Jochen Klepper (22 March 1903 – 11 December 1942) was a German writer, poet and journalist.
Life
Klepper was born in
Beuthen
Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capita ...
,
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 ...
(now in Poland). Suffering from severe asthma, he was schooled at home by his father, a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
minister, until the age of 14. He then studied at the Gymnasium in Glogau. In 1922, he started studying
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the University of Erlangen, before transferring to the
University of Breslau
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
a year later. He completed his degree and began doctoral studies, but in 1926 he abandoned this, instead working as a church publisher and later a journalist to support his family. He held a sermon as a substitute to his ill father in 1927. He married Johanna Stein from a Jewish family in 1931. They moved to Berlin where he worked for the radio but was dismissed in 1933.
Starting in December 1935, he wrote for
Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (22 March 1902 – 23/24 April 1945) was a member of the German anti-Nazi resistance. He was executed in the aftermath of the failure of the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
The von Guttenberg ...
s journal ' (''White Papers'').
In December 1940, he was drafted by the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
— perhaps a bureaucratic mistake since citizens married to Jews were not to be drafted. His wife however had been baptized just prior to their church wedding in 1938. While Klepper did not see combat, he served in a supply unit for forces through Bulgaria, Poland and Soviet Union before being discharged in 1942 to tend to his wife.
On 11 December 1942, after
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
for the couple's second daughter, the three of them committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by turning on a gas valve - Jochen writing in his journal just before they died: "Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives." After their death, his sister Hildegard gave the diary to the Allied trial against
In the Shadow of Your Wings'', appeared in 1956, contains a selection from the diaries of Klepper.
Klepper wrote many hymns that became part of modern Protestant and Catholic hymnals, such as " Gott wohnt in einem Lichte" and the
Advent hymn Advent songs (german: Adventslieder, link=no) are songs and hymns intended for Advent, the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Topics of the time of expectation are the hope for a Messiah, prophecies, and the symbolism of light, among others. ...