The Church

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-191
Author(s):  
Martha Sprigge
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
World War ◽  
German Government ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
East German ◽  
Musical Institutions ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines how the East German government commemorated the firebombing of Dresden at the end of World War II. Religious spaces and musical institutions became central to the state’s antifascist propaganda as commemorative rituals for the firebombing took shape in the early 1950s. On the tenth anniversary of the attack, in 1955, local politicians participated in a grand reopening ceremony of the city’s oldest church, consecrated with performances of Rudolf Mauersberger’s Dresdner Requiem (1947/1948). Annual performances of this work allowed congregants to maintain ties to the Lutheran faith in a socialist society, and created a context for the expression of narratives about the firebombing that could not be voiced openly in public spaces. Drawing on performers’ testimonies, audience accounts, and Mauersberger’s revisions to the score, this chapter demonstrates how the Dresdner Requiem served as an outlet for grief in postwar Dresden.

Breaking with bourgeois rules and traditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 83 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 487-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Löhnig
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
World War ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Family ◽  
East German ◽  
Soviet Occupation Zone ◽  
Family Models

When World War II ended in 1945, the plan was to build a society in the Soviet occupation zone and, later on, in the German Democratic Republic, which would break with the previously dominant bourgeois rules and traditions. Marriage and the family were utilized to achieve this goal. As the marriage law in force was the same in all parts of Germany between 1938 and 1955, this development has to be illustrated by analyzing the divorce files of the East German courts of Dresden and Leipzig in the late 1940s. By reviewing these documents, one cannot only reveal political and economic influences, but also discover the new household and family models of a socialist society.


Foundations for a New World Order: Uniting Protestant Worship during the World War II Japanese American Incarceration

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-316
Author(s):  
Anne M. Blankenship
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
New World ◽  
World Order ◽  
Japanese Americans ◽  
Japanese American ◽  
New World Order ◽  
World War ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Church

During the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, visions of a peaceful new world order led mainline Protestants to manipulate the worship practices of incarcerated Japanese Americans ( Nikkei) to strengthen unity of the church and nation. Ecumenical leaders saw possibilities within the chaos of incarceration and war to improve themselves, their church, and the world through these experiments based on ideals of Protestant ecumenism and desires for racial equality and integration. This essay explores why agendas that restricted the autonomy of racial minorities were doomed to fail and how Protestants can learn from this experience to expand their definition of unity to include pluralist representations of Christianity and America as imagined by different sects and ethnic groups.

Negotiating 'Plainness' and Gender: Dancing and Apparel at Christian Weddings in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, 1913-1944

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Urban-Mead
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
North America ◽  
World War ◽  
Protestant Denomination ◽  
Brethren In Christ ◽  
Christ Church ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Brethren In Christ Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Teaching

AbstractThis article analyzes the phenomena of dancing and wedding apparel in weddings of rural members of an unusual Protestant denomination of Anabaptist origins in Matabeleland, colonial Zimbabwe. The focus is on gendered aspects of African Christian adaptation of mission teaching amongst Ndebele members of the Brethren in Christ Church. The church in North America was firm at home on the matter of dancing (it was forbidden), and internally conflicted regarding men's garb. In the decades preceding World War II, African members of the church embraced fashionable dress for grooms and dancing at wedding feasts as common practice at BICC weddings. However, in a gendered pattern reflecting Ndebele, colonial and mission ideas of women's subjection, African women's bridal wear adhered to church teaching on Plainness, while African men's did not.

Decision-making under duress: the treatment of churches in the City of London during and after World War II

Urban History ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER J. LARKHAM ◽  
JOE L. NASR
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
Post War ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Multiple Experts ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACT:The process of making decisions about cities during the bombing of World War II, in its immediate aftermath and in the early post-war years remains a phenomenon that is only partly understood. The bombing left many church buildings damaged or destroyed across the UK. The Church of England's churches within the City of London, subject to a complex progression of deliberations, debates and decisions involving several committees and commissions set up by the bishop of London and others, are used to review the process and product of decision-making in the crisis of war. Church authorities are shown to have responded to the immediate problem of what to do with these sites in order most effectively to provide for the needs of the church as an organization, while simultaneously considering other factors including morale, culture and heritage. The beginnings of processes of consulting multiple experts, if not stakeholders, can be seen in this example of an institution making decisions under the pressures of a major crisis.

Igołomia i Wawrzeńczyce – dwa kościoły przy Wielkiej Drodze / Igołomia and Wawrzeńczyce – two churches by the Great Road

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-203
Author(s):  
Monika Kamińska
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
World War ◽  
Mary Magdalene ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

The parish churches in Igołomia and Wawrzeńczyce were founded in the Middle Ages. Their current appearance is the result of centuries of change. Wawrzeńczyce was an ecclesial property – first of Wrocław Premonstratens, and then, until the end of the 18th century, of Kraków bishops. The Church of St. Mary Magdalene was funded by the Bishop Iwo Odrowąż. In 1393 it was visited by the royal couple Jadwiga of Poland and Władysław Jagiełło. In the 17th century the temple suffered from the Swedish Invasion, and then a fire. The church was also damaged during World War I in 1914. The current furnishing of the church was created to a large extent after World War II. Igołomia was once partly owned by the Benedictines of Tyniec, and partly belonged to the Collegiate Church of St. Florian in Kleparz in Kraków. The first mention of the parish church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary comes from the first quarter of the fourteenth century. In 1384, a brick church was erected in place of a wooden one. The history of the Igołomia church is known only from the second half of the 18th century, as it was renovated and enlarged in 1869. The destruction after World War I initiated interior renovation work, continuing until the 1920s.

Soviet Atheism and Its Aftermath

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Luehrmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Integration ◽  
World War ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
The Church

If Soviet atheism is a variety of secularism, it more resembles eliminationist movements viewing religions as obstacles to the political integration of citizens into the state. Before World War II, the Bolshevik government issued decrees to disentangle the state from the church. Later, Khrushchev emphasized atheism and closed churches as part of a general populist, mobilizational approach to promoting communist values. By the 1970s, religious practices were not precluded but were assigned a marginal space outside of public engagement. The post-Soviet era has seen self-reported religiosity increase, while self-reported atheism has diminished, although remaining significant. Russia’s 1997 law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations requires a denomination to exist in a region for fifteen years to enjoy the full legal and tax status. Today, Russia differentiates between “good” religions that help to promote particular moral visions and “bad” religions that create social strife, promote violence, and endanger public health.

Praying for Justice: The World Council of Churches and the Program to Combat Racism

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-96
Author(s):  
Kate Burlingham
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Foreign Missions ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Violent Action ◽  
The Church

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, individuals around the world, particularly those in newly decolonized African countries, called on churches, both Protestant and Catholic, to rethink their mission and the role of Christianity in the world. This article explores these years and how they played out in Angola. A main forum for global discussion was the World Council of Churches (WCC), an ecumenical society founded alongside the United Nations after World War II. In 1968 the WCC devised a Program to Combat Racism (PCR), with a particular focus on southern Africa. The PCR's approach to combating racism proved controversial. The WCC began supporting anti-colonial organizations against white minority regimes, even though many of these organizations relied on violence. Far from disavowing violent groups, the PCR's architects explicitly argued that, at times, violent action was justified. Much of the PCR funding went to Angolan revolutionary groups and to individuals who had been educated in U.S. and Canadian foreign missions. The article situates global conversations within local debates between missionaries and Angolans about the role of the missions in the colonial project and the future of the church in Africa.

The Zentrales Staatsarchiv of the German Democratic Republic as a Source for Late Ottoman and Middle East History

1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-571
Author(s):  
Donald Quataert
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Middle East ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
West Germany ◽  
German Federal Republic ◽  
World War ◽  
German Government ◽  
Late Ottoman ◽  
Middle East History

The archives of the imperial German government, 1871–1918, are an important but somewhat neglected source for late Ottoman and Middle East history. These collections fell into Soviet, American, French, and British hands after World War II and are presently divided between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the German Federal Republic (West Germany).

scholarly journals Kluby Inteligencji Katolickiej jako instytucje wsparcia wykształcenia i wychowania w Diecezji Tarnowskiej

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 47-61
Author(s):  
Piotr Jaworski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
World War ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Church

Among the various forms of association of the Catholic laity in the Church, one can distinguish associations and organisations – whether they are based on canonical or civil law on associations – and informal circles: religious movements, groups, circles and small groups. The difficult situation of the Church in Poland after World War II was not conducive to the creation of organisations whose activities would be approved by both the church authorities and the state authorities. If, however, quasi-ecclesiastical or religious organisations were to emerge that were recognised by the civil authorities, these were unfortunately organisations that had very little in common with the good of the Church and the faithful. Against this backdrop, the Catholic Intelligence Clubs were a kind of phenomenon. They enjoyed the approval of the Church authorities and, to some extent, the unintentional recognition of the state authorities, and sought to strengthen religious education by forming people and communities in the Christian spirit, shaping social attitudes, creating and deepening Christian culture, intellectual development and various forms of charitable activity. Three Catholic Intelligentsia Clubs were established in the Tarnów Diocese: in Nowy Sącz, Tarnów and Mielec.

scholarly journals Soviet Information Bureau in the USSR and Abroad During World War II

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-28
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Davydov ◽  
Olesya Balandina
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
World War ◽  
Soviet People ◽  
The Media ◽  
Post War ◽  
Canonical Texts

The article studies aspects of the Soviet outreach during World War II. The tool of such outreach was the Soviet Information Bureau, established on June 24, 1941. The authors focus on main directions of the operation of the Bureau. The novelty of the authors’ findings lies in the fact that canonical texts of the Soviet Information Bureau were actually censored by Joseph Stalin himself. The article questions the significance of the underlying patterns for the development of domestic media content. The authors study how Stalin managed the media with the help of reports. The study is relevant, as it reveals and argues the key role of Marxist ideologemes, contained in the reports, as the dominant factor defining the whole complex of newspaper and journal sources. Upon studying Stalin’s notes, the authors conclude that the tenet of exceptional progressivity of Soviet socialist society was unquestionable for its leader. The argument on the excellence of the society and the proof of extreme reactivity of the opposing regime that cast shadow on the perfect society are connected with a complete perversion of facts. The article also contains the authors’ investigation into information expansion organized by Soviet Information Bureau in the international arena during the studied period. According to the researchers, the expansion was aimed at creating a springboard to launch an agenda offensive in the post-war period. The authors conclude that Bureau’s campaigns never succeeded despite major financial and labour investments due to deep ideological motivation: the majority of Soviet people, as well as most foreigners had no trust towards Soviet media.

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