Widerstand und Ergebung. Christen im Widerstand gegen die NS-Diktatur – Exemplarische Biographien und Texte –Seminar

Venue: Haus Schlesien, Dollendorfer Str. 412, 53639 Königswinter

Patron: Minister of State Nathanael Liminski, Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Head of the State Chancellery

"Standing idly by and bluntly waiting are not Christian attitudes."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Resistance and Surrender (early 1943)

"Seek the clear, do the true, live love: that will make us healthy."

Alfred Delp SJ, In the Face of Death (Christmas 1944)

"One would like so much that all the filth of the present is none of one's business; but that is an illusion: one has to go through it, and one is a thousand times complicit."

Theodor Haecker, Day and Night Books (May 1941)

There are moments in history when the struggle for external freedom is the form in which one must suffer for the Gospel."

Paul Tillich, To my German friends (April 1942)

From 1933 onwards, the two major Christian denominations in Germany were confronted for the first time with a totalitarian dictatorship which, despite public declarations of a willingness to compromise with the churches, soon set about increasingly restricting the freedom of action of clergy and laity, persecuting actual or supposed opponents from a church context and even murdering them in individual cases (for example in connection with the alleged "Röhm Putsch" at the end of June 1934). Those responsible in the leadership structures of the churches were forced to develop defensive strategies to defend the autonomy of the church and protect the faithful. In view of the unlimited claim to validity of the essentially anti-Christian Nazi ideology, this was not successful. The fundamental incompatibility of Christianity and the racist world view was initially only recognized by individuals in the churches and the consequence of active political opposition was drawn from this, although considerable theological obstacles had to be overcome in both denominations.

On the one hand, the seminar attempts to outline the basic situation of Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians in Germany after 1933. On the other hand, exemplary biographies and individual positions will be presented in images and texts - the exemplary validity of which has not changed even 80 years later.

Thursday, April 10, 2025

13:00-13:25: Welcome and introduction (Nicola Remig/Prof. Dr. Winfrid Halder)

13:25-13:30: Greeting by Minister of State Nathanael Liminski (requested)

13:30-14:45: Catholic Church and National Socialism - a sketch (Halder)

14:45-15:15: Coffee break

15:15-16:30: Protestant churches and National Socialism - a sketch (retired President Manfred Rekowski)

16:30-17:45: Father Alfred Delp SJ and the Kreisau Circle (Dr. Inge Steinsträßer)

18:00-19:00: Dinner

19:30-21:00: Stations on the way to freedom. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) (retired pastor Edgar L. Born) - Public evening lecture -

Friday, April 11, 2025

09:00-09:30: By good powers. Ecumenical morning devotion with songs by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jochen Klepper (1903-1942) and Angelus Silesius (1624-1677) (Born/Rekowski/Steinsträßer)

09:30-10:45: Kreisau/Krzyżowa as a German-Polish place of remembrance (Remig)

10:45-11:15 a.m.: Coffee break

11:15-12:30: Theodor Haecker and the White Rose (Halder)

12:30-13:30: Lunch

13:30-14:45: Paul Tillich (1886-1965) - To my German friends. Resistance from exile? (Halder)

14:45-15:30: Christianity and politics - final round. (Born/Rekowski/Steinsträßer/Halder)

Conference packages

145 € per person (1 overnight stay with breakfast, shower/WC, 2 lunches and 1 dinner, coffee, mineral water, pastries during breaks), without overnight stay 90 € per person.

Members of the HAUS SCHLESIEN association: 125 € with overnight stay, 80 € without overnight stay.

Limited number of participants!

We therefore ask you to register as soon as possible to
HAUS SCHLESIEN, Dollendorfer Str. 412, 53639 Königswinter, Tel: 02244 886 231, kulturhausschlesiende

A cooperation project of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation and HAUS SCHLESIEN