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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany refers to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members in Germany.


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany
(Logo in German)
An LDS meetinghouse in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany
Members39,724 (2019)[1]
Stakes14 (2019)
WardsExpression error: Unexpected ( operator
BranchesExpression error: Unexpected ( operator
Total Congregations[2]Expression error: Unexpected ( operator
MissionsExpression error: Unexpected ( operator
Temples2
Family History Centers97 (2019)

The LDS Church reported 39,724 members in 2019. In 2010, nationwide active membership was estimated between 9,000 and 11,000, or 25-30% of total church membership.[3]

History

Membership in Germany
YearMembership±%
1930 11,828—    
1940 13,481+14.0%
1950 15,530+15.2%
1960 16,656+7.3%
1970 22,247+33.6%
1980 28,496+28.1%
1989* 32,000+12.3%
1999 36,303+13.4%
2009 37,539+3.4%
2019 39,724+5.8%
1989 membership was published as a rounded number.
Source: Windall J. Ashton; Jim M. Wall (eds.), Deseret News, various years, Church Almanac Country Information: Germany https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/germany
 
The Plan of salvation in German.

1840s-1900 First missionaries and persecution

The first German to be converted to the LDS Church was an immigrant to the USA named Jakob Zundel in 1836.[4]

Although one British Mormon convert had briefly worked in Germany, the first official of the church to arrive in Germany was Orson Hyde on 27 June 1841 as part of his journey to Palestine. He was delayed in Frankfurt by a visa problem and began to learn German. When he returned to Germany on his trip back from Palestine, he was in Regensburg from January to August 1842 and wrote "Ein Ruf aus der Wüste" ("A Cry out of the Wilderness") while there. It was published in Frankfurt and was the first LDS Church publication in the German language.[4]

The first converts were baptized in Germany in 1851. Brigham Young sent Daniel Carn to establish the first German mission in 1852, which he did in Hamburg. Carn also oversaw the publication of a German-language version of the Book of Mormon which was published in Hamburg on 25 May 1852. He was eventually banished from Hamburg, then a sovereign state, due to his attempts to convert Germans to Mormonism but he continued to proselytise Germans in the then-Danish territory of Schleswig-Holstein.[4]

Most early converts emigrated to the United States depleting the local population of Latter-day Saints. In 1853, Prussia banned Mormonism and in 1854 the short-lived Hamburg branch was dissolved, with the German Mission closed in 1855.[5] The church's involvement in Germany resumed in 1860 (under the auspices of various iterations of the Swiss Mission until the German Mission was reopened in 1898[5]) but was limited due to persecution and the arrests of missionaries.[6] Following German unification in 1871 some local areas of Germany became less restrictive towards missionary work and, in 1875, Joseph F. Smith declared that missionary work should recommence in Germany regardless of any opposition.[7] This enabled a gradual increase in baptisms, with there being 280 LDS Church members in Germany in 1880 and conversions would average 300 a year over the next two decades.[8]

1900-1945 Membership Growth and the Second World War

With increasing numbers of members, persecution began to increase as well (in 1903 Prussia and Mecklenburg both banished missionaries from their kingdoms[9]) and in 1904 the German Mission was again closed and large scale missionary work wouldn't return until after World War I[10]

In the first half of the 20th century, Germany had more converts to Mormonism than any other non-English speaking country.[11] By 1925 there were 6,125 members in the German-Austrian Mission, and 5,305 members in the Swiss-German Mission. The first German LDS meeting house was built in 1929 in Selbongen, East Prussia (now Zełwągi in Poland).[12][13]

As of 1939, 13,402 Mormons lived in the West German (including Austria as of November 1938) and East German Missions.[14] Under the Nazi Government of 1933 - 1945, no Mormon congregation was stopped from worshipping and few individual Mormons were persecuted (and only for transgressions that any German of the time would have been punished for).[15] Gestapo agents silently attended services, likely investigating neighbors' complaints of seditious activities, but no punishment came to the church. An estimated 3-5% of adult male members joined the Nazi Party—required of state employees—and speakers avoided criticizing the government or, after the German declaration of war against the United States, emphasizing the church's relationship with that country. The government ordered the church to avoid preaching about "Jewish" topics like "Zion" and "Israel", so leaders told members to not sing hymns with such words.[14]

After Adolf Hitler took power, American Mormon missionaries' views of the government during the 1930s varied. While also praising Hitler's oratory skill and approving of his unifying a politically divided country, they saw arrests of dissidents, enforcement of Nazi eugenics, and widespread fear of the regime. The Nuremberg Laws increased access to and interest in genealogical records, and some saw the monthly eintopf as similar to Fast Sunday, but mandatory Hitler Youth membership ended most Mormon auxiliary organizations for young people.[16] A few church members openly opposed the regime – Helmuth Hübener ended up being beheaded for anti-Nazi activities[17] and his friend Karl-Heinz Schnibbe spent five years in a camp for his part[18] – but their actions were motivated by BBC news reports of German defeats, not by LDS teachings. Hübener was the youngest opponent of the Third Reich to be sentenced to death by the infamous Special People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) and executed.[19]

At least 996 members were killed during World War II, including more than 400 adult men, about 10% of priesthood holders.[14]

1946-2020s Cold War and the 21st Century

Following World War II, then Apostle Ezra Taft Benson arrived in Europe to organise aid for church members. He visited Germany many times, saw the terrible conditions people were living in and arranged aid shipments to offer some relief.[20]

During the Cold War, members of the church in Germany found themselves divided among two nations. Members continued to maintain contact with the church in the west. In the fall of 1961 three stakes were created in Berlin (Germany's first), Stuttgart and Hamburg. In 1982, the Freiberg German Democratic Republic Stake was created. On June 19, 1985, the Freiberg GDR Temple was dedicated. It is the only temple to have been constructed in what was a communist bloc country. In 1987, the Frankfurt, West Germany Temple was dedicated.[1][21]

In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services and other public gatherings temporarily in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.[22]

Missions

  • Germany Berlin Mission
  • Germany Frankfurt Mission
  • Alpine German-speaking Mission (covers Austria, parts of Switzerland, and some of southern Germany)

Temples

class=notpageimage|
Temples in Germany
Red = Operating
Yellow = Announced
Blue = Under Construction
Black = Closed for Renovations
 
 33 Freiberg Germany Temple Operating 21,500 sq ft (1,997 m2) 3.58 acres (14,488 m2) 29 June 1985 Gordon B. Hinckley edit
 
 41 Frankfurt Germany Temple Operating 32,895 sq ft (3,056 m2) 5.6 acres (22,662 m2) 28 August 1987 Ezra Taft Benson edit

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Facts and Statistics: Statistics by Country: Germany", Newsroom, LDS Church, 31 December 2019, retrieved 3 December 2020
  2. ^ Excludes groups meeting separate from wards and branches.
  3. ^ "International Resources for Latter-day Saints". Cumorah.com.
  4. ^ a b c Scharffs, Gilbert W. (2002). "Das Buch Mormon: The German Translation of the Book of Mormon". Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 11 (1): 35–39. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  5. ^ a b Jones, ZACHARY R. (2011). "MORMONS AND GERMAN UNIFICATION". Journal of Mormon History. 37 (4): 136. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. ^ Jones, ZACHARY R. (2011). "MORMONS AND GERMAN UNIFICATION". Journal of Mormon History. 37 (4): 138–139. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  7. ^ Jones, ZACHARY R. (2011). "MORMONS AND GERMAN UNIFICATION". Journal of Mormon History. 37 (4): 142–146. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  8. ^ Jones, ZACHARY R. (2011). "MORMONS AND GERMAN UNIFICATION". Journal of Mormon History. 37 (4): 148. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  9. ^ Mehr, Kahlile (1992). "Enduring Believers". Journal of Mormon History. 18 (2): 113. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  10. ^ Jones, ZACHARY R. (2011). "MORMONS AND GERMAN UNIFICATION". Journal of Mormon History. 37 (4): 149. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  11. ^ Kuehne, Raymond (2007). Mormons As Citizens Of A Communist State. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-87480-993-0.
  12. ^ Minert, Roger P. (2009). In Harm's Way: East German Latter-day Saints in World War II. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  13. ^ Taylor, Scott (Sep 13, 2010). "LDS Church in Poland has had long, hard journey". Deseret News. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  14. ^ a b c Minert, Roger P. (Fall 2010). "German and Austrian Latter-day Saints in World War II: An Analysis of the Casualties and Losses". Mormon Historical Studies. 11 (2): 1–21.
  15. ^ Nelson, David Conley (2015). Moroni and the Swastika: Mormons in Nazi Germany. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8061-4668-3.
  16. ^ Embry, Jessie L. (2003). "Deliverer or Oppressor: Missionaries' Views of Hitler during the 1930". In Cannon, Donald Q.; Top, Brent L. (eds.). Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Europe. Provo UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. pp. 47–63.
  17. ^ Holmes & Keele (2003), p. 241 (1995 ed.).
  18. ^ Brian R. Holmes and Alan F. Keele (1995). When truth was treason: German youth against Hitler. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois. ISBN 0-252-06498-4.
  19. ^ Beuys (1987).
  20. ^ Bergera, Gary James (2008). "-Ezra Taft Benson's 1946 Mission to Europe". Journal of Mormon History. 34 (2): 73–112. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Country information: Germany", Church News Online Almanac, Deseret News, January 29, 2010, retrieved 2012-10-18
  22. ^ Lovett, Ian. "Mormon Church Cancels Services World-Wide Amid Coronavirus Crisis", The Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2020. Retrieved on 3 April 2020.
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