Borngässer, Heinrich Willy

Protestant pastor

Born: 21.10.1905 in Mörstadt, Worms district

died: 21.10.1965 in Wiesbaden

Borngässer studied Protestant theology in Giessen from 1925-29, where he was also active in the Arminia gymnastics club, attended the preacher's seminary in Friedberg and was ordained on December 12, 1930 in St. Mark's parish in Offenbach am Main. From August 1932 to July 1934, he administered the parish of Groß-Gerau II.

From 01.08.1934 to 31.03.1935 Borngässer was pastor at the Bergkirche in Wiesbaden, before taking over the pastorate III of the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden on 01.04.1935, which had previously been held by Dr. Ernst Ludwig Dietrich, now Bishop of the Evangelical Church of Nassau-Hessen.

In addition to his extensive parish work, which focused primarily on personal pastoral contacts but also included the public responsibility of the church, he completed his doctorate in 1937 under Theodor Odenwald (Heidelberg) with a topical thesis on the subject: "Are the state's claim to totality and the church's claim to totality compatible?".

As a liberal theologian, he was initially loyal to the Nazi state and its church policy, and in some cases approved of it, but he became increasingly critical of it, especially in his everyday work as a pastor. In the fall of 1939, he spent five days in Gestapo custody. On 14.12.1943, he was arrested again and sentenced to six years in prison and six years loss of honor by the 6th Senate of the People's Court in Potsdam on 28.06.1944 for "undermining military strength", which resulted in his dismissal and the loss of his clerical rights. On April 1, 1945, he was liberated from the prison in Butzbach by the Americans.

As a liberal theologian, Borngässer was suspicious of the new church leaders in Hesse and Nassau despite his time of suffering, and he fought against their "church political pressure and dogmatic constriction under the cloak of brotherhood" in word and writing.

He became Vice President of the Hesse regional association of the German Red Cross. He died of heart failure in the middle of his service.

In addition to his dissertation published in 1938, he also published the works "Die evangelische Kirche vor der Entscheidung" (1952) and "Blick hinter Gitter" (1965).