IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 558a
Held at: Wiener Library
Title: Gerstenmaier, Eugen: German Evangelical Church during the Third Reich
Date(s): 1930s-1958
Level of description: collection
Extent: c 250 frames
Name of creator(s): Unknown
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Dr. Eugen Gerstenmaier was one of the founding fathers of the Federal Republic of Germany. A leading Christian Democrat during its first twenty years, he was president of the Bundestag from 1954-1969. A Protestant theologian, he came into conflict with Nazism in the 1930s and was among those arrested in the wake of an aborted attempt on the life of Hitler in 1944. Gerstenmaier was born in Kirchenheim near Stuttgart, on August 25 1906. He left school at 14 and worked for 8 years as a clerk before embarking on studies in philosophy and theology at Tübungen University. His first clash with Nazism came in 1934 when he was arrested while still a student. His continued opposition to the regime cost him a teaching post at Berlin University two years later, and he turned to work in the Evangelical Church. His post in the Church's foreign department enabled him to travel and make contact with various churchmen abroad during World War Two, and this later enabled him to accelerate the return of many POWs. During the war he became a member of the Evangelical resistance group led by Graf Moltke which was involved in plotting against Hitler. After the failure of the assassination attempt on Hitler in June, 1944, Gerstenmaier was arrested and sentenced to seven years' hard labour, but was rescued by the advancing American army. In the aftermath of the war he devoted his energies to the Evangelisches Hilfswerk, which, under his leadership, became a powerful Protestant welfare organisation in Germany. As an expert in church social work he also became the German delegate to the Ecumenical Church Council of Churches in Geneva. With his election to the founding session of the Bundestag in 1949, however, he flung himself into the nascent political life of the new republic. He was a senior figure in the Christian Democrat Union and in 1954 became the first elected President (speaker) of the Bundestag. In January 1969 he resigned from the presidency. He died on 13 March 1986.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Microfilm of correspondence and papers detailing the activities of the German Evangelical Church during the Third Reich, in particular the role of Eugen Gerstenmaier, [1933-1958]. Also included are a number of periodicals of German Evangelical organisations during the 1930s and other related reports and papers.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German
System of arrangement:
Original order
Conditions governing access:
Open
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Physical characteristics:
Microfilm
Finding aids:
Detailed description on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Jewish Central Information Office
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Mar 2008