Christian Führer
Encyclopedia
Christian is a Protestant Pastor
and one of the leading figures and organisers of the 1989 Monday demonstrations in East Germany
which finally led to the German reunification
and the end of the GDR in 1990.
, Saxony
. He studied Theology
from 1961 until 1966 at the University of Leipzig
. He worked as Pastor in Colditz
until 1980 when he became the Pastor of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig
. He retired on 31 March 2008.
action of Protestant
youth organisations. Starting on 20 September 1982, the peace prayers were held every Monday in the Nikolai Church in Leipzig focusing against the Cold War
.
In 1987 he organized a pilgrimage in the context of the Olof Palme
Peace March. In 1988 he moderated prayers for the arrested protesters of the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Demonstrations (regular demonstrations in memory of the murdered socialists Karl Liebknecht
and Rosa Luxemburg
).
On 19 February 1988 Führer held a speech Living and Staying in the GDR (Leben und Bleiben in der DDR) in the Nikolai Church. Many opposition members
attended the speech which marks a special date of east German resistance against the Honecker Regime
.
, imposed more and more pressure to stop the "Peace Prayers" in Leipzig. They controlled access roads and arrested random "suspects" inside and outside the church. However, they were unsuccessful: the Monday prayers continued with an increasing number of attendees.
On 9 October troops of the army
, police
and Stasi officers arrived in front of the church. About 1,000 members of the SED
were ordered into the church. Nearly to the end of the Peace Prayers a manifest was read out, written by Kurt Masur
, Bernd-Lutz Lange, Peter Zimmermann and three low-rank leaders of the SED (later called The Leipzig Six, (Die Leipziger Sechs)), appealing to all attendees not to use force and to stay peaceful. The demonstration of about 70,000 people right after the prayers was in fact peaceful.
The slogan "No Violence!" (Keine Gewalt!) was used by more than 300,000 people during the following demonstrations. The whole East German revolution
remained peaceful.
against the dismantling of the welfare state and the Hartz IV
reforms. He also continued to hold regular Peace Prayers.
On 30 March 2008 he held his final worship in the Nikolai Church and retired.
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
and one of the leading figures and organisers of the 1989 Monday demonstrations in East Germany
Monday demonstrations in East Germany
The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 and 1990 were a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian communist government of the German Democratic Republic that took place every Monday evening.- Overview :...
which finally led to the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
and the end of the GDR in 1990.
Life
Christian Führer grew up in Langenleuba-OberhainPenig
Penig is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Zwickauer Mulde, 19 km northwest of Chemnitz. Penig housed a concentration camp during World War II....
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. He studied Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
from 1961 until 1966 at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. He worked as Pastor in Colditz
Colditz
Colditz is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, near Leipzig, located on the banks of the river Mulde. The town has a population of 5,188 ....
until 1980 when he became the Pastor of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. He retired on 31 March 2008.
Peace Prayers ("Friedensgebete")
In 1980 Führer helped to organize "Peace Prayers" as part of a joint protestProtest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
action of Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
youth organisations. Starting on 20 September 1982, the peace prayers were held every Monday in the Nikolai Church in Leipzig focusing against the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
In 1987 he organized a pilgrimage in the context of the Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
Peace March. In 1988 he moderated prayers for the arrested protesters of the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Demonstrations (regular demonstrations in memory of the murdered socialists Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
and Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
).
On 19 February 1988 Führer held a speech Living and Staying in the GDR (Leben und Bleiben in der DDR) in the Nikolai Church. Many opposition members
Opposition (politics)
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government , party or group in political control of a city, region, state or country...
attended the speech which marks a special date of east German resistance against the Honecker Regime
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
.
Peaceful East German revolution 1989
During the first months of 1989 the East German authorities, especially the StasiStasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
, imposed more and more pressure to stop the "Peace Prayers" in Leipzig. They controlled access roads and arrested random "suspects" inside and outside the church. However, they were unsuccessful: the Monday prayers continued with an increasing number of attendees.
On 9 October troops of the army
National People's Army
The National People’s Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic .The NVA was established in 1956 and disestablished in 1990. There were frequent reports of East German advisors with Communist African countries during the Cold War...
, police
Volkspolizei
The Volkspolizei , or VP, were the national police of the German Democratic Republic . The Volkspolizei were responsible for most law enforcement in East Germany, but its organisation and structure were such that it could be considered a paramilitary force as well...
and Stasi officers arrived in front of the church. About 1,000 members of the SED
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
were ordered into the church. Nearly to the end of the Peace Prayers a manifest was read out, written by Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
, Bernd-Lutz Lange, Peter Zimmermann and three low-rank leaders of the SED (later called The Leipzig Six, (Die Leipziger Sechs)), appealing to all attendees not to use force and to stay peaceful. The demonstration of about 70,000 people right after the prayers was in fact peaceful.
The slogan "No Violence!" (Keine Gewalt!) was used by more than 300,000 people during the following demonstrations. The whole East German revolution
Peaceful Revolution
The Peaceful Revolution was a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian regime of the German Democratic Republic of East Germany. The protests, which included an emigration movement as well as street demonstrations, were a case of nonviolent resistance, also often called...
remained peaceful.
After the Reunification
After 1989 Führer became an advocate for unemployed people; he was a co-founder of the "Church Initiative for the Jobless, Leipzig" (Kirchliche Erwerbsloseninitiative Leipzig). In 2004 he again organized Monday demonstrationsProtests against Hartz IV reforms
thumb|Monday demonstrators in Bremen welcome federal president Horst Koehler The Protests against Hartz IV reforms in Germany were aimed at the 2004 Hartz IV reform, which provide significant cutbacks in social welfare benefits for long-term unemployed persons.The demonstrations started on 2...
against the dismantling of the welfare state and the Hartz IV
Hartz concept
The Hartz concept is a set of recommendations that resulted from a commission on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the commission, Peter Hartz, it went on to become part of the German government's Agenda 2010 series of reforms, known as Hartz I - Hartz IV...
reforms. He also continued to hold regular Peace Prayers.
On 30 March 2008 he held his final worship in the Nikolai Church and retired.
Prizes and Awards
- 1991: Theodor-HeussTheodor HeussTheodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
-Prize, together with Joachim GauckJoachim GauckJoachim Gauck is a German politician, journalist and theologian. After a brief political career during Die Wende in Eastern Germany, the co-founder of the New Forum was elected member of the People's Chamber for the Alliance 90 in 1990...
, Ulrike PoppeUlrike PoppeUlrike Poppe was a member of the East German opposition. In 1982 she founded the "Women for Peace" network and in 1985 joined the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights...
and Jens ReichJens ReichJens Georg Reich is a German scientist and a member of the German Ethics Council. He has become famous as a civil rights campaigner in the last decade of the GDR times.-Life and work:Jens Reich grew up in Halberstadt... - 2002: Johann-Philipp-PalmJohann Philipp PalmJohann Philipp Palm or Johannes Philipp Palm was a German bookseller executed during the Napoleonic Wars.He was born at Schorndorf in Württemberg...
-Prize - 2004: Goldene Henne, Held der Wende (Hero of the Change)
- 2005: Peaceprize of Augsburg (together with Mikhail GorbachevMikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
)
Media
- 2002 The Burning Wall
- 2007 Christian Führer speech on a demonstration, video (13 July 2006
Literature
- Nikolaikirche, offen für alle by Karl Czok, Christian Führer, Friedrich Magirius, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 1999 ISBN 3-37401-740-1
- Nikolaikirche by Erich Loest 1995 ISBN 3-88243-382-5
- Voices in Times of Change: The Role of Writers, Opposition Movements and the Churches in the Transformation of East Germany (Culture and Society in Germany Vol 3) by David Rock 1999 ISBN 978-1571819598
- Berlin Witness: An American Diplomat's Chronicle of East Germany's Revolution by G. Jonathan Greenwald 1993 ISBN 0271009322
- Leipzig by Tobias Gohlis 2004 ISBN 377016072X
- Leipziger Ring: Aufzeichnungen eines Montagsdemonstranten 1989/1990 by Reiner Tetzner 2004 ISBN 3-932558-98-7
- Hermann Geyer: Nikolaikirche, montags um fünf: die politischen Gottesdienste der Wendezeit in Leipzig. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2007 (Universität Leipzig, Habil.-Schr. 2006), ISBN 978-3-534-18482-8, Inhaltsverzeichnis.
Sources
- BBC UK, Leipzig revives protest tradition, 17 March 2003
- New York Times, A Clergyman of the Streets Leaves His Historic Pulpit, 12 January 2008
- Rev. Dr. Ian Ritchie, CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE, Fall of Berlin Wall a Blessing of Faith
- Evangelic Church Saxony, Chronicle of GDR 1981–1990, German
- Christian Dietrich und Uwe Schwabe (Hrsg. im Auftrag des Archives Bürgerbewegung e.V. Leipzig): FREUNDE UND FEINDE. Friedensgebete in Leipzig zwischen 1981 und dem 9. Oktober 1989. Dokumentation. Mit einem Vorwort von Harald Wagner, Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1994, ISBN 3-374-01551-4.
- Interview with Prof. Hans-Werner Sinn, President of the IFO Institute for Economy Research, German
- Kirchliche Erwerbsloseninitiative Leipzig (Church Initiative for the Jobless, Leipzig)
See also
- Die WendeDie Wendemarks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
("The Change") — the beginning of the German reunification - Berlin WallBerlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
- History of Germany since 1945History of Germany since 1945As a consequence of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II Germany was split between the two global blocs in the East and West, a period known as the division of Germany. While seven million prisoners and forced laborers left Germany, over 10 million German speaking refugees arrived there from...