Ernst Hornig (25 August 1894 – 5 December 1976) was
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
"
Praeses
''Praeses'' (Latin ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions.
...
" and
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
of the
Evangelical Church of Silesia. He was appointed to the Bishopric in 1946, and because of
frontier changes mandated the previous year he undertook his episcopal duties in respect of
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
from
Görlitz.
Life
Early life and education
Ernst Hornig was born in
Kohlfurt, a small town in
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...
known as a major rail junction on one of the main lines
linking Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
with
Breslau. Another major employer in the area was the nearby
Brown Coal
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
mining operation, but Hornig's father was a railway worker.
He participated in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and then went on to study
Evangelical Theology Evangelical theology is the teaching and doctrine that relates to spiritual matters in evangelical Christianity and a Christian theology. The main points concern the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, Salvation, sanctification, charity, evan ...
in
Halle and
Breslau.
After ordination, he undertook a brief period of work as a parish vicar at
Friedland (Silesia) before moving on, in 1928, to become pastor at
St. Barbara's Church (as it was then designated; now ''Sobór Narodzenia Przenajświętszej Bogurodzicy'') in
Breslau, where he would remain in post till 1946.
Response to Nazi leadership of Germany
Germany underwent significant regime change in January 1933 when the
NDSDAP (Nazi Party) took power, and lost little time in
imposing
Imposing was a notable Australian thoroughbred racehorse.
He was a chestnut son of Todman from the Arctic Explorer mare Hialeah.
Some of his major race victories included the 1979 AJC Epsom Handicap, AJC George Main Stakes and the STC Hill S ...
the country's first twentieth century
one-party dictatorship
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
. On the religious front, Germany's various traditionally diverse Lutheran/Evangelical churches were encouraged to group together under the party sponsored
German Christian banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...
, as part of a move towards a
national Protestant church that would repudiate the
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
origins of Christianity and support the Nazi state. Together with Pastor
Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...
, on 11 September 1933 Ernst Hornig founded the
Emergency Pastors' League ''("Pfarrernotbund")'', which became a Christian resistance organisation, rejecting "
German Christian" and
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
influence in Germany's
Evangelical Churches. Hornig proved himself an uncompromising opponent of the government's "
German Christians
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany. It was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD, while parts of that area belonged to the Roman Empire, and later, when Franks and other Germanic tribes converted to Christianity from t ...
" project.
Critically, the
Emergency Pastors' League members took as an article of faith rejection of the so-called
Aryan paragraph
An Aryan paragraph (german: Arierparagraph) was a clause in the statutes of an organization, corporation, or real estate deed that reserved membership and/or right of residence solely for members of the "Aryan race" and excluded from such rights a ...
passed by the General Synod of the
Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union
The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pr ...
(heavily influenced and infiltrated by government supporting "
German Christians
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany. It was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD, while parts of that area belonged to the Roman Empire, and later, when Franks and other Germanic tribes converted to Christianity from t ...
") earlier in September 1933. League members also accepted a duty to provide financial support to pastors who had been removed from office, sent into early retirement and/or landed with court costs and fines because of their adherence to religious convictions displeasing to the state.
Hornig was one of the principal authors and distributors of a memorandum of appeal addressed to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, which was publicised in 1936, and found very great resonance in the international press because it spelled out he incompatibility of
Nazi teachings on race with Christian belief: it denounced the illegal arrests of political opponents and their removal to
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
s. It was also in 1936 that Hornig was elected "Deputy Praeses" in the leadership committee of the
Naumburg Synod, held in response and diametric opposition to the government backed Breslau Synod of 1934. Hornig presented the criticism of the state sanctioned
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
that it had set aside moral norms opposed to the killing by government agencies of the mentally ill, and the racially driven extermination of Jews which would subsequently come to be known as the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
In August 1939, the signing of the
Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact opened the way for a renewed partition of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, the military implementation of which by Germany and the Soviet Union the next month marked the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. Hornig remained at his pastoral post throughout the fighting, and at the start of 1945 was a contemporary witness
from within the city of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
's three month
Siege of Breslau
The siege of Breslau, also known as the Battle of Breslau, was a three-month-long siege of the city of Wrocław, Breslau in Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), lasting to the end of World War II in Europe. From 13 Feb ...
and the city's subsequent capitulation.
After much of the city had been destroyed, and following much death, on 4 May Hornig was one of four leading city clerics to demand publicly that
Hermann Niehoff, the German garrison commander surrender Breslau to the Soviets.
Niehoff made no answer and in the afternoon Hornig repeated the demand in an address to the troop commanders.
After the Second World War
By the time Breslau was surrendered a process of
ethnic cleansing was already underway across
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
, and the process continued for the next year or so. By the end of 1946 the ethnic German population had been almost entirely replaced by an ethnic Polish population, many of those involved having themselves been expelled from
territories in the east of Poland annexed by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. In 1946 the Silesian province of the
Prussian Evangelical Church was able to hold its first post-war provincial synod in
Świdnica (formerly Schweidnitz), which had already become a Polish city. Hornig himself was
expelled from
Wrocław (formerly Breslau) at the end of 1946, to be followed by the remaining members of his consistory at the start of 1947. Hornig's church in the city, St. Barbara's, had been largely destroyed. Much later it would be rebuilt and in 1963 handed over to the
Polish Orthodox Church
The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church ( pl, Polski Autokefaliczny Kościół Prawosławny), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. Th ...
. Today it is a museum
Frontier changes and the accompanying
ethnic cleansing caused the Silesian province of the Evangelical Church to relocate its headquarters to
Görlitz in what was now the
Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...
of what remained of Germany, and Ernst Hornig became its Bishop.
He soon found himself in conflict with the local secular authorities and with the new rapidly emerging
one-party dictatorship
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
ruling from Berlin. Both before and after the Soviet occupation zone had mutated, formally in October 1949, into the
Soviet sponsored German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
, Hornig spoke out for freedom and human rights, notably at the time of the savagely crushed
East German uprising of 1953
The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...
. He found himself subject to frequent attacks in the
state media and subject to personal restrictions that included, late in 1961, the refusal of a passport to attend the Third
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
Assembly held in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
.
Hornig's contributions did not go unremarked on the western side of the increasingly impermeable
frontier that separated
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
from
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. The Theological Faculty at the
University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1955 for his contribution to post-war church reconstruction and for his commitment to
Church Ecumenism.
Retirement and death
Ernst Hornig retired in 1964 and took the opportunity to relocate to
Bad Vilbel in
the west
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
. He used his retirement to undertake research work. His episcopal successor at
Görlitz was
Hans-Joachim Fränkel.
Twelve years after his arrival in the west Hornig died at
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, close to his new home.
Published work
*''Der Weg der Weltchristenheit''. Stuttgart, 2nd edition, 1958
*''Breslau 1945. Erlebnisse in der eingeschlossenen Stadt''. München 1975
*''Die Bekennende Kirche in Schlesien 1933–1945. Geschichte und Dokumente''. Göttingen 1977
*''Rundbriefe aus der Evangelischen Kirche von Schlesien 1946–1950''. produced by Dietmar Neß, Sigmaringen 1994
*''Die schlesische evangelische Kirche 1945–1964''. produced by. Manfred Jacobs. Görlitz 2001
*Rezension: ''Aus der Hölle von
Gurs
Gurs is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.
History
Gurs was the site of the Gurs internment camp. Nothing remains of the camp; after World War II, a forest was planted on the site where it stood.
Geog ...
. Die Briefe der Maria Krehbiel-Darmstädter 1940–1943.'' In
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...
, 3 August 1971
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornig, Ernst
1894 births
1976 deaths
People from Zgorzelec County
People from the Province of Silesia
20th-century German Lutheran bishops