Jochen Klepper (22 March 1903 – 11 December 1942) was a German writer, poet and journalist.

Life

Klepper was born in Beuthen an der Oder, (now Bytom Odrzański in Poland). Suffering from severe asthma, he was schooled at home by his father, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

minister, until the age of 14. He then studied at the Gymnasium in Glogau. In 1922, he started studying

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the University of Erlangen, before transferring to the University of Breslau a year later. He completed his degree and began doctoral studies, but in 1926 he abandoned this, instead working as a church publisher and later a journalist to support his family. He held a sermon as a substitute to his ill father in 1927. He married Johanna Stein from a Jewish family in 1931. They moved to Berlin where he worked for the radio but was dismissed in 1933. Starting in December 1935, he wrote for Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenbergs journal ' (''White Papers''). In December 1940, he was drafted by the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

— perhaps a bureaucratic mistake since citizens married to Jews were not to be drafted. His wife however had been baptized just prior to their church wedding in 1938. While Klepper did not see combat, he served in a supply unit for forces through Bulgaria, Poland and Soviet Union before being discharged in 1942 to tend to his wife. On 11 December 1942, after

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...

refused visa for the couple's second daughter, the three of them committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

by turning on a gas valve. Jochen wrote in his journal just before they died: "Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives." After their death, his sister Hildegard gave the diary to the Allied trial against

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...

where it was used as evidence against him (Session 51).

Diary

The book '' In the Shadow of Your Wings'', appeared in 1956, contains a selection from the diaries of Klepper. Klepper wrote many hymns that became part of modern Protestant and Catholic hymnals, such as " Gott wohnt in einem Lichte" and the Advent hymn " Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen".

References

External links

Klepper's Life, Theology, and Spiritual Poetry

List of texts
by Klepper at liederdatenbank.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Klepper, Jochen 1903 births 1942 deaths 1942 suicides People from Nowa Sól County German Lutherans German male journalists German non-fiction writers Suicides by gas Writers from the Province of Silesia 20th-century German poets German male poets 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German journalists 20th-century Lutherans German Army personnel killed in World War II 20th-century German diarists German people who died in the Holocaust Suicides in Germany