Rumpf, Julius

Protestant clergyman

Born: 17.07.1874 in Frankfurt am Main

Died: 23.02.1948 in Heidelberg

Rumpf studied Protestant theology in Erlangen, Heidelberg and Berlin, completed his theological examinations at the Herborn seminary in 1897/98 and became vicar in Hachenburg in 1899. In 1901/02 he qualified to teach Hebrew, religion and French at grammar schools. He was ordained in 1902 and became personal vicar in Merenberg in 1902/03. From 1903-23 he was pastor in Langenschwalbach (now Bad Schwalbach) and married Emmy, née Passavant, in 1904. From Dec. 1916-18 he was a military chaplain at the front.

From 1921-39 Rumpf worked as a pastor at the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden and from 1921-30 was spokesman for the Evangelical Association, i.e. the middle party between the "Positives" and "Liberals", in the constitutional and first ordinary Nassau State Church Congress. In December 1933, he joined the Pastors' Emergency Association and in April 1934 effectively took over its management in Nassau. At the end of October 1934, Rumpf submitted to the confessional synod in a service at the Marktkirche. This was followed by criminal proceedings with temporary dismissal. From 1936-39/1946, he was chairman of the Regional Brotherhood Council of the Confessing Church of Nassau-Hesse. In this office, Rumpf was subject to numerous administrative penalties for usurping his office; for example, he carried out several ordinations of young BK pastors in the name of the Confessing Church. From 24.11.1938 to 27.01.1939, he was removed from office and his salary was suspended for supporting a Confessing Church liturgy for peace in the Sudeten crisis.

On 01.08.1939, he was retired against his will. Four months later, he was expelled from Nassau-Hesse by the Gestapo and lived with his wife in Heidelberg from 1941. His pension was drastically reduced in February 1940 and he received support from the Pastors' Emergency Association until the reduction was lifted in 1942. In 1941, the family of eight lost two sons. Anselm was killed as a soldier, and the problem child Ernst died in the Kalmenhof near Idstein as a victim of the "euthanasia program". In 1946, Rumpf stepped down as chairman of the National Brotherhood Council. His successor was Martin Niemöller. In 1947, he resigned from all offices due to a heart condition.