9, 1973.
personal data
SURNAME Scheperjans, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Catholic clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Lorup
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1998
Place of death Sögel