Obituaries

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Werner Leich (31 January 1927 – 17 December 2022) was a German Protestant theologian and pastor. From 1978 to 1992, he was the Landesbischof of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia, for the longer time during the era of the German Democratic Republic. He led the state's church firmly to independence from the regime.

Leich was born in Mühlhausen on 31 January 1927. His father was a jurist and mayor of Schalkau, his mother was a teacher. She died six months after he was born. The boy grew up living with his aunt and his grandmother in Weimar, until his father married again and took him back into the new family in Schalkau. In 1939, his father lost his position as mayor due to arguments with the Nazi party, and was assigned to a minor position in Gotha. The boy was then educated at the Ernestine-Gymnasium there until 1942.[1] In 1942, Leich left the school early to volunteer for the German Luftwaffe, and by 1945 had risen to the rank of Fahnenjunker.[2] After World War II, he first trained to be a metalworker.[2] He returned to his school, gaining the Abitur in 1946. He met his future wife at a ball of a dancing school, Trautel Sickert from Gotha.[3] In 1947 he began studies theology at the University of Marburg with Rudolf Bultmann. He completed his studies at the Heidelberg University from 1950 to 1951,[1] studying with Edmund Schlink.[2]

In 1951, Leich entered his first post as a vicar in Angelroda. A year later, the couple married; they had two children.[1] He became pastor in Wurzbach in 1954.[4] From 1960 he was a member of the Synod of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia,[1] and the synod's vice-president from 1967 to 1978.[4] From 1978 to 1992, he was the bishop of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia, which fell for the longest time in the era of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).[1][5]

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Reopening of the Wartburg, Honecker (2nd from l.) and Leich, 1983

Peace prayer in the Johanniskirche in Gera; priest Joachim Urbig (l.), Leich

In 1983 he reopened the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg]Wartburg after restoration together with Erich Honecker.[6] He was also the leading bishop of the united Lutheran churches in the GDR from 1983 to 1986, and president of the conference of Protestant church leaderships (Vorsitzender der Konferenz der evangelischen Kirchenleitungen [de]) in the GDR from 1986 to 1990.[7] For much of his career, Leich had to deal with defending worshipping God in an environment of the anti-religious doctrine of communism. He has said of this, "a lot of times we did hide being Christians". Leich promoted ecumenism.[6] He steered a firm course of independence of state and church. On 3 March 1988, he had a meeting with Honecker, demanding social reforms in the GDR.[2] The Lutheran Church had offered the possibility for critics of the regime and people who wanted to leave the country to make their demands public, but an office for it in Berlin was closed due to congestion.[8] From spring 1989, he no longer used the slogan "Kirche im Sozialismus".[6] He is remembered as a proponent of the Peaceful Revolution.[3]

Leich retired in 1992, and published an autobiography,[1] Wechselnde Horizonte. Mein Leben in vier politischen Systemen. (Changing horizons: My life in four political systems).[4] He took care of his wife until her death in 2021.[3]
Leich died at a hospital in Gotha after a short illness, on 17 December 2022 at the age of 95.[7][6]
Awards[edit]
In 1984 he received the Four Freedom Award for the Freedom of Worship.[9]


From Wikupedia.