Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart, D 23
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Fonds
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1918-1977
Part of Regional Church Archive Stuttgart (Archivtektonik)
- 1918-1977, Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart, D 23* description: Adaptation - Maxi Sophie Eichhorn Character of the holdings - The estate of Karl Hartenstein forms an extensive collection of his work in an eventful period. - His work as a pastor and scientific worker can be read from the extensive sermon and lecture material, the documents of the Basel Mission reflect his activity as a mission director and passionate mission representative, as also the correspondence material, e.g. with international mission workers, the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) or pastors of the regional church, proves. Karl Hartenstein always remained open to all demands and proved his pastoral talent not least during the war in Stuttgart. - The collection provides an excellent illustration of a personal life path marked by the upheavals of the 20th century: decisions and paths were shaped by the First World War, the Third Reich and the period of reconstruction in Germany, the close connection to Basel was a positive effect of that time, for example, Hartenstein's departure and the accompanying end of his rectorate at the beginning of the Second World War are rather ambivalent. - In its entirety, the collection reflects missionary activity in the first half of the 20th century and the personal and inner-church changes triggered by the Second World War, up to the reconstruction of the Württemberg regional church and the renewal of worldwide missionary activity. Biographical Information - Karl Wilhelm Hartenstein, born on 25 January 1894 in Stuttgart - Bad Cannstatt, was the eldest of three sons of the Hartenstein banking family. His childhood was marked by a bourgeois evangelical education. The usual military year followed the school leaving examination in 1912. During this time Karl Hartenstein began to deal more intensively with his faith and religion. His parents did not oppose the increasing desire to study theology, although Karl Hartenstein was intended to take over his father's business. After a year at Tübingen University, in which he joined the student fraternity Nicaria and met his later wife Margarete Umfried, Hartenstein had to go to war with the Western Front in 1914. Not only the promotion to officer during the wartime and the resulting responsibility for many comrades, but also the maturation and consolidation of a faith continued significantly due to the war impressions. In the spring of 1919 Hartenstein was able to resume his studies and after his exam in 1921 in Calw near Stuttgart, a short time later in his home community Bad Cannstatt he took over the temporary parish service. Already in 1922, after one year of intensive church work, he was appointed as a Repetent (teaching activity) to the Tübinger Stift, where he devoted himself to theological studies, e.g. the Römerbrief commentaries of Karl Barth, in addition to his activity, and wrote his doctorate. His marriage to Margarete Umfrid coincided with the start of his first permanent parish post in Bad Urach in 1923. At the foot of the Swabian Alb Hartenstein systematically expanded the church work, so that not only the Inner Mission, but also the Outer Mission soon belonged to the successful interest of his church. When a new director of the Basler Mission was sought in 1926, whose seat was traditionally occupied by a German representative, the choice quickly fell on the ambitious pastor from Bad Urach, who also accepted the surprising offer after a period of reflection. - As director of the Basler Mission, the largest mission agency of that time, important tasks such as the reconstruction of mission fields lost in the First World War awaited the youngest leader ever to lead the Basler Mission. Karl Hartenstein was also responsible for the supervision of the administration, as leading member of the inspectors' conference and the committee, and as pastor for the missionaries. The annual mission festival, his travels to India and Africa, which quickly earned him a good reputation in international missionary work, were the highlights of Hartenstein's time in Basel, along with the births of his three sons (1928: Hermann, 1931: Markus, 1935: Gottfried). For the political turnaround in Germany, from which Hartenstein only turned away after a "closer look" and clearly joined the Confessing Church, was to weaken his position, so that with the outbreak of the Second World War Hartenstein's time in Basel was over. - As an authorized representative of the Basler Mission - Deutscher Zweig (Basel Mission - German Branch), he tried from 1939 on to secure the assets of the Mission Society from Stuttgart, but was mostly cut off from the exchange with the management in Basel. - In 1941, Hartenstein responded positively to the request of Theophil Wurm, Bishop of the State of Württemberg, to act as Prelate of Stuttgart, thus the former Mission Director became one of the closest advisors to the Bishop of the State of Württemberg, Wurm. However, the effects of the war gradually pushed back everyday church life, air raids destroyed churches, houses and authorities, and communication shrank to a minimum. - With the end of the war, a busy time began for the prelate: Hartenstein acted as the contact man for the regional church between the occupying powers and the municipal and state authorities, and the return to Basel seemed closed. In 1948 Karl Hartenstein rejected the office of the regional bishop, but he became a member of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany and took part in international mission events, for example in Amsterdam in 1948. Since his return in 1939 Karl Hartenstein had suffered various health setbacks, in 1949 he fell ill at heart and struggled with death, so that he voluntarily resigned from several offices. The major church events in 1952, the World Mission Conference in Willingen (Hesse) and the German Protestant Church Congress in Stuttgart, were still co-organized and organized by Hartenstein, but on October 1, 1952 he died surprisingly of his heart disease and was buried in the Stuttgart forest cemetery. History of the Collection - The estate of Karl Hartenstein was handed over to the Landeskirchlichen Archiv in 1964 and incorporated into the archive's collection of estates as Collection D 23. In 1976, Albrecht von Stackelberg recorded part of the files (order no.: 176-270) in a detailed manner, which meant that the holdings could not be used as a unit. In spring 2005, as part of the final training course for the signatories' upscale archives service, the unprocessed part of the training began to be indexed. The units entered into the Faust archive program were not as deeply recorded in this section as in the section completed in 1976. After completion of the distortion, the old find book units could also be entered in fist stones, whereby they were partly divided for packaging reasons. The subsequent classification reflects Hartenstein's various life periods and his diverse activities. The collection covers the period 1926-1954, with a focus on the period after 1945. The photos contained in the estate were transferred to the photographic collection of the Regional Church Archive, and the existing library holdings were passed on to the Regional Church Central Library.