Gerhard Besier | |
|---|---|
 Besier in June 2009 | |
| Born | 30 November 1947 Wiesbaden, Germany |
| Known for | Writings on totalitarianism, church history and religious and ethnic minorities |
| Awards | Honorary doctorate, Lund University |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Dresden University of Technology |
Gerhard Besier (born 30 November 1947, in Wiesbaden) is a German Lutheran theologian, historian and politician best known for his work on church-state relations in the Third Reich and in the German Democratic Republic.
Besier's publications have focused on church history, including church history during the Third Reich and the German Democratic Republic, [1] and religious freedom issues in contemporary society. His views on religious freedom follow the libertarian American model, a stance which has made him controversial in Germany. [2] [3] [4]
Besier taught historical theology at Heidelberg University from 1992 to 2003. From 2003 to 2008, he was the director of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism at Dresden University; his contract was not renewed following widespread criticism in Germany of his liberal views on Scientology. [2] [5] Besier currently holds the chair in European Studies at Dresden University. [6] He is a visiting professor at universities in the United States, Sweden and Poland, and is the editor of Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, an academic journal on church history.
Formerly considered close to the conservative Christian Democratic Union party, Besier joined the left-wing Die Linke party in April 2009, and was nominated for a safe Landtag seat in Saxony. [2] He holds three doctorates, including an honorary doctorate from Lund University in recognition of his services to religious freedom. [2]
Anklam, formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Szczecin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 12,177 (2021) and was the capital of the former Ostvorpommern district. Since September 2011, it has been part of the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald.
Klaus Scholder was a German ecclesiastical historian, professor of history at the University of Tübingen.
Otfried Höffe is a German philosopher and professor.
The Pomerania euroregion or Euroregion Pomerania was set up in 1995 as one of the euroregions, thought to connect regions divided between states of the European Union. The name is taken from the region of Pomerania, yet the euroregion is of a different shape than the historical region. It comprises German Western Pomerania and Uckermark, as well as Polish Zachodniopomorskie.
The Church of Scientology has operated in Germany since 1970. German authorities estimate that there are 3,500 active Scientologists in Germany as of 2019. The Church of Scientology gives a membership figure of around 12,000. The Church of Scientology has encountered particular antagonism from the German press and government and occupies a precarious legal, social and cultural position in Germany.
Ida Raming is a German author, teacher and theologian.
Friedrich Leopold Sell is a professor of Economics at Bundeswehr University Munich as well as chief of the scientific council of Halle Institute for Economic Research. Furthermore, he is vice chief of studies at the Academy for Business and Administration in Munich.
Hans Joachim Schliep is a German Lutheran theologian, pastor and author. From 1990 to 1999 he was director of the Amt für Gemeindedienst, and by May 2000 the commissioner for the environment of the Church of Hanover and the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony. From 1999 to 2008 Schliep was the first pastor at the Kronsberg Church Centre and founder of the congregation at the Expo-neighbourhood in Kronsberg, Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany.
The Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies is a research institute hosted by Dresden University of Technology and devoted to the comparative analysis of dictatorships. The institute focusses particularly on the structures of Nazism and Communism as well as on the presuppositions and consequences of the two ideological dictatorships. The institute is named after the German-American philosopher and political scientist Hannah Arendt, whose magnum opus The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) is considered across disciplines as one of the most influential works of the 20th century and continues to shape in particular scholarly discussions of totalitarian systems of political domination.
The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the east German branches of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) on 21 April 1946. Although nominally a merger of equals, the merged party quickly fell under Communist domination and developed along lines similar to other Communist Parties in what became the Eastern Bloc. The SED would be the only party of the German Democratic Republic until the end of the republic in December 1989. In the course of the merger, about 5,000 Social Democrats who opposed it were detained and sent to labour camps and jails.
Deutsche Volkszeitung was a newspaper published daily from Berlin, Germany between 1945–1946. It was the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
Ulrich Woronowicz was an East German Protestant theologian and writer.
Hans Ansgar Reinhold (1897–1968) was a Roman Catholic priest born in Hamburg, Germany. Reinhold took part in the Roman Catholic resistance to the Nazi regime until taking refuge in the United States. He was a prominent liturgical reformer whose work was influential in shaping the changes to the Mass made at the Second Vatican Council. Reinhold was also a prominent advocate for the introduction of modernist architectural ideas to the construction of Catholic churches in the United States.
Mike Schmeitzner is a German historian. His focus is on twentieth century German history.
Margarete "Grete" Fuchs-Keilson was a German politician and official in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
Peter Maser is a German protestant church historian.
Clemens Vollnhals is a German contemporary historian and a specialist of the Conservative Revolution, denazification, State security and political justice.
Antonia Grunenberg is a German political scientist, totalitarianism researcher and an expert on the political thought of Hannah Arendt. She is professor emerita at the University of Oldenburg, where she taught as a full professor from 1998 until her 2009 retirement, and where she was director of the Hannah Arendt Centre. She is also editor of the book series Hannah Arendt Studies.
Emil Naumann was a German composer and church musician.
Dietmar Werner Winkler is an Austrian scholar of patristics and ecclesiastical history. He is a professor and the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Christian East at the University of Salzburg.
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