Theophil Heinrich Wurm (7 December 1868,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

– 28 January 1953,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

) 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 Christian Social Party before World War I, and thereafter of the Citizens’ Party. He held a seat in the Württemberg State Parliament (german: Landtag) until 1920. As a young man Wurm was a prison chaplain, and became a parish pastor when he was 45. He progressed in the hierarchy of the Lutheran Evangelical State Church in Württemberg and became church president in 1929, with this office being retitled into '' Landesbischof'' (bishop of the regional Protestant church) in 1933. Like many churchmen, he initially favored the Nazi regime, but its church policy soon moved him into opposition. In September 1934 Wurm was deposed from his bishopric by Reich's bishop

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 ...

because of his views on church policy (including the

Barmen Declaration __NOTOC__ The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen 1934 (German: ''Die Barmer Theologische Erklärung'') was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian movement. In the view of the de ...

), and was placed under house arrest. These extreme measures were eventually rescinded by Hitler in the wake of protests and the stripping of power from Müller. Wurm then held the office of bishop until 1948. Wurm withdrew from the

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 ...

and aligned himself with the

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 ...

, attending its synods, but he did not advocate the more extreme policies of the church's more militant wing. Nevertheless, he was not politically apathetic and made numerous complaints to the Nazi party and the Nazi state. After the start of the war, he protested the murders of psychiatric patients under the Nazi euthanasia program. Wurm and the Catholic Bishop of Münster,

Clemens August Graf von Galen Clemens Augustinus Emmanuel Joseph Pius Anthonius Hubertus Marie Graf von Galen (16 March 1878 – 22 March 1946), better known as ''Clemens August Graf von Galen'', was a German count, Bishop of Münster, and cardinal of the Catholic Churc ...

, were able to lead widespread public opposition to the murder of invalids.Peter Hoffmann; The History of the German Resistance 1933-1945; 3rd Edn (First English Edn); McDonald & Jane's; London; 1977; p.24 This earned him a 1944 ban against public speaking and writing. He associated with the resistance movements that centered on Carl Goerdeler and Ludwig Beck. He was admired by his fellow churchmen and in 1945 (in connection with the Allies' de-nazification efforts) he was elected chairman of the Council of the newly created Protestant umbrella Evangelical Church in Germany. He was a signatory of the October 1945 Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt.

References

External links

Online Biography of Wurm
at German Resistance Memorial Center * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurm, Theophil 1868 births 1953 deaths People from Basel-Stadt Protestants in the German Resistance Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg Presidents of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Prison chaplains 20th-century German Lutheran bishops

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