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Friedrich Karl Otto Dibelius (15 May 1880 – 31 January 1967) was a German bishop of the
Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, a self-described anti-Semite who up to 1934 a conservative who became a staunch opponent of
Nazism
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 Na ...
and communism.
Early years
He was born in Berlin,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
, in 1880. One of his cousins was the Protestant theologian
Martin Dibelius
Martin Franz Dibelius (September 14, 1883 – November 11, 1947) was a German academic theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg.
Dibelius was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1883. Along with Rudolf Bultmann he hel ...
. From 1899 to 1903 he studied at the
Frederick William University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III o ...
. He received his PhD in 1902. From 1904–1906, he studied at the Preachers' Seminary in
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...
.
Early pastorates
He was then employed as a minister by the
Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces
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 Pru ...
. In 1906–1907, he was the assistant pastor at the Klosterkirche in
Guben
Guben (Polish and Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße district, Guben has a population of 20,049. Along with Frankfurt (Oder) and Görlitz ...
. In 1907–1909, he was the
archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
at St. Mary's Church in
Crossen an der Oder Crossen may refer to:
*Crossen an der Elster, municipality in Thuringia, Germany
* Zwickau-Crossen, part of Zwickau in Saxony, Germany
*Crossen (Oder), German name of Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland
*part of the municipality Erlau in Saxony, Germany
*Ke ...
. In 1909–1910, he was the assistant pastor at the Church of Ss. Peter and Paul in
Danzig. From 1911 to 1915, he was the chief pastor at
Lauenburg in Pomerania
Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein ...
. From 1915 to 1925, he was the pastor of the Heilsbronnen congregation in Berlin-
Schöneberg
Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...
. In 1918, he was the executive secretary (part-time) of the Mutual Trust Council in the Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council (german: link=no, Evangelischer Oberkirchenrat, EOK) of the Evangelical State Church in Prussia's older Provinces, which renamed after the
separation of state and religion
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
into
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 ...
(APU) in 1922.
General superintendent of Kurmark
In 1921 he was a member of the Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council (part-time). From 1925 to 1933 he was the
superintendent-general of the
Kurmark within the Old-Prussian ''Ecclesiastical Province of the March of Brandenburg''. He then also became a member of the
consistory
Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to:
*A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church
*Consistory ...
, an administrative body, of that ecclesiastical province and joined the right-wing and anti-semite
German National People's Party
The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
.
One problem was the spiritual vacuum which emerged after the church stopped being a
state church
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
with the
separation of religion and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
by the 1919 German
Weimar Constitution
The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...
. Dibelius published his book ''Das Jahrhundert der Kirche'' (''The century of the Church''), in which he declared the 20th century to be the era when the Evangelical Church may for the first time develop freely and gain the independence God would have wished for, without the burden and constraints of the state church function. He regarded the role of the church as even more important, since the government of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
– in his eyes – would no longer provide society with binding norms, so that this would be the task of the church.
[Claus Wagener, "Die Vorgeschichte des Kirchenkampfes", in: ''Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945: 42 Stadtgeschichten'', Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, and Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Inst. Kirche und Judentum, 1999, (Studien zu Kirche und Judentum; vol. 18), pp. 27–75, here p. 65. .]
The church would have to stand for the defence of the Christian culture of the
Occident
The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of ''Orient'', the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term ''occidental'' is often used to ...
. In this respect Dibelius regarded himself as consciously anti-Jewish, explaining in a circular to the pastors in his general superintendency district of ''Kurmark'', "I have always considered myself an anti-Semite. It cannot be denied that with all degenerating phenomena of modern civilisation Judaism plays a leading role". His book was one of the most read on church matters in that period.
On 21 March 1933 the newly elected
Reichstag convened in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
's
Evangelical Garrison Church, an event commemorated as the
Day of Potsdam
Potsdam Day, also known as the Tag von Potsdam or Potsdam Celebration, was a ceremony for the re-opening of the Reichstag following the Reichstag fire, held on 21 March 1933, shortly after that month's German federal election.
Adolf Hitler and ...
, and Dibelius, then the locally competent General-Superintendent, did the relevant preaching in front of the Protestant members of the Reichstag in
St. Nicholas' Church, Potsdam
St. Nicholas Church (german: St. Nikolaikirche) in Potsdam is a Lutheran church under the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia of the Evangelical Church in Germany on the Old Market Square, Potsdam, Old Market ...
, in the morning. On 1 April 1933 the Nazi regime organized a boycott of Jewish shops and on 4 April Dibelius wrote in Berlin's ''Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt'' that "the last fifteen years in Germany" had "strengthened Jewry's influence to an extraordinary degree. The number of Jewish judges, Jewish politicians and Jewish civil servants in influential positions has grown measurably". He downplayed the
boycott of enterprises of Jewish proprietors and such of Gentiles of Jewish descent, when
SA members stood outside Jewish shops attempting to enforce the boycott through intimidation, and when swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans were painted on shop-windows. In an address for US radio he commended the restraint shown in the boycott, with "only one single bloody incident" and he accepted the need for violence, hoping instead 'that the hour may soon come when violence is no longer necessary'. Even after this clearly anti-Semitic action he repeated in his circular to the pastors of Kurmark on the occasion of Easter (16 April 1933) his anti-Jewish attitude, giving the same words as in 1928.
During the struggle of the churches
Once the Nazi government realised that the 28 Protestant
church bodies in Germany were not to be streamlined from within using the Nazi-submissive
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 ...
faction within the church, they abolished the constitutional
freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
and religious organisation. The act was strictly opposed by Dibelius, who saw the separation of state and church as a prerequisite of the latter's free development to achieve its best role. On 24 June the Nazi Minister of Cultural Affairs,
Bernhard Rust
Bernhard Rust (30 September 1883 – 8 May 1945) was Minister of Science, Education and National Culture ( Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany.Claudia Koonz, ''The Nazi Conscience'', p 134 A combination of school administrator and zealou ...
appointed
August Jäger as
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
''State Commissioner for the Prussian Ecclesiastical Affairs'' (german: link=no, Staatskommissar für die preußischen kirchlichen Angelegenheiten). Jäger
furlough
A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...
ed – among many others – Dibelius.
On 14 July,
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 ...
discretionarily decreed an unconstitutional premature re-election of all
elders (german: link=no, Älteste or ''Presbyter'') and synodals in all 28 Protestant church bodies in Germany for 23 July. The new
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...
s of the 28 Protestant churches were to declare their dissolution as separate church bodies in favour of a united
German Evangelical Church
The German Evangelical Church (german: Deutsche Evangelische Kirche) was a successor to the German Evangelical Church Confederation from 1933 until 1945.
The German Christians, an antisemitic and racist pressure group and ''Kirchenpartei'', gai ...
(german: link=no, Deutsche Evangelische Kirche). Representatives of all 28 Protestant churches were to attend the newly created ''National Synod'' to confirm the designated
Ludwig Müller
Johan Heinrich Ludwig Müller (23 June 1883 – 31 July 1945) was a German theologian, a Lutheran pastor, and leading member of the pro-Nazi "German Christians" (german: Deutsche Christen) faith movement. In 1933 he was appointed by the Nazi go ...
as the Reich's Bishop. Müller already now regarded himself as leader of this new organisation.
In the campaign for the premature re-election of all presbyters and synodals on 23 July the Nazi government sided with the ''German Christians''. Under the impression of the government's partiality, the other existing lists of opposing candidates united to form the ''Evangelical Church'' list. The
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
(est. 26 April 1933) ordered the list to change its name and replace all its election posters and flyers issued under the forbidden name.
The Gestapo confiscated the office and the printing-press of the ''Evangelical Church'' list to hinder any reprint. Thus, the list, which had been renamed as ''Gospel and Church'' (german: link=no, Evangelium und Kirche), took refuge with the ''Evangelical Press Association'' (german: link=no, Evangelischer Preßverband), presided over by Dibelius and printed new election posters in its premises in ''Alte Jacobstraße'' # 129, Berlin. However, the ''German Christians'' gained 70–80% of the seats in presbyteries and synods. In 1933–34 Dibelius served the pastorate at
San Remo, Italy.
After his return to Germany (July 1934) and after – from May to October 1934 – the intra-church opposition, the so-called
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German E ...
, had built up its own organisational structures, circumventing the officially recognised bodies of the Old-Prussian church and the newly established Nazi-submissive ''German Evangelical Church'', Dibelius served again as general superintendent in the Kurmark – ignoring his official furlough – accepted only by those congregations whose presbyteries rejected the Nazi adulterated official Old-Prussian church. From 1934 to 1945 he was a member of the ''March of Brandenburg'' provincial Councils of Brethren, the leading bodies established by the Confessing Church on all levels, such as
deaneries
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
, ecclesiastical provinces and for the overall Old-Prussian church as well as in other Nazi-subjected Protestant church bodies in Germany and on the Reich's level dubbing the position of Reich's Bishop Müller by the Reich's Council of Brethren.
Rebuilding the Old-Prussian church and Berlin-Brandenburg ecclesiastical province
Before the end of World War II Dibelius addressed some moderate incumbents of leading positions in the official Old-Prussian church, in order to establish their acceptance and co-operation in a future provisional leading body – the so-called ''Beirat'' (advisory council) of the Old-Prussian church, once the Nazis were defeated. On 7 May 1945 Dibelius organised the forming of a provisional church executive for the Old-Prussian ''Ecclesiastical Province of the March of Brandenburg'', comprising
Greater Berlin
The Greater Berlin Act (german: Groß-Berlin-Gesetz), officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin (german: Gesetz über die Bildung einer neuen Stadtgemeinde Berlin), was a law passed by the Prussian state government i ...
and the political province of Brandenburg. The provisionally leading ''advisory council'' reconfirmed Dibelius as general superintendent of Kurmark and also commissioned him to serve per pro the vacant general superintendencies of Berlin and the ''
New March
The Neumark (), also known as the New March ( pl, Nowa Marchia) or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder, Oder River in territory which became part of History of Polan ...
and
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia (; ; ; szl, Dolnŏ Łużyca; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the sou ...
''. The Soviet occupying power agreed that Dibelius would use the self-chosen title of Bishop, which was regarded a non-Protestant title and was rejected by many, especially since the Nazi-submissive ''German Christians'' used that title for their church leaders, claiming an intra-church hierarchy in the range of the
Führerprinzip
The (; German for 'leader principle') prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führer's word is above all written law" and t ...
.
In June an overall provisional church executive, the Council of the ''Evangelical Church of the Old-Prussian Union'' (german: link=no, Rat der Evangelischen Kirche der altpreußischen Union) emerged, acting until December 1948 mostly in
Central Germany, since traffic and communication between the German regions had collapsed. On 13 June 1945 the Old-Prussian ecclesiastical province of Westphalia under synodal
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.
...
Karl Koch unilaterally assumed independence as the
Evangelical Church of Westphalia
The Protestant Church of Westphalia (german: Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen, EKvW) is a United Protestant church body in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The seat of the praeses (german: Präses, the head of the church) is Bielefeld. The EKvW emerged ...
. Dibelius fought this and tried to maintain the unity of the Old-Prussian church.
On 15 July
Heinrich Grüber
Heinrich Grüber (; 24 June 1891 – 29 November 1975) was a Reformed theologian, opponent of Nazism and pacifist.
Life
Until 1933
Heinrich Grüber was born on 24 June 1891 in Stolberg in the Prussian Rhine Province (today part of North Rhin ...
was appointed Provost of St. Mary's and
St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin and Dibelius invested him on 8 August in a ceremony in
St. Mary's Church, only partially cleared of debris. In 1945 Dibelius became a member of the newly founded Christian Democratic Union party in Germany, which later split into the western
CDU and the eastern puppet party
CDU(D).
Theophil Wurm
Theophil Heinrich Wurm (7 December 1868, Basel – 28 January 1953, Stuttgart) was the son of a pastor and was a leader in the German Protestant Church in the early twentieth century.
Wurm was active in politics. He was a member of the Christia ...
, Bishop of the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg (german: Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg) is a Lutheran member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany in the German former state of Württemberg, now part of the state of Baden-Württem ...
, invited representatives of all Protestant church bodies to Treysa (a part of today's
Schwalmstadt
Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwal ...
) for 31 August 1945. The representatives of the six still existing Old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces (March of Brandenburg,
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
, Rhineland, Saxony, Silesia, and Westphalia; the other three, located in the
Former eastern territories of Germany
The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...
had fallen under Polish and Soviet rule, newly annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union) and the central Old-Prussian ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council'' used the occasion to make fundamental decisions about the future of the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union''. The representatives decided to assume the independent existence of each ecclesiastical province and to reform the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' into a mere umbrella organisation ("Neuordnung der Evangelischen Kirche der altpreußischen Union"). Dibelius and some Middle German representatives (the so-called Dibelians) could not assert themselves against Koch and his partisans, to maintain the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' as an integrated church body. However, Dibelius assumed the position of president of the Old-Prussian ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council''.
President of the Evangelical Church in Germany umbrella
As to co-operation of all the Protestant church bodies in Germany, strong resentments prevailed, especially among the Lutheran church bodies of the
Bavaria right of the river Rhine, ''the Hamburgian State'',
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...
, ''the Free State of Saxony'', and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
, against any unification after the experiences during the Nazi reign with the
German Evangelical Church
The German Evangelical Church (german: Deutsche Evangelische Kirche) was a successor to the German Evangelical Church Confederation from 1933 until 1945.
The German Christians, an antisemitic and racist pressure group and ''Kirchenpartei'', gai ...
. But it was decided to replace the pre-1933
German Federation of Protestant Churches with the new umbrella
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinism, Calvinist) and united and uniting churches, United ( ...
, provisionally led by the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, a naming borrowed from the brethren council organisation. Beginning in 1949, Dibelius was chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
In December 1946 Dibelius spent two weeks visiting prisoner-of-war camps in England, Scotland and Wales, a journey that had been made possible by the Control Commission for Germany and the Minister of State for War, at the request of
Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961.
From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...
, Archbishop of Canterbury. On Christmas Eve, at the invitation of
Leslie Stannard Hunter,
Bishop of Sheffield
The Bishop of Sheffield is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Sheffield in the Province of York.
A similar title was first created as a suffragan see in the Diocese of York in 1901. John Quirk, the only Bishop suffragan of Shef ...
, he conducted a service at
Sheffield Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, more commonly known as Sheffield Cathedral, is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral sta ...
, attended by over 1,000 German prisoners of war.
Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg
Until 1951 all the six still existing ecclesiastical provinces of the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' assumed new church constitutions declaring their independence with Dibelius' local ''Ecclesiastical Province of the March of Brandenburg'' transforming into the independent
Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. Dibelius was elected its bishop in December 1948 by the synod constituting this newly independent church body, after the function of bishop had been officially established by the new church constitution.
In 1947 at a meeting of delegates of the six surviving ecclesiastical provinces they confirmed the status quo, with the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' having transformed into a league of independent church bodies. The schism within the Old-Prussian church was not yet fully overcome, since only the most radical ''German Christians'' had been removed or had resigned from their positions. Many neutrals, forming the majority of clergy and parishioners, and many proponents of the quite doubtable compromising policy at the time of the
struggle of the churches assumed positions.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-68558-0013, Berlin, Marienkirche, Dibelius-Rede](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-68558-0013%2C_Berlin%2C_Marienkirche%2C_Dibelius-Rede.jpg)
It was Dibelius' policy to gain the mainstream support of parishioners. Thus the strict opposition of the ''Dahlemites'' and ''Barmensians'', forming the uncompromised opposition of the ''Confessing Church'' during the ''struggle of the churches'', continued to maintain their conventions in the Old-Prussian brethren councils. On 14 January 1949 representatives of the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' decided to reconcile the groups and founded a committee to develop a new church constitution. On 15 August 1949 the ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council'', presided over by Dibelius, issued the proposal of the committee for a new constitution, which would bring together the Westphalians striving for the complete unwinding of the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'', the ''Dahlemites'' and ''Barmensians'' as well as the ''Dibelians''.
The bulk of the mainstream parishioners shared a strong scepticism about, if not even objection to, communism, and so did Dibelius. So after the foundation of the
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
**Ger ...
(GDR) in the Soviet zone of occupation on 7 October 1949, including – apart from
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
the bulk of the territory covered by the ''Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg'' -, its Bishop Dibelius was often defamed in the East as the propagandist of the western
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
government. He was declared
persona non-grata
In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution.
Diplomacy
Under Article 9 of the ...
by the German Democratic Republic in 1960.
[ Robert S. Wistrich, ''Who's who in Nazi Germany,'' Routledge, 2001 p.38] After the construction of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
in 1961 the GDR refused to allow Dibelius to enter its territory and
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
.
On 24 February 1950 Dibelius – heading the ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council'' – invited for an extraordinary Old-Prussian ''General Synod'', which convened on 11–13 December in Berlin. The new constitution (german: link=no, Ordnung der Evangelischen Kirche der altpreußischen Union) transformed the ''Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union'' into a mere umbrella and did away with the ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council'', replacing it by the ''Church Chancery'' (german: link=no, Kirchenkanzlei), as administrative body. The new governing body, replacing the ''Church Senate'' led by the Praeses of the General Synod (de facto destroyed since 1933), became the ''Council of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union''.
The heads of the church body, in office for a term of two years, now bore the title ''President of the Council'' (german: link=no, Vorsitzende(r) des Rates der Evangelischen Kirche der altpreußischen Union). Until the appointment of the first head in 1952 Dibelius, the former president of the ''Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council'', and its other members officiated per pro as the head and members of the church chancery.
Beginning in 1954 he was the president of the
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 juri ...
(part-time). He died in 1967 in Berlin (West).
Works
*Dibelius, Otto, ''Das Jahrhundert der Kirche: Geschichte, Betrachtung, Umschau und Ziele'', Berlin: Furche-Verlag, 1927. No ISBN
*Dibelius, Otto, ''In the Service of the Lord'', London: Faber and Faber, 1964
961
Year 961 (Roman numerals, CMLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* March 6 – Siege of Chandax: Byzantine forces under Nikephoro ...
References
*Ursula Büttner, "Von der Kirche verlassen: Die deutschen Protestanten und die Verfolgung der Juden und Christen jüdischer Herkunft im "Dritten Reich"", In: ''Die verlassenen Kinder der Kirche: Der Umgang mit Christen jüdischer Herkunft im "Dritten Reich"'', Ursula Büttner and Martin Greschat (eds.), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998, pp. 15–69. .
*Gerlach, Wolfgang, ''Als die Zeugen schwiegen: Bekennende Kirche und die Juden'', re-edited and accompl. ed., Berlin: Institut Kirche und Judentum,
21993, (Studien zu Kirche und Israel; vol. 10), p. 28. . An earlier version appeared as doctoral thesis titled ''Zwischen Kreuz und Davidstern'', Hamburg,
Univ., Diss.,
11970. No ISBN
*Gross, Ernie; ''This Day in Religion'', New York: Neal-Schuman, 1990. .
*''Heinrich Grüber. Sein Dienst am Menschen'', Peter Mehnert on behalf or the Evangelische Hilfsstelle für ehemals Rasseverfolgte and Bezirksamt Hellersdorf (ed.), Berlin: Bezirkschronik Berlin-Hellersdorf, 1988. No ISBN.
*Kühl-Freudenstein, Olaf, "Die Glaubensbewegung Deutsche Christen", in: ''Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945: 42 Stadtgeschichten'', Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, and Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Inst. Kirche und Judentum, 1999, (Studien zu Kirche und Judentum; vol. 18), pp. 97–113, here 103. .
*Lange, Ralf and Peter Noss, "''Bekennende Kirche'' in Berlin", in: ''Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945: 42 Stadtgeschichten'', Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, and Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Inst. Kirche und Judentum, 1999, (Studien zu Kirche und Judentum; vol. 18), pp. 114–147. .
*Wagener, Claus, "Die Vorgeschichte des Kirchenkampfes", in: ''Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945: 42 Stadtgeschichten'', Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, and Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Inst. Kirche und Judentum, 1999, (Studien zu Kirche und Judentum; vol. 18), pp. 27–75. .
*Wagener, Claus, "Nationalsozialistische Kirchenpolitik und protestantische Kirchen nach 1933", in: ''Kirchenkampf in Berlin 1932–1945: 42 Stadtgeschichten'', Olaf Kühl-Freudenstein, Peter Noss, and Claus Wagener (eds.), Berlin: Inst. Kirche und Judentum, 1999, (Studien zu Kirche und Judentum; vol. 18), pp. 76–96. .
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibelius, F. K. Otto
1880 births
1967 deaths
Politicians from Berlin
German National People's Party politicians
Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Presidents of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
20th-century German Lutheran bishops