Emanuel Hirsch (14 June 1888 in Bentwisch,

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

– 17 July 1972 in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

and also a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and the Nazi supporting body. He escaped

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remo ...

at the end of the war by quitting his professorship, allegedly for health reasons, losing the pension from his University. Hirsch studied at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established ...

where his teachers were Karl Holl and

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

. He earned his PhD with the thesis '' Fichte's

Philosophy of Religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

in the context of his overall philosophical development'' (in German: ''Fichtes Religionsphilosophie im Rahmen der philosophischen Gesamtentwicklung Fichtes''). Hirsch was a member of the Wingolf student fraternity. He was a professor at

Göttingen University Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The orig ...

(1921–1945). Shortly after the

Nazi seizure of power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

he wrote:

No other people of the world has a statesman who is so serious about Christendom; when Adolf Hitler concluded his great speech on May 1st with a prayer everybody could feel the wonderful candor therein.

In 1933 Hirsch signed the '' Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State''. Emanuel Hirsch joined the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in 1937 and also became a Patron Member of the SS and joined the

National Socialist People's Welfare The National Socialist People's Welfare (german: Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, NSV) was a social welfare organization during the Third Reich. The NSV was originally established in 1931 as a small Nazi Party-affiliated charity active loca ...

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Zweite aktualisierte Auflage, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 258. Hirsch was a leader of the German Christians and an advisor of Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller.

Literary works

* An editor of the "'' Theologische Literaturzeitung''" (i.e. ''Theological Literary Magazine''; with

Emil Schürer Emil Schürer (2 May 184420 April 1910) was a German Protestant theologian known mainly for his study of the history of the Jews around the time of Jesus' ministry. Biography Schürer was born in Augsburg. After studying at the universities of Er ...

) * '' Luthers Gottesanschauung'', 1918 * ''

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

us, der

Herr Herr may refer to: * Herr (honorific), a German honorific * Herr (surname) * Herr (title), a German title * Herr, Indiana Herr is an unincorporated community in Perry Township, Boone County, in the U.S. state of Indiana Indiana () is a ...

'', 1926 * ''Die idealistische Philosophie und das Christentum. Gesammelte Aufsätze.'', 1926 (i.e. ''Idealism and Christianity. Collected Essays'') * '' Kierkegaardstudien'', 1933 * ''Die gegenwärtige geistige Lage im Spiegel philosophischer und theologischer Besinnung. Akademische Vorlesungen zum Verständnis des deutschen Jahres 1933'', 1934 (i.e. ''The contemporary spiritual situation in the mirror of philosophical and theological consciousness. Academic lectures for the understanding of the German Year 1933''.) * ''Hilfsbuch zum Studium der Dogmatik'', 1937 (''Manual for Studying Dogmatics''), 4th ed. 2002, * ''Leitfaden zur christlichen Lehre'', 1938 (i.e. ''Compendium for the Christian Doctrine'') * ''Die Auferstehungsgeschichten und der christliche Glaube'', 1940 (i.e. ''Resurrection Narratives and the Christian Faith'') * ''Frühgeschichte des Evangelismus'', 1941

References

External links

*
Paul Tillich: theologian of nature, culture and politics By A. James Reimer, 2004
Tillich's debate with Hirsch and more
Christian Faith in Dark Times: Theological Conflicts in the Shadow of Hitler By Jack Forstman, 1992
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Emanuel 1888 births 1972 deaths People from Wittenberge People from the Province of Brandenburg Nazi Party members German Lutheran theologians 20th-century German Protestant theologians Förderndes Mitglied der SS Christian fascists Academic staff of the University of Göttingen 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers