Paul Hensel (3 October 1867 – 8 January 1944) was a German Lutheran

theologian 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 ...

and politician.

Biography

Hensel was born in Gehsen (today Jeże,

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 ...

) and visited school in Lyck. In 1886, he began to study Theology at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

and the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

and was a member of the

Burschenschaft A Burschenschaft (; sometimes abbreviated in the German ''Burschenschaft'' jargon; plural: ) is one of the traditional (student associations) of Germany, Austria, and Chile (the latter due to German cultural influence). Burschenschaften were fo ...

''Corps Masovia''. He started to work as a Lutheran Pastor at Gehsen and Friedrichshof in

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

, later also at the Lutheran congregation of San Remo and became the

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of Johannisburg. Hensel also published several publications in

masurian language The Masurian ethnolect (Masurian: ''mazurská gádkä''; pl, mazurski; german: Masurisch), according to some linguists, is a dialect group of the Polish language; others consider Masurian to be a separate language, spoken by the Masurian people ...

. Since 1891 he was engaged in several organisations of agricultural cooperatives and became a member of the supervisory board of the "Landwirtschaftliche Zentraldarlehenskasse für Deutschland" in Berlin in 1920–24. In 1913 Hensel was elected for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

as the deputy of the constituency Allenstein 3 ( Oletzko/ Lyck/ Johannisburg) at the

Prussian Landtag The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Represent ...

until 1918 and in 1921–28 Hensel, now a member of the

DNVP 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 ...

, was the deputy of the Allenstein 3 constituency at the Reichstag.

East Prussian plebiscite

After

World War I 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 ...

according to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

a plebiscite in East Prussia was organised by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

to determine whether Masuria should remain as part of Weimar German East Prussia or belong to Second Polish Republic. Hensel soon started to support the German side and, as Superintendent of the old-Prussian Johannisburg deanery, travelled to Versailles already in March 1919 to hand over a collection of 144.447 signatures to the Allied Powers to protest against the planned cession.Andreas Kossert: ''Ostpreußen. Geschichte und Mythos''. Munich 2005, S. 219 Hensel appealed to the foundation of the pro-German ''Masurenbund'' and the ''Arbeitsausschuß Allenstein gegen die Polengefahr'', which both joined the ''Masuren- und Ermländerbund'' in July 1919 under the presidency of Max Worgitzki. Hensel was active in the ''Ostdeutscher Heimatdienst'' and the head of the ''Committee of Lutheran parishes in Masuria''.Reichstags-Handbuch, III. Wahlperiode 1924 The plebiscite turned out a majority of over 97% to remain in East Prussia. Hensel died in Kolberg in 1944.

Publications

*Die evangelischen Masuren in ihrer kirchlichen und nationalen Eigenart, Königsberg 1908 *Die Polengefahr für die masurische Bevölkerung, Berlin 1911 *Kalendarz Królewsko-Pruski Ewangelicki, Johannisburg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hensel, Paul People from the Province of Prussia 19th-century German Lutheran clergy German National People's Party politicians University of Königsberg alumni German monarchists 1867 births 1944 deaths Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic 20th-century German Lutheran clergy