A history steeped in tradition

More than 1,200 years of Christianity have made their mark on the Brunswick region – the first Christians were baptised in 780 in Ohrum. Charlemagne introduced Christianity by force after the subjugation of the Saxons. In around 820, parish churches and monasteries were established and the dioceses Halberstadt and Hildesheim were created.

Over the next few centuries (up until 1200), emperors, dukes and Teutonic knights built monumental churches, for instance in Königslutter, Brunswick and Süpplingenburg, followed by the Cistercian monasteries of Walkenried, Mariental, Riddagshausen and Michaelstein.

In 1528 Brunswick adopted the church order of the reformer Johannes Bugenhagen. Yet Duke Henry the Younger abolished Lutheranism again and it was his son Duke Julius who finally introduced the Reformation once and for all in 1568. Several years later, the University of Helmstedt became a bastion of Lutheran orthodoxy. In the early 17th century the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) in Wolfenbüttel was the first major Protestant church to be built in Germany. The oldest theological seminary in Germany was founded in 1690 in Riddagshausen (now Brunswick).

From 1735 onwards, for almost 50 years, Duke Charles I and Abbot Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem personified the Enlightenment in the Brunswick area. The University of Brunswick originated out of the Collegium Carolinum founded by Abbot Jerusalem.

In the 19th century, industrialisation led to growing social problems, which the Church tried to alleviate with social welfare institutions (the Neuerkerode and Marienstift foundations, the St. Leonhardt refuge, the Remenhof foundation).

The November Revolution in 1918 triggered huge political changes: the duchy became the free state of Brunswick, the Church and State were separated. Changes to the church order followed in 1922. Since then, a synodic constitution has been in force, although the synod has actually existed since 1872. In addition to this, the position of a bishop was introduced.

During the Nationalist Socialist era, a large section of the clergy and church circles professed their support for the ideas of Hitler. Under the leadership of Heinrich Lachmund (Blankenburg) a Pastors’ Emergency League was formed against the policies of the bishop and national-socialist propaganda orator Wilhelm Beye. In 1938, on Hitler’s birthday, the entire Brunswick clergy were sworn to allegiance with the dictator in the Martini church.

After the end of the Second World War, the Church faced a difficult new beginning. The border of the occupied zones ran through its territory, former bishop Johnsen was killed in 1947 in a Yugoslavian prisoner of war camp. Increasing numbers of refugees and displaced persons came into the region. They revitalised church life: the Church grew from 460,000 to 700,000 members.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Church saw the founding of the “Diakonisches Werk” (a Protestant social welfare network), the admission of women to the clergy and the re-integration of the former priory of Blankenburg and the exclave of Calvörde during the course of German unification.