Hans Ehrenberg

Hans Philipp Ehrenberg (4 June 1883, Altona - 31 August 1958, Heidelberg) was a German theologian. One of the co-founders of the Confessing Church, he had to emigrate to England because of his Jewish descent and opposition to National Socialism.

Life

1883-1914

Hans Ehrenberg was born into an emancipated Jewish family. From 1898 to 1900 he attended the Christianeum in Altona. [Archive of the Christianeums] After his graduation exam at the Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Hamburg in 1902, he studied law and political studies ("Rechtswissenschaften" snd "Staatswissenschaften") in Göttingen, Berlin, Heidelberg and München. In his Dissertation in 1906, on the situation of the Hüttenarbeiter in the Ruhr Valley, his attitude towards the workers was already clear. After his military service in 1907/08 he continued his studies, now in philosophy and in Heidelberg, leding to his second graduation (in Philosophy) in 1909 and habilitation in 1910. In 1910 he became a Privatdozent in philosophy in Heidelberg. In 1909 Ehrenberg was baptised as a Protestant Christian in Berlin. At this time arose a close friendship with his cousin Franz Rosenzweig. In 1913 he married the teacher Else Anna Zimmermann (1890-1970).

1914-1933

In the First World War Ehrenberg was a Offiziersstellvertreter or NCO, then (from the end of 1914) a lieutenant. He won the Iron Cross 2nd Class as well as the Badische Offiziersorden (Zähringer Löwe 2.Klasse).

Ehrenburg had seen the war as a legitimate defensive war, but after it his view changed radically, speaking of war crimes and German guilt. He joined the SPD in 1918, and was for 18 months their Stadtverordneter in Heidelberg, as well as a member of workers' and soldiers' committees. In the same year, he received an extraordinary professorship in Heidelberg. At this time arose his wish to become a Protestant minister, as he collaborated with the Christian socialists.

In 1922 Ehrenberg began his theological studies in Münster, which he completed in 1924 with his 2. Theological Exam. Abandoning a promising academic career, in 1925 he became the minister of the Christuskirche at Bochum in a heavily working-class area. He got involved in the "Kampfbund christlicher Arbeiter" (War-alliance of Christian Workers), though he left the SPD, feeling he could not keep up his parish work at the same time as party-political work. In 1927 made speeches on "Church and Antisemitism" in opposition to riots organised by the SA.

1933-1945

On the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Ehrenberg became one of the founders of the Confessing Church. Already in May 1933 he and four other Westphalian ministers had formulated the Bochumer Confession, the first of its kind, containing a denial of Nazi ideology and a confession of Christianity's Jewish origins. In July 1933 he published 72 guiding principles on Jewish-Christian questions, clearly relating his own opposition to antisemitism and calling on the Evangelischen Kirche to share it. In the face of increasing pressure from the Nazi Party and the German Christians, the church authorities sought to force him into retirement in 1937 for his work for the Westfälische Bruderrat of the Confessing Church. Ehrenberg, however, continued to work for the Confessing Church, whose ministers in Bochum publicly showed solidarity with him.

In September 1938 he was totally banned from delivering speeches and sermons. In the November pogroms of 1938 his home was trashed and a few days later he was taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1939 he was able to emigrate to England thanks to intervention and pledges by the bishop of Chichester, George Bell, with his family joining him shortly afterwards. Here ecumenism, a future uniting of the churches, became increasingly important to him.

1945-1958

After the war, Ehrenburg returned to Germany in 1947, where he worked first of all as minister for adult education in Bethel. In 1953 he returned to Heidelberg, where he died in 1958. His will is held in the Landeskirchliches Archiv Bielefeld (Bestand 3,17).

Analysis

Hans Ehrenberg was one of the few German Protestant theologians of the Confessing Church to clearly and publicly speak out in support of the Jews and in opposition to Nazi antisemitism, and to demand loudly that the Church do the same. He also criticised Christian antisemtisim and emphasised what Judaism and Christianity have in common. His special attitude to workers' problems put him ahead of his time and of his church. Besides his practical theological work, he also wrote a multitude of philosophical and theological article and treatises. In 1963 the Gymnasium in Bielefeld Sennestadt (linked to the Protestant church of Westphalia) was renamed the Hans-Ehrenberg-Schule in his honour.

Hans-Ehrenberg Prize

Since 200 the Evangelische Kirchenkreis Bochum has raised a prize fund known as the Hans-Ehrenberg-Gesellschaft, awarding the Hans-Ehrenberg-Preis of 5000 Euros every two years. Previous winners include:
* 2000: Prof. Günter Brakelmann
* 2002: Präses Manfred Kock and Cardinal Karl Lehmann
* 2004: Robert Leicht
* 2006: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste

Bibliography

*de icon Werner Licharz: "Franz Rosenzweig und H.E.- Aspekte einer fast vergessenen Freundschaft" in: W. Schmied-Kowarzik (Hg): "Der Philosoph Franz Rosenzweig 1886 - 1929" Freiburg 1988
*de icon Günter Brakelmann: "Hans Ehrenberg. Ein judenchristliches Schicksal in Deutschland." Teil 1: "Leben, Denken und Wirken 1883-1932". Teil 2: "Widerstand, Verfolgung und Emigration 1933-1939". Schriftenreihe der Hans–Ehrenberg–Gesellschaft, Bände 3 und 4. Waltrop, 1997/1999 ISBN 3-927718-86-6 (Teil 1) und ISBN 3-927718-87-4 (Teil 2)
*de icon Günter Brakelmann (Hg.): "Hans Ehrenberg. Autobiographie eines deutschen Pfarrers und weitere Zeugnisse aus der NS-Zeit". Schriftenreihe der Hans–Ehrenberg–Gesellschaft, Band 5. Waltrop, 1999 ISBN 3-933688-28-0
*de icon Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik: "Rosenzweig im Gespräch mit Ehrenberg, Cohen und Buber". Freiburg 2006 ISBN 3-495-48244-X

External links

* [http://dispatch.opac.d-nb.de/DB=4.1/REL?PPN=118688200 Works on and by Hans Ehrenburg] in the catalogue of the Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
* [http://www.hans-ehrenberg.de Hans-Ehrenberg-Gesellschaft]
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/e/ehrenberg_h_p.shtml Peter Noss: Hans Ehrenberg.] In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Bd. 19, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1, Sp. 201–219.
* [http://www.hans-ehrenberg-schule.de/ Hans-Ehrenberg-Schule (HES)] in Bielefeld-Sennestadt

Notes