Pulpit Announcement on Ehrenberg’s Retirement

At the advice of President Karl Koch, Ehrenberg had submitted a request for retirement on May 5, 1937. Fellow pastor Dr. Hardt and his district’s two Confessing Church presbyters asked the president to come to Bochum on the Friday before Pentecost.

Together with his fellow clergy from the Confessing Church congregation in the Altstadt, Koch drafted a word to his congregation, which was read aloud on Pentecost of 1937. The authors considered Ehrenberg’s Jewish ancestry to be the actual reason for his forced resignation from his pastoral office. Making reference to the meaning of baptism, they interpreted his Jewish ancestry explicitly in religious and not racial terms.

Further, the authors admitted to not having sufficiently resisted political pressure. Nonetheless, the authors at least attempted to salvage Ehrenberg’s honor through the pulpit announcement by pointing out his exemplary service to the congregation and the message of reconciliation.