Harald Poelchau (5 October 1903 – 29 April 1972) was a German prison chaplain, religious socialist and member of the resistance against the Nazis. Poelchau grew up in Silesia . During the early 1920's, he studied Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen and the University of Marburg , followed by social work at the College of Political Science of Berlin . Poelchau gained a doctorate under Paul Tillich at Frankfurt University . In 1933, he became a prison chaplain in the Berlin prisons. With the coming of the Nazi regime in 1933, he became an anti-fascist. During the war, Poelchau and his wife Dorothee Poelchau helped victims of the Nazis, hiding them and helping them escape. At the same time, as a prison chaplain he gave comfort to the many people in prison and those sentenced to death. After the war, he became involved in the reform of prisons in East Germany. In 1971, Yad Vashem named Poelchau and his wife Righteous Among the Nations .
25-734: Poelchau was the son of Harald (1866–1938) and Elisabeth Poelchau ( née Riem ; 1871–1945) and was brought up in the Silesian village of Brauchitschdorf . His father was a Lutheran pastor in the village. Poelchau attended the Ritterakademie Gymnasium in Liegnitz, where he participated in Bible classes and became involved in the German Youth Movement ( Jugendbewegung ), which influenced him to turn away from
50-577: A man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. The diacritic mark (the acute accent ) over the e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but is sometimes omitted. According to Oxford University 's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., " Margaret Thatcher , née Roberts" or " Bill Clinton , né Blythe"). Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized , but they often are. In Polish tradition ,
75-495: A few of those rescued or helped by the Poelchaus are known by name. One Jewish family, Manfred and Margarete Latte with their son Konrad , fled from Breslau after they learned they were to be deported, to Berlin where they went into hiding. Through a family friend, Ursula Teichmann, they made contact with Poelchau in late February 1943 and turned to him for help. He provided them with ration cards, cash and found accommodation for
100-1065: A lifelong friend and mentor. As a work student at Robert Bosch company in Stuttgart , he gained an insight into the world of workers and industry. After his first theological exam in 1927 in Breslau , he studied social welfare and state welfare policy at the German Academy for Politics in Berlin. Poelchau served as executive director of the German Association for Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Court Assistance [ de ] in Berlin and as assistant to Paul Tillich at Frankfurt University . In 1931, he passed his second state exam in Berlin and wrote his doctoral thesis under Tillich titled: Die sozialphilosophischen Anschauungen der deutschen Wohlfahrtsgesetzgebung (The Social Philosophical Views of German Welfare Legislation). The paper
125-501: A long-time friend from his student days, Willi Kranz, canteen manager in the Tegel and Plötzensee prisons and his partner Auguste Leißner, Hermann Sietmann and Otto Horstmeier, two former political prisoners, the couple Hildegard and Hans Reinhold Schneider who worked in social welfare and taught school (they were the parents of [Gesine Schwan] who later became a political scientist). They also included Agnes Wendland [ de ] ,
150-957: A pastor's wife (who were also named Righteous Among the Nations for hiding Jews), and her daughter Ruth Wendland [ de ] , the prison doctor Hilde Westrick, and the physicist Carl Friedrich Weiss [ de ] and his wife Hildegard. In 1942, the Soviet led Red Orchestra espionage network was uncovered by the Abwehr in Germany, France and the Low Countries and many of its members were imprisoned and executed. Poelchau provided support for Arvid and his American wife Mildred Harnack , John Rittmeister , Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen , Kurt and Elisabeth Schumacher , Walter Husemann , Adam Kuckhoff , and many others. Only
175-548: A rural conservative piety. At the University of Tübingen , Harald Poelchau met the librarian Dorothee Ziegele (1902–1977). The couple married on 12 April 1928, lived in Berlin and cultivated a large group of friends and acquaintances, that proved highly valuable after the handover of power to the Nazis. In 1938 the couple's son, also baptised Harald, was born, and in 1945 Harald's daughter Andrea Siemsen. After graduating from
200-499: Is buried in the Zehlendorf cemetery in Berlin. Birth name#Maiden and married names A birth name is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname , the given name , or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name . The assumption in
225-416: Is the feminine past participle of naître , which means "to be born". Né is the masculine form. The term née , having feminine grammatical gender , can be used to denote a woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. The term né can be used to denote
250-707: The Kreisau Circle . He took part in the first meeting of the group. After the attempted coup of 20 July 1944 , the prison chaplain cared for many of those involved in the assassination. Harald Poelchau's extensive resistance involvement remained undiscovered until the end of the war. In 1945, he co-founded the Aid Organisation of the Protestant Churches [ de ] (Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen) in Stuttgart, together with
275-512: The Western world is often that the name from birth (or perhaps from baptism or brit milah ) will persist to adulthood in the normal course of affairs—either throughout life or until marriage. Some reasons for changes of a person's name include middle names , diminutive forms, changes relating to parental status (due to one's parents' divorce or adoption by different parents), and gender transition . The French and English-adopted née
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#1732793217271300-526: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Agnes Wendland " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for
325-609: The Auschwitz concentration camp. Konrad Latte managed to escape the Große Hamburger Straße deportation center and went back into hiding. Rita Neumann had been in hiding with the resistance fighter and Protestant pastor's wife Agnes Wendland [ de ] since August 1943. Her brother Ralph Neumann joined Wendland. The siblings worked as bicycle couriers for Poelchau. In February 1945, they were arrested along with Wendland. The siblings managed to escape
350-716: The Central Administration of Justice. This was connected with a teaching assignment for criminology and prison science at the Humboldt University of Berlin . Together with Ottomar Geschke and Heinrich Grüber he sat on the central board of the Association of Political Prisoners and Persecutees of the Nazi System [ de ] (Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten). When Poelchau
375-538: The Große Hamburger Straße deportation collection camp and make their way back to Poelchau's door. Other people Poelchau helped were Ilse Schwarz and her daughter Evelyne, a young stenographer Ursula Reuber, Anna Drach, Edith Bruck, Charlotte Paech , part of the Baum group and Charlotte Bischoff . From 1941, Poelchau belonged to a resistance group of people around Helmuth James Graf von Moltke known as
400-666: The Ritterakademie Liegnitz in 1921, he studied Protestant theology at the Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel [ de ] , at the University of Tübingen , and the University of Marburg from 1922. In Tübingen he was secretary of the youth organisation Köngener Bund [ de ] . The Christian socialist philosopher Paul Tillich , who taught in Marburg in 1924, was the decisive, intellectual influence on him. Tillich became
425-447: The deportation of Jews from Germany began. Poelchau knew early on that only an escape into hiding would ensure survival. The refugees were supposed to call him at his office in Tegel and only talk if he answered with the code word "Tegel". But the actual conversation took place in his office, deep inside the prison walls. Supported by his wife, he arranged accommodations among his large group of acquaintances. These included Gertie Siemsen ,
450-519: The family. He also found work for Manfred Latte, who became an ice delivery helper, and later gardener. As Konrad Latte was of a typical age to be conscripted Poelchau filled in a registration card for the Volkssturm , a national militia that was independent of the German army, to provide a cover ID. Konrad Latte , established contact between Poelchau and Ruth Andreas-Friedrich , the co-founder of
475-569: The resistance group Onkel Emil [ de ] , along with the conductor Leo Borchard . The resistance group was motivated more by humanitarian concerns, rather than ideology and was made up on middle-class professionals. They began to work with Poelchau, who could arrange accommodations, forged identity papers, and food ration stamps. The Gestapo apprehended the Latte family in October 1943. Manfred and Margarete Latte were immediately deported to
500-1141: The term z domu (literally meaning "of the house", de domo in Latin ) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née . Agnes Wendland Look for Agnes Wendland on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Agnes Wendland in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use
525-403: The theologian and resistance fighter Eugen Gerstenmaier and became its General Secretary. The Aid Organisation took care of the problems of refugees, the construction of apartments (settlement work) and homes for the aged and apprentices, and emergency churches. After returning to Berlin in 1946, Poelchau became involved in reforming the prison system in the Soviet occupation zone as councillor of
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#1732793217271550-491: The unsuccessful coup attempt of 20 July 1944, many of his close friends were sentenced to death. To help their families, he would smuggle letters and messages in and out of the prison cells. In 1937, the first political prisoners began to appear that were members of the prohibited Communist Party. Poelchau cared for Robert Stamm and Adolf Rembte who were executed in november of that year, in Plötzensee. In October 1941,
575-528: Was opposed to the Nazis from the beginning, but did not join the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche). With the beginning of the World War II in 1939, death sentences against opposition members increased. Poelchau soon became an important source of support for the victims of Nazi persecution, and gave spiritual comfort to hundreds of people sentenced to death as they faced execution After
600-692: Was published in 1932 as a book titled Das Menschenbild des Fürsorgerechtes: Eine ethisch-soziologische Untersuchung (The Image of Man in the Law of Welfare: An Ethical-Sociological Investigation). Poelchau applied for a position as prison chaplain at the end of 1932 and was instated on 1 April 1933 as the first clergyman in a prison appointed under the Nazi regime. As an official in the Justice Department he worked at Tegel Prison in Berlin as well as at several other prisons such as Plötzensee and Moabit. He
625-622: Was unable to push through his ideas for prison reform in the east, he resigned his position. From 1949 to 1951, he was again appointed as the prison chaplain at Tegel Prison . In 1951, Bishop Otto Dibelius appointed him as the first social and industrial pastor of the Protestant Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (Industrie- und Sozialpfarramt) with the mission to connect the church to the industrial workers. Harald Poelchau dedicated himself to this task until his death in 1972. He
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