DIETRICH BONHOEFFER KIRCHE (GERMAN CHURCH, SYDENHAM)

The collection consists of records relating to the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, St Georg (Alie Street, London E1), St Paul (Goulston Street, London E1), Camberwell Church (Denmark Hill SE5), St Marien (Sandwich Street, WC1) and Brighton Church.

The greater part of the collection originated from Pastor Dr Julius Rieger (reponsible for the parish 1945-1953) and Pastor Wallman who assisted Rieger from 1951.

The records also include the archives of the Camberwell Church which closed in 1914.

Records relating to Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer are held in Berlin. This collection contains a microfilm index of the material held in this archive (LMA/4288/H/01/019 [item 656]).

The records had already been listed when they arrived at LMA, and this original order has been retained. Although the call number has been changed to reflect the LMA office style of cataloguing, the original document number has been included in the list (in parenthesis after the document description).

The present arrangement of the material reflects the arrangement described in 'Catalogue to the archives of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Kirche (German Church, Sydenham)' as much as possible:

LMA/4288/A CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

LMA/4288/A/01 Constitution and meetings

LMA/4288/A/02 Council correspondence

LMA/4288/A/03 Relations with the church in Germany

LMA/4288/A/04 Pastoral correspondence

LMA/4288/A/05 Parish history and statistics

LMA/4288/B PERSONNEL

LMA/4288/B/01 Pastors

LMA/4288/B/02 Curates

LMA/4288/C CHURCH SERVICES

LMA/4288/C/01 Registers

LMA/4288/C/02 Services

LMA/4288/C/03 Litergy

LMA/4288/C/04 Music and sermons

LMA/4288/D PARISH

LMA/4288/D/01 Organisations

LMA/4288/D/02 Outreach

LMA/4288/D/03 Newsletters

LMA/4288/D/04 Prisoners-of-war

LMA/4288/D/05 Refugees

LMA/4288/D/06 Aid to Germany

LMA/4288/D/07 Welfare of Germans in Great Britain

LMA/4288/E PROPERTY

LMA/4288/E/01 Finance and legal

LMA/4288/F BUILDINGS

LMA/4288/F/01 Church

LMA/4288/F/02 Vicarage

LMA/4288/G OTHER GERMAN CONGREGATIONS

LMA/4288/G/01 Other churches

LMA/4288/G/02 Work with other Lutheran churches

LMA/4288/G/03 Union of Lutheran churches

LMA/4288/G/04 German-speaking Evangelical Synod in Great Britain

LMA/4288/G/05 Geistlicher Rat (Lutheran Council)

LMA/4288/G/06 Relations with other churches

LMA/4288/G/07 Inter-congregational newsletter

LMA/4288/H PRINTED MATERIAL AND PHOTOGRAPHS

LMA/4288/H/01 Printed material

LMA/4288/H/02 Photographs

Records relating to the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church can also be found at the Tower Hamlets Local Studies Library amongst the material of St Georg Church.

• <corpname>Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, Sydenham, 1959 -</corpname>
• <corpname>German Evangelical Church, 1882 - 1959</corpname>
• <corpname>Saint Georg Church, Alie Street, London</corpname>
• <corpname>Saint Paul Church, Goulston Street, London</corpname>
• <corpname>Camberwell Church, Denmark Hill, London</corpname>
• <corpname>Brighton German Church</corpname>
• <corpname>Saint Marien Church, Sandwich Street, London</corpname>

A PROPORTION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE FILES CONTAIN PERSONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO INDIVIDUALS. THESE FILES HAVE A 65 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD.

The German Evangelical Church, later the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church was built 1882-1883. The foundation stone was laid on 13 July 1882 in Dacres Road, Sydenham and the church was finally dedicated on 17 March 1883.

The origin of the Sydenham congregation preceeds the building of the church. On Good Friday 1875, the first service was conducted by Pastor Elias Schrenk in Park Hall (Congregational Church, The Grove, Sydenham). On 14 April of the same year, the first church committee was formed.

The church suffered greatly during the two World Wars. From Easter 1916 until October 1921, the church was forced to close because of hostility towards the German Community. Then in December 1940, incendiary bombs set fire to the church. The damage was such that the building was finally demolished in August 1950. Negotiations with the War Damage Commision raised $34,000 in funds for the rebuilding of the church.

The foundation stone for the new church was laid on 20 July 1958, and the church was dedicated 21 June 1959. The new church was renamed the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, a suggestion made by Professor Franz Hildebradt.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was pastor of the German Evangelical Church in Sydenham and the German Reformed Church of St Paul's, Whitechapel between 1933-1935. He led his congregations to join the Confessing Church in Germany, and in the early years of the Nazi regime, German Refugees recieved help from the two congregations. He was a prominent member of the German Resistance Movement and was involved in a plot to assasinate Hitler. On 9 April 1945, he was hanged by the Nazis in Flossenburg concentration camp.

Other pastors who served at the church (until 1953) are as follows:-

1876 - 1890 Wagner, C (Budapest) 1890 - 1894 Meister, M (Berlin-Brandenburg)

1895 - 1902 Diettrich, Dr (Berlin)

1902 - 1911 Wollschlager (Westphalia)

1912 - 1918 Goehling, O (Berlin-Brandenburg)

1922 - 1933 Singer, F (Wurttemberg)

1933 - 1935 Bonhoeffer, D (Berlin)

1935 - 1939 Bockheler, M (Wurtemberg)

1953 - Bethge, E (Berlin)