Peter, Heinrich

Protestant pastor

Born: 04.02.1874 in Ballersbach (Dillkreis)

died: 25.10.1946 in Wiesbaden

Peter studied Protestant theology in Erlangen, Berlin and Marburg. After attending the Herborn preacher's seminary, he passed the ecclesiastical service examination in 1899, was vicar in Allendorf near Weilburg and parish vicar in Eppstein, where he was ordained in 1902. In 1911, he completed his doctorate in theology in Marburg.

He was pastor in Niederlauken im Taunus from 1905-21 and in Bad Ems until 1928. On 01.06.1928, he became the successor to August Merz at the Ringkirche, where he saw his main task as "tireless pastoral care". He completed the new building prepared by Merz at Klarenthaler Straße 22, which was inaugurated in 1931 as the "Gemeindehaus am Elsässerplatz". In 1933, Peter witnessed the dismissal of the regional bishop August Kortheuer, who nevertheless advised him to be appointed provost of Nassau by the regional bishop Ernst Ludwig Dietrich, who was still loyal to the regime at the time.

As a representative of the "church center", Peter tried to mediate in the "church struggle" between the regional church, which had been distorted according to the Führer principle, and the Confessing Church. In 1935, he saw the German Christians as a movement that wanted to seize power within the church and lead away from Christianity towards paganism.

Peter resigned in mid-November 1934 together with the provosts Friedrich Müller (Darmstadt) and Karl Knodt (Giessen) after the Nassau-Hesse Synod, after Bishop Dietrich was unsuccessfully asked to resign due to unchurchly behavior. Unfortunately for Peter, he also lost his preaching position at the Ringkirche.