328:('Thanksgiving Church') as the new name for all of the three planned new churches in Sebaldsbrück, Osterholz and Gröpelingen. Weidemann managed to give an ideological overtone to this new proposed name. He informed Lammers of his intention to install a memorial plaque with the text "Thanksgiving Church. Built in gratitude to God for the miraculous salvation of our people from the abyss of Jewish-materialist Bolshevism through the actions of the Führer in the Year 1938 after Christ, in the 6th year of the National Socialist uprising." By framing thanksgiving in this way, Weidemann assigned Hitler a role of divine mediation. He asked Lammers if Hitler would object to the plaque, but there was never any reply indicating Hitler's opinion on the matter. However Lammers, after consulting with Reich Ministry for Church Affairs Director
389:('Bremen Church Newspaper') wrote that "he church thanks God from the bottom of its heart that he sent us at the last hour the man who put an end to the Jewish spiritual contamination of German people and through National Socialism ensured the spiritual awakening of our people. Thus the Regional Bishop Dr. Weidemann of the Bremen Evangelical Church has given thanks by giving the three newly built churches the name 'Thanksgiving Church'. This means that a ring of thanks has been placed around the city of Bremen, with the three new churches as sworn witnesses to the fact that the Bremen church people, today and in future times, will never forget the historical truth of 1933."
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the
National Socialist movement who are no longer among the living." There had been some internal reflection prior to issuing the decree on whether to release the decree to the public or not. In the end the decree was only circulated directly to church authorities. Per Siemens (2013) Hitler did not want the name of Horst Wessel (around whom a significant mythos had been created) to be dragged into the dispute over the role of the churches in Germany (
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The cornerstone for the new church was laid on
October 9, 1937, on the occasion of Horst Wessel's 30th birthday. Weidemann named his loyal follower Paul Fehsenfeld as the pastor of the Sebaldsbrück church. The planned inauguration of the new church was scheduled for March 21, 1938 (the anniversary of
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Eventually Hitler intervened to settle the dispute, by issuing the August 6, 1938, Führer decree 'On the Naming of
Churches after Pioneers of the National Socialist Movement' through which he requested church authorities across Germany "that church buildings not be named after fighters and heroes of
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The behaviour of Röver during the church naming dispute caused worries among leaders in Berlin, fearing a backlash from religious sectors. Röver had allegedly referred to
Christianity as 'shit', having argued that his sole God was Adolf Hitler and having proposed that the Sebaldsbrück church would
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Weidemann's opponents invoked the first paragraph of the Law on
Protection of National Symbols of May 19, 1933, as their formal justification for their position. For NSDAP leaders such as Röver and Böhmcker the project of fusing National Socialism and Christianity represented an unacceptable
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provided a sense of comfort and security for the local community. In 1948 the
Protestants in Sebaldsbrück separated from the Horn parish, and created their own parish. The congregation had an active life in the 1950s. In 1957 the building of community centre of the congregation, named
301:, stating that Röver's behaviour was politically dangerous and that the actions taken against Weidemann had been unjustified. On June 3, 1938, Lammers informed Weidemann that the measures taken against him would be reversed. Moreover Hitler reprimanded Röver for his behaviour.
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Whilst Röver and Böhmcker were the local political heavy-weights, they had underestimated
Weidemann's clout. Seemingly Weidemann prepared for this confrontation, for example by seeking donations for building the Horst Wessel Memorial Church from Hitler,
429:, was inaugurated in 1966. With the inauguration of the new church the local congregation changed its name to the 'Evangelical Congregation of Reconciliation of Sebaldsbrück', seeking to break with the National Socialist legacy of its predecessor.
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spoke against the plans to name the church after Wessel. Böhmcker issued a decree, published in the official bulletin of Bremen on
December 3, 1937, indicating that Weidemann's plans would be considered unlawful.
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with
Austria. The Protestant church in Austria was closer to the NSDAP, and thus Heinonen argues that the party leadership was keen to not anger the Austrian Protestant church ahead of
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was becoming too small for the congregation and with the stigma of the church being nick-named as the 'Nazi church', the congregation resolved to build a new church in its stead. The
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in
Sebaldsbrück had the same design as that of Osterholtz, whilst the smaller church in Gröpelingen was made entirely of wood. Located on Sattelhof in the middle of Sebaldsbrück the
71:. But in the 1930s the population of Sebaldsbrück was growing rapidly. For the Sebaldsbrück Protestants there were significant distances to attend mass at the churches in Horn and
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The unusual naming proposal proved controversial. Weidemann had received a verbal approval of the name 'Horst Wessel Memorial Church' over telephone from his old friend
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violation of the separation of church and state. Weidemann on his behalf would argue as Horst Wessel had grown up in a pastor's household (his father
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270:. Notably the party leaders in Bremen were instructed not to interfere on the church issue before April 30, 1938.
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260:(1978) the Sebaldsbrück church naming issue attracted the attention from the national-level leadership ahead of
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37:. The church was consecrated in 1938, which was preceded by a political dispute over its intended name. Bishop
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was demolished between 1964 and 1965. The new Church of Reconciliation, designed by architect
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On March 14, 1938, with the approval of Röver, local authorities expelled Weidemann from the
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better be named after David or Joseph. On April 27, 1938, Reich Minister for Church Affairs
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contained priest's quarters and pastoral office upstairs and prayer hall downstairs. A
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sent a letter to Röver and Böhmcker instructing them to stay away from church matters.
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Anpassung und Identität: Theologie u. Kirchenpolitik d. Bremer Dt. Christen 1933-1945
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Geschichte der Freien Hansestadt Bremen: Bremen in der NS-Zeit (1933-1945)
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Commenting on the inauguration of the three 'Thanksgiving Churches', the
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and Christianity. He wished to name the new Sebaldsbrück church as the
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had been a Protestant priest), he would have been 'one of their own'.
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Böhmcker, in correspondence, expressed dismay over the decision. Per
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functioned as a secondary church of the Horn Protestant parish.
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The Making of a Nazi Hero: The Murder and Myth of Horst Wessel
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In 1834 the Protestants in Sebaldsbrück were included in the
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on October 9, 1937. The proposed name provoked ire from the
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took the initiative to build new churches in Sebaldsbrück,
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and the NSDAP as well as forcing Weidemann to pay a fine.
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Juden, Christen, Deutsche, 1933-1945: 1938-1941 (2 v.)
104:. Notably Weidemann was a fanatical advocate of the
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16:Church in Germany, subject of a political scandal
645:. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978. pp. 124-131
85:The regional bishop Heinrich Weidemann of the
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758:Eberhard Röhm, Jörg Thierfelder.
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855:Nazi Germany and Protestantism
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860:Destroyed churches in Germany
705:. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013
118:Horst-Wessel-Gedächtniskirche
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516:Dispute um die Dankeskirche
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736:Uwe Pape, Winfried Topp.
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132:Beginning of construction
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233:). On December 3, 1937,
187:Johann Heinrich Böhmcker
659:Herbert Schwarzwälder.
420:Gerhard Müller-Menckens
771:. Calwer, 1995. p. 70
672:. Röver, 1975. p. 348
387:Bremer Kirchenzeitung
840:Naming controversies
796:53.06417°N 8.89556°E
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320:Thanksgiving plaque
275:Bremen City Council
126:Paul von Hindenburg
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814:Categories
787:08°53′44″E
784:53°03′51″N
445:References
408:Die Brücke
365:pipe organ
175:Carl Röver
110:syncretism
56:Background
29:church in
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367:from the
268:Anschluss
263:Anschluss
243:Anschluss
241:Awaiting
179:Gauleiter
91:Osterholz
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