Herrfurth, Hugo

Protestant pastor

Born: 24.09.1894 in Mainz

Died: 28.09.1973 in Dillenburg

Herrfurth studied Protestant theology and attended the preacher's seminary in Friedberg. In 1921, he became an assistant pastor in Mainz, followed by Dalheim (Rheinhessen) in 1922. From 1928 he worked as a youth pastor in Mainz, and from 1931 as a pastor in Rodenbach near Büdingen. He was dismissed from his post in 1935 due to his anti-Nazi views, but was still able to complete his doctorate in Giessen.

In 1941, he became a pastor in Dillenburg. There he conducted his first public musical events with the local church choir, members of the municipal orchestra from Giessen and vocal soloists from Frankfurt, including performances of Handel's "Messiah" and Haydn's "Seasons" and "Creation".

He showed great personal and social commitment in the post-war period for the spiritual strengthening of people and for the benefit of the Protestant relief organization of the time.

From 1951-64, Herrfurth was a pastor in Wiesbaden at the Ringkirche; at the same time, he taught religion at the Oranienschule and Gutenbergschule. In order to strengthen theological knowledge of the Gospel and the church's connection to the Holy Scriptures, he founded a committed youth work in the church community with the school Bible group and organized camps in the region as well as annual vacation trips to the mountains and the sea.

His love of music and openness towards young people led to the founding of the Wiesbaden Boys' Choir in 1960. With great personal commitment, he established the choir in Wiesbaden based on the Central German model and directed it himself until 1964; even before that, he had invited the great boys' choirs of the GDR to Wiesbaden: the Thomaner from Leipzig and Kruzianer from Dresden.

Remarkable for his versatile and committed life was the fact that he - himself unmarried and childless - took in and raised several orphan boys as foster sons in Dillenburg in the post-war period.