Herbert Leuninger (8 September 193228 July 2020) was a German Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and theologian. He was a

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

for

asylum in Germany The right of asylum for victims of political persecution is a basic right stipulated in the Constitution of Germany. In a wider sense, the right of asylum recognises the definition of ' refugee' as established in the 1951 Refugee Convention and ...

, a co-founder and speaker of the organisation

Pro Asyl PRO ASYL is Germany's largest pro immigration advocacy organization. Founded in 1986 by protestant pastor , Catholic priest Herbert Leuninger and others, the organization has over 18.000 members and an annual budget of more than (as of 2014). It ...

, helping refugees, and a member of the board of the

European Council on Refugees and Exiles Established in 1974, ECRE is a European network of 105 NGOs in 39 European countries. In 2011, the council raised concerns regarding planned repatriations of Afghan asylum children. In 2014, the council was critical of EU cutbacks of migrant r ...

. He is remembered as a "loudspeaker" of refugees.

Life

Leuninger was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Ossendorf Ehrenfeld ( ; ) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of the City of Cologne in Germany. It includes the seven quarters Bickendorf, Bocklemünd, Mengenich, Ehrenfeld, Neuehrenfeld, Ossendorf and Vogelsang. It has about 109,500 inhabitants (as of Dec ...

, the second of three children of Alois and Elisabeth Leuninger from

Mengerskirchen Mengerskirchen is a municipality in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Neighbouring communities Mengerskirchen borders in the north on the community of Greifenstein (Lahn-Dill-Kreis), in the east on the community of Löhnberg ...

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...

, where he grew up; his brother also became a priest and theologian. His uncle Franz Leuninger was a Christian

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist active in the

German resistance to Nazism Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...

, who was executed on 1 March 1945 at the

Plötzensee Prison Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...

. After his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

at the , Leuninger studied philosophy and theology. He was ordained as a priest in

Limburg Cathedral Limburg Cathedral (german: Limburger Dom, also known as ''Georgsdom'' ("George's Cathedral") after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Limburg ...

on 8 December 1958. He assisted in a parish in Frankfurt-Nied, and then was chaplain (''Kaplan''), from 1959 in

Oberlahnstein Oberlahnstein () is a part of the city of Lahnstein in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It lies on the right bank of the Rhine, at the confluence of the Lahn 4 m. above Koblenz, on the Right Rhine railway from Cologne to Frankfurt-on-Main. Oberla ...

and later at the in Frankfurt's Westend, then as parish priest in

Kriftel Kriftel is a municipality in the Main-Taunus district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 16 km west of Frankfurt (centre). It has about 11,000 inhabitants. Kriftel is also commonly known as "Fruit Orchard of the Anterior Taunus" (''Obstgar ...

. In 1970, he was appointed youth pastor (''Jugendpfarrer'') for the Main-Taunus district. He served as the advisor for migration questions (''Migrationsreferent'') to the Bishop of Limburg from 1972 to 1992, under bishops Wilhelm Kempf and

Franz Kamphaus Franz Kamphaus (born 2 February 1932) is a German Catholic Church, Catholic priest, bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg, Diocese of Limburg. He was Bishop (Catholicism), bishop of the diocese from 1982 to 2007. He was the only ...

. Leuninger served as a member of the board of the

based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1986, he founded with Jürgen Micksch and others in Frankfurt

, a

human rights organisation A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...

for refugees seeking

. He served as the organisation's spokesman until 1994, then as its referent for Europe until 1998. Besides dealing with questions of the Church and theology, Leuninger was involved with topics related to asylum in Germany, such as ' (integration of immigrants), ''Fremdenfeindlichkeit'' (

Xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

, literally: hostility towards strangers], and ' (multi-cultural society) and published on these areas. Leininger died after a short illness in Limburg an der Lahn, Limburg at the age of 87.

Awards

* 1991: of the state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

* 1998: , with his brother Ernst Leuninger

References

External links

* * * Herbert Leusinger
Eine Bewegung von unten / 25 Jahre Pro Asyl
(in German) evangelisch.de 8 September 2011 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leuninger, Herbert German human rights activists 21st-century German Roman Catholic priests 1932 births 2020 deaths Clergy from Cologne Writers from Cologne 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests