Unitas Fratrum

Inhaltsverzeichnis

2025-01-20

Zum vorliegenden Heft

Claudia Mai — 2025-01-20

Susanne Kokel: „Kredit bei aller Welt.“ Die Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine und ihre Unternehmen 1895–1954. Baden-Baden, Nomos Verlag 2022, 583 S.

Christoph Th. Beck — 2025-01-20

Puttenham Priory

Kai Dose — 2025-01-20

This study arises from a remark in the 1749 Gemeinnachrichten (weekly Moravian news reports) that Zinzendorf had made a journey to ‘Puddenham’. General James Edward Oglethorpe, a friend of Zinzendorf who had done much to help the Moravian Church, had offered to lease Puttenham Priory, his country house there, to the Count. Zinzendorf is said to committed himself to leasing the house for the incredibly long period of twenty years. His idea was that brethren and sisters who were due to travel from England to America as settlers would be accommodated there until a passage to America by ship could be secured. This plan was not realized. However, both sides held to the contract (the details of which remain unknown) for many years. As late as mid-1755 a group of single brethren wanted to settle in Puttenham as a community.

August Hermann und Anna Theodora Francke

Hartmut Walravens — 2025-01-20

The following lines try to shed light on the scholarly cooperation between A. H. Francke (1870–1930) and his wife Anna Theodora, née Weiz (1875–1945), who both served in the Ladakh Mission. It was taken for granted that the wives of missionaries would be actively engaged in pastoral work, and we find regular references to this fact in the annual reports, articles and notes in the mission journals. The case of scholarly co-operation is different, as this requires not only a solid educational background but also talent and motivation. Maria Heyde (1837–1917) was an outstanding example of such co-operation, as she proofread her husband’s Tibetan Bible translations and also wrote many of the lithographic plates for printing. Anna Theodora Francke was less well known as a supporter of her husband’s scholarly work, in spite of her valuable contributions. She became quite proficient in Tibetan, and edited the unfinished work of Dr Karl Marx (her late brother-in-law) on the rgyal-rabs (royal genealogies of Ladakh) and translated it into English. She also proofread the Tibetan Bible translations. She translated the Lower Ladakhi version of the Kesar Saga as told by the bard Konchok Tashi into German (published only in 1992), and also the reminiscences of the Dogra war as told by Tshe-bstan of Khalatse, and helped her husband to finalize the descriptive list of artefacts collected on his 1914 Central Asian expedition. These really outstanding achievements remained widely unknown in the scholarly community, partly because of difficult times that did not allow adequate dissemination of these works, but also because of Dora’s modesty.

„Gottes Geist war mächtig am Wirken“

Markus Schmidt — 2025-01-20

The Saxon People’s Mission (Volksmissionskreis Sachsen) was at the forefront of the East German charismatic movement and represented this movement within the Lutheran Church of Saxony right up to the 1980s. Influences from the Moravian Church and an orientation towards it are among the historical roots of its charismatic, churchly and liturgical spirituality. This is expressed in personal contacts with Herrnhut, as well as through orientation towards the revivalist beginnings of Moravian Pietism and, last but not least, in the adoption of Moravian structures and their transformation into charismatic concepts of the congregation.

Die Beziehungen der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine zu Ungarn und Siebenbürgen

Gerhard Hausmann — 2025-01-20

A particular area of the Moravians’ activity was their diaspora work, which aimed to seek out the ‘pious in the land’ in a largely rationalistic church and society, to provide them with pastoral care, and to bring them into contact with each other. As early as the 1730s, Moravians were active in South-East Europe. In addition to the reports of these ‘diaspora workers’, there were also correspondents who informed the Preachers’ Conference in Herrnhut about church life in their respective territories. The example of the pastor of Oberschützen, Gottlieb August Wimmer, who reported from Hungary from 1835 to 1848, is used to illustrate this aspect of the connection between Herrnhut and South-East Europe – a connection that largely came to an end during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Der Bezug von Johann Michael Sailer (1751–1832) zu Nikolaus Ludwig Reichs-Graf von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) und zur Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine

Konrad Baumgartner — 2025-01-20

The motto that governed the life and work of the famous Roman Catholic theologian and later Bishop of Regensburg Johann Michael Sailer (1751–1832) was ‘God in Christ – the salvation of the world’. This Christocentric approach characterized his many contacts with separated Christians: with Protestant and Reformed Christians, but also with Christian communities such as the Moravian Church. He especially venerated its founder Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, reading his writings, quoting them in his letters, and also recommending them to colleagues and students. Through the Stolberg-Wernigerode family he acquired detailed knowledge about this missionary and social movement. Although Sailer never visited Herrnhut, he did visit the Moravian settlement of Kleinwelka. For Sailer what was important was common friendship with Christ within the communion of saints, both now and in the consummation of all things with God. Any form of proselytism was foreign to him. Ecumenism today should be shaped and lived in such a spirit of renewed Christian togetherness. Zinzendorf and Sailer offer good pointers towards this.

Martin Rohleder

Edita Sterik — 2025-01-20

Martin Rohleder, the 24-year-old son of the Parish Clerk of Zauchtenthal, arrived in Herrnhut on 4 July 1724. Disappointed, he returned four months later to Moravia, where he was imprisoned and suffered a great deal. Released from prison, he was required to swear that he would remain loyal to the Catholicism. In order to escape this otherwise unavoidable obligation, he emigrated for a second time in March 1727. As overseer of the orphans and as an elder, he was among Zinzendorf ’s closest colleagues. Rohleder was zealous in his faith and inclined to asceticism. He was impulsive and direct – even towards Zinzendorf. There were often conflicts, but despite this Zinzendorf repeatedly recommended him for the most important congregational offices. After the December 1736 conference Rohleder moved to the Ronneburg, where he engaged successfully in mission work and also founded a children’s home, until 1738, when he was needed as congregation elder for the newly-founded settlement of Pilgerruh in Holstein. Co-operation between the three leading brethren in Pilgerruh (Waiblinger, Betzold and Rohleder) was made difficult by differences in interpreting the agreement that had been signed when the settlement was founded, which was intended to guarantee the congregation’s independence from Zinzendorf. However, all three wanted the agreement to be rescinded. On top of this came the enthusiastic new teaching that was being spread from Herrnhaag, which Rohleder decidedly resisted, something that Betzold assiduously and repeatedly reported to the Count. The Count was not happy with Pilgerruh. When the settlers were asked to take the customary oath of allegiance, Zinzendorf took the opportunity to dissolve the settlement. Rohleder resisted this, wanting to negotiate further with the authorities and save the settlement. Rohleder and Zinzendorf once again came into serious conflict. In February 1741 Rohleder was deposed from his office and in April of the same year he was excluded from the Moravian Church and declared a heretic. However, he hoped for reconciliation and continued to work to save the Moravian settlement. In June 1741 most of the settlers left. When it became clear that the royal authorities were inclined to compromise with the Moravians, Zinzendorf insisted that Rohleder must first move away. Rohleder was successfully isolated, but he remained in Pilgerruh, continuing to hope for reconciliation and for the return of the settlers. He felt connected to the Moravian Church and was very glad to receive a reconciling letter from the former warden of the Pilgerruh Congregation, Gottfried Betzold, in December 1747. They both wanted to ‘live together’ again. Rohleder sent greetings to ‘Brother Zinzendorf ’ and assured him of his ‘constant love’. However, the Count did not change his opinion. For him, Rohleder remained a heretic, whom he had tolerated in the first twelve years of the Moravian Church’s existence ‘with a watchful wisdom’. In 1748 Rohleder gave up his hope for reconciliation with the Count and moved to Altona, where he died on 21 September 1764.

275 Jahre Herrnhuter Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Karsten Sichel — 2025-01-20

Following the conclusion of a project undertaken over many years by the Saxon Economic Archives Inc., the archives of Abraham Dürninger & Co. Ltd, held in the Unity Archives in Herrnhut, are now open for use again for the first time since 1945. Despite significant losses due to amateurish evaluation and sale of documents between 1890 and 1935, and the fire that destroyed the Dürninger Museum and Archive when Herrnhut was occupied in May 1945, the holdings still extend to 105 linear metres dating from between 1747 and 2000. This unique inheritance is of regional and indeed wider significance, containing sources for various areas of research – for example the history of the Moravian Church; the manufacture and sale of linen goods; the sale of groceries; the import, production and distribution of cigars; fabric printing (blue-dyeing); the Great Depression; or the taxation of private companies in the German Democratic Republic. The project involved cataloguing over 900 items using the FAUST archives program, and arranging them in categories. Among these are: business correspondence from the period 1750-1900, the accounts, and the records of individual companies within the group (such as E. Erxleben & Co., Gnadenfrei).

Abraham Dürninger & Co. in Herrnhut

Jos Tomlow — 2025-01-20

Abraham Dürninger (1706–1773) founded a trading empire in the Moravian town of Herrnhut (Saxony, Germany) that surpassed those of the neighbouring towns in Upper Lusatia (Zittau, Löbau and Bautzen) in turnover and diversity. A bleaching facility was set up in 1751 a short distance from what was then still a village. Since 1875, the production and processing of textiles has been mechanized. Archived plans, documents and the buildings that still exist show the remarkable variety of ways in which the element of water intervened in the production process. The company, Abraham Dürninger & Co., was involved in large parts of the infrastructure development of Herrnhut (water, electricity, telephone). That is one side of this story. The effects of the production on the environment were already apparent at an early date. Clouding and pollution of the Petersbach stream was followed by loss of the fish population, and complaints arose from residents who saw their right to usable water threatened. Given its financial strength, the company reacted appropriately and used respectful and friendly language in legal correspondence. However, it was only around 1900 that it was possible to develop a water disposal system. This reduced environmental pollution, albeit without eliminating it completely. This article is finally able to detect a responsible use of water from an ecological point of view. Compared to other ‘polluters’, Abraham Dürninger & Co. acted – in the context of what was possible at the time – comprehensively.

Tischlerhandwerk in Herrnhut

Albrecht Kittler — 2025-01-20

Joinery has been practised as a trade in Herrnhut since about 1730. By taking over the Böhner workshop, it was possible to establish a large-scale workshop in the newly-built Single Brethren’s House in 1745. Between 1760 und 1790 the joinery workshop in the Brethren’s House blossomed and produced high-quality products. At the beginning of the twentieth century this workshop was given up and other workshops developed in parallel. It was only in the 1930s that the Moravian Church in Herrnhut took up the tradition of the former joinery workshop in the Brethren’s House by establishing a new one. The present Herrnhut Wood Workshop Ltd (Herrnhuter Holzmanufaktur GmbH) is its successor. For decades from 1950 the Moravian Church’s joinery workshop was one of the main suppliers of church furnishings to the Protestant churches in the German Democratic Republic and helped to reduce the shortages of church fittings and furniture. Thanks to the high quality of its workmanship, the firm survived the Socialist era, and after a turbulent period in the 1990s it was able to continue its positive development as part of the Dürninger group of companies.

E. Erxleben

Susanne Kokel — 2025-01-20

This article presents a short history of the textile company E. Erxleben & Co. in Gnadenfrei, Silesia, which started as a small weaving mill in the single brethren’s choir house. From the end of the nineteenth century the company formed part of the corporate conglomerate Abraham Dürninger & Co., which invested heavily in its modernization, mechanization and expansion. However, for a long period of time no synergy was achieved with the textile company Th. Zimmermann, which was also located in Gnadenfrei and owned by the Moravian Church. This was mainly due to the different organizational structures, as Zimmermann formed a part of the business division of the German Province of the Moravian Church. Co-operation slowly began after a change of central management in Herrnhut in 1926 and accelerated during the economic crisis, when Dürninger got into financial difficulties and only survived thanks to loans from the German Province. The common goal of a thorough restructuring of both textile companies even led finally to vertical integration, as Erxleben took over the weaving completely from Zimmermann, which in turn restricted its production process to the manufacturing of finished products.

Die Brüder und der Branntwein

Christoph Th. Beck — 2025-01-20

The letter of the Unity Elders’ Conference (Unitätsältestenkonferenz – UAC) of 13 October 1783 is the first and probably the only document of its kind to describe the consumption of alcohol and its dangers in the Moravian community in a form corresponding to a pastoral letter in episcopal churches. Before this letter appeared, there had already been synodal recommendations on the dangers of alcohol in 1775 and 1782. However, it was not the conditions in Europe that led the UAC to look more closely at alcoholics among the brethren, but difficulties that had arisen far away in the mission areas. Drunkenness among missionaries was a problem that began soon after the start of missionary activity and was not limited to tropical regions. As early as 1771, Johann Nitschmann wrote an urgent report to Johannes von Wattewille in which he vividly described alcoholism among the missionaries in Tranquebar. In the present study, however, it can be shown that the real cause for the UAC’s action was the extraordinary abuse of alcohol by the missionaries in the West Indies, which had assumed such proportions that it called the work there into question. This can be proved on the basis of correspondence and the UAC minutes on the subject. The letter itself comprises a first part, in which the development into an alcoholic is vividly described, and a second part in which the dangers of drunkenness are substantiated with biblical quotations. The alcohol problem did not become an issue again until 1888, when the provincial synod banned the sale of spirits.

„Es war, als wenn ein wilder Bär unter uns regirte“

Christoph Th. Beck — 2025-01-20

The subject of this study is the circumstances that led to the mistreatment of slave children and the killing of one of them on St Thomas in 1780 by Rasmus Holt, as well as the disputes that ensued among the directly and indirectly affected brothers and sisters of the Moravian mission. The disputes described here not only reflect the management and communication of conflicts within and between groups, all of whom had undergone a Moravian socialization, but also reveal general patterns of how faith communities respond to extreme human misconduct within their ranks. In the Moravian community the event remained virtually unknown, and for good reason: any public mention would have meant a serious setback for Herrnhut’s missionary activity. The conflicts with and around Ramus Holt were unique and shed light on the structures of crisis management and crisis communication at three levels: the brothers and sisters who were directly affected on the ground, the higher Moravian leadership on the islands, and finally the Unity Elders Conference (Unitätsältestenkonferenz – UAC). In order to be able to reconstruct these disputes, it is necessary to consult a special type of source, namely the private letters that the brothers and sisters on the Danish islands sent to each other and to the members of the UAC. They could send such private letters to members of the UAC only if they could be sure that the content would be treated as confidential and would not, as was otherwise usual with diaries, be edited and made available to a broad public in the common news. However, these sources must be considered in the light of two limitations. One is that there are virtually no letters from the missionary women among the letters from the West Indies in the Unity Archives. This does not mean that the sisters did not write letters. It is just that they were not considered worthy of archiving. The more substantial limitation is that we have no written sources from the slaves themselves in the correspondence. After learning of the violence on St Thomas, the UAC immediately recalled Rasmus Holt to Europe. At the latest with the visitation journey of Johannes Loretz in 1784, the waves in the West Indies subsided and the brothers and sisters continued to focus primarily on questions of marriage and admission to the Lord’s Supper with regard to the slaves. The new missionaries were still not prepared for the special situation on the plantations. Slavery itself was not questioned until the nineteenth century.

Von der Weltmission zurück in die Ortsgemeine?

Jan-Martin Zollitsch — 2025-01-20

The German Moravian Church’s difficulties during the First World War are discussed using six case studies. The first of these recounts the break-up of the international Mission Board, the Herrnhut-based central governing board in charge of supervising the Unity’s joint missionary efforts. After the outbreak of the war, the board was caught up in a dispute between the German and British Unity provinces. In particular Paul Hennig, the board’s elected chairman, drew strong criticism for his German nationalist stance. Consequently, Hennig gave up on his pre-war vision of joint international ‘world mission’ and pivoted back, at least temporarily, to an introverted national reorientation of missionary affairs. On a different level, the following two case studies portray the wartime difficulties of navigating between national culture, supranational unity and those circumstances peculiar to a transnational mission community like the Moravian Church: the ‘humiliating’ experiences of the children of German missionaries (Missionskinder) who, having been born overseas, lacked German citizenship; and the case made against the ‘foreigner’ Mads Hansen Löbner by the Christiansfeld Elders’ Conference in 1916. None the less, the name of Löbner also testifies to the Moravian Church’s general ‘discursive openness’ (Hedwig Richter), as his signature would subsequently appear under the call for the creation of a Moravian peace association that was published in the Herrnhut weekly in 1917. These three ‘problem studies’ are complemented by three case studies that present counter measures, as well as attempts at retaining agency and offering new perspectives out of wartime strains: the ‘Back to the Settlement Congregation’ campaign launched by the German Provincial Board in 1918, emerging educational perspectives for Moravian women, and the efforts to revitalize a Moravian youth movement halted by the war. The picture of the German Moravian Church during the First World War that is painted in the article is thus one of difficulties, stagnation and efforts that had little impact in the short term. In the longer view, though, the attempts at reorientation and rebuilding momentum, both by rediscovering the founding times and by moving with the times, are not to be underestimated. Herrnhut’s place, it can be argued, was thereby transposed from international hub to Moravian ‘home of the soul’ (Seelenheimat).

Jahresbericht Unitas Fratrum 2022

Christoph Th. Beck — 2025-01-20

Zum Gedenken an Karl Eugen Langerfeld (10. März 1942 – 3. Oktober 2022)

Theodor Clemens — 2025-01-20

Nachruf auf Professor Hans Schneider

Dietrich Meyer — 2025-01-20

Bibliographische Übersicht der Neuerscheinungen über die Brüdergemeine

Claudia Mai — 2025-01-20