Landeskirche
Encyclopedia
In Germany and Switzerland
, a Landeskirche (plural – Landeskirchen) is the church of a region. They originated as the national church
es of the independent states, States of Germany (Länder)
or Cantons of Switzerland (Kantone, Cantons)
, that later unified to form modern Germany (in 1871) or modern Switzerland (in 1848), respectively.
also arose out of the Reformation, and according to this a Landesherr chose what denomination his subjects had to belong to. This led to closed, insular landeskirchen. The principle was a byproduct of religious politics in the Holy Roman Empire
and soon softened after the Thirty Years' War
.
At the time of the abolition of the monarchies in Germany in 1918, the Landesherren were summus episcopus (Landesbischöfe, comparable to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England
) in the states or their administrative areas, and the ties between churches and nations came to be particularly close, even with Landesherren outside the Lutheran church. So the (Roman Catholic) king of Bavaria
was at the same time supreme governor (summus episcopus) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria right of the River Rhine
. In practice, the Landesherren exercised episcopal functions (summepiscopacy) only indirectly through consistories ( [sg./pl.]).
The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th c., when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation (Kirchenordnung) of course existed long before.
For the 20th century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically assorted by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-World War I church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. One can assort the table below alphabetically or chronogically by clicking on the button with the gyronny of four.
. However, following the violations of the church constitutions under Nazi reign many church bodies did not simply return to the pre-1933 status quo, but introduced altered or new church constitutions – usually after lengthy synodal procedures of decision-taking -, often including an altered name of the church body. In a process starting in June 1945 and ending in 1953 the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union transformed from an integrated church body, sudivided into ecclesiastical provinces, into an umbrella-like church body, renamed into Evangelical Church of the Union under political pressure of communist East Germany in 1953.
The six old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces (Kirchenprovinz[en], sg.[pl.]), which were not or not completely abolished by the expulsion of its parishioners from the Polish and Soviet annexed German territories, assumed independence as Landeskirchen of their own between 1945 and 1948, however, simultaneously remaining member churches within the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union, thus rather converted into an umbrella.
The communist dictatorship in East Germany imposed further name changes and administrative reorganisations along the inner German borders. This was reversed after unification.
There were mergers of church bodies in 1947, 1977, 1989, 2004 and 2009, and more are to come. The German demographic crisis and rising irreligionism influence them, especially in former East Germany. The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th c., when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation of course existed long before.
For the last and this century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically assorted by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-war German church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. The very independent and autonomous organisational structure of German Protestantism provides for unconcerted developments. One can assort the table below alphabetically or chronogically by clicking on the button with the gyronny of four.
.
has no country-wide state religion
, though most of the cantons
(except for Geneva
and Neuchâtel
) recognize official Landeskirchen, in all cases including the Catholic Church and the Swiss Reformed Church
. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church
and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, a Landeskirche (plural – Landeskirchen) is the church of a region. They originated as the national church
National church
National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
es of the independent states, States of Germany (Länder)
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
or Cantons of Switzerland (Kantone, Cantons)
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
, that later unified to form modern Germany (in 1871) or modern Switzerland (in 1848), respectively.
Origins in the Holy Roman Empire
In the pre-Reformation era, the organization of the church within a land was understood as a landeskirche, certainly under a higher power (the pope or a patriarch), but also possessing an increased measure of independence, especially as concerning its internal structure and its relations to its king, prince or ruler. Unlike in Scandinavia and England, the bishops in the national churches did not survive the Reformation, making it impossible for a conventional diocesan system to continue within Lutheranism. Therefore Martin Luther demanded that, as a stop-gap, each secular Landesherr (a monarch or a body, like the governments of republican Imperial estates, such as Free Imperial Cities or Swiss cantons) should exercise episcopal functions in the respective territories. The principal of cuius regio, eius religioCuius regio, eius religio
Cuius regio, eius religio is a phrase in Latin translated as "Whose realm, his religion", meaning the religion of the ruler dictated the religion of the ruled...
also arose out of the Reformation, and according to this a Landesherr chose what denomination his subjects had to belong to. This led to closed, insular landeskirchen. The principle was a byproduct of religious politics in the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and soon softened after the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
.
At the time of the abolition of the monarchies in Germany in 1918, the Landesherren were summus episcopus (Landesbischöfe, comparable to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is a title held by the British monarchs which signifies their titular leadership over the Church of England. Although the monarch's authority over the Church of England is not strong, the position is still very relevant to the church and is mostly...
) in the states or their administrative areas, and the ties between churches and nations came to be particularly close, even with Landesherren outside the Lutheran church. So the (Roman Catholic) king of Bavaria
King of Bavaria
King of Bavaria was a title held by the hereditary Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria in the state known as the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1805 until 1918, when the kingdom was abolished...
was at the same time supreme governor (summus episcopus) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria right of the River Rhine
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a Protestant church in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich....
. In practice, the Landesherren exercised episcopal functions (summepiscopacy) only indirectly through consistories ( [sg./pl.]).
List of Landeskirchen in 1922 with changes until 1945
Those of the following Landeskirchen, which existed in 1922, founded the new umbrella German Evangelical Church Federation . There were mergers in the 1920s and under Nazi reign in 1933 and 1934.The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th c., when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation (Kirchenordnung) of course existed long before.
For the 20th century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically assorted by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-World War I church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. One can assort the table below alphabetically or chronogically by clicking on the button with the gyronny of four.
| Consti- tuted in |
Merged in | Name of the church body | Denomination | Territorial ambit | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th c. | persisting | Anhalt Evangelical State Church of Anhalt |
United United and uniting churches United and uniting churches are churches formed from the merger or other form of union of two or more different Protestant denominations.Perhaps the oldest example of a united church is found in Germany, where the Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United and Reformed... by confession |
Free State of Anhalt Free State of Anhalt The Free State of Anhalt was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic... |
The Church body comprises only congregations of united confession. The official church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Anhalt. |
| 1821 | persisting | Baden United Evangelical Protestant State Church of Baden |
United by confession | the Republic of Baden Republic of Baden The Republic of Baden was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, formed after the abolition of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1918... |
The new name replaced the prior United Evangelical Protestant Church of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1920, when the new church constitution accounted for the Grand Duchy having become a republic. The Church body comprises only congregations of united confession. The official church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Baden. |
| 1809 | persisting | Bavaria Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria right of the river Rhine Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a Protestant church in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich.... |
Lutheran | Free State of Bavaria right of the River Rhine, thus except of the then Bavarian Governorate of the Palatinate, which formed a separate church body since 1848. In 1918 the Reformed congregations earlier subsumed within the Bavaria church body seceded and founded the independent Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria (see Further Protestant church bodies in Germany). On 1 April 1921 the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Saxe-Coburg merged in the Bavaria church body. | The new name replaced the prior Protestant State Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria right of the River Rhine in 1921, when the new church constitution accounted for the Kingdom having become a republic and the Reformed congregations having formed a separate church body. The Bavaria official church body remained an intact church , since the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the church body. |
| 1843 | 1934 | Birkenfeld Evangelical Church of the Region of Birkenfeld |
United by confession | The Oldenburgian Free State of Oldenburg The Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution.... exclave of the Region of Birkenfeld Birkenfeld (district) Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :... . In 1934 the Birkenfeld church body merged into the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union, to be precise in its Ecclesiastical Province in the Rhineland. |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Church of the Principality of Birkenfeld after 1918, when the new Oldenburgian monarchy with its Principality of Birkenfeld had become a republic. The Church body comprised only congregations of united confession. The Ecclesiastical Province in the Rhineland, of which Birkenfeld had become a part, was a destroyed ecclesiastical province , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the provincial synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... in the Rhineland. |
| 1877 | persisting | Bremian Evangelical Church |
United in administration | Bremen Bremen The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is... city and one united congregation in the historical centre of Bremerhaven Bremerhaven Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham... , which was extended by 1939 by prior Hanoveran suburbs, whose Lutheran parishes continue to belong to the Hanover Lutheran church body |
The church body comprises mostly Reformed and less Lutheran congregations and one united congregation. The official church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Bremian Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... . |
| 1872 | persisting | Brunswickian Evangelical Lutheran State Church Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Brunswick The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick is a Lutheran church in the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The seat of the Landesbischof is Wolfenbüttel. Its district as a Landeskirche covers the former State of Brunswick in the borders of 1945... |
Lutheran | Free State of Brunswick Free State of Brunswick The Free State of Brunswick was the republic formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19. It was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.-History:... , when the state territory was altered in 1942, the Brunswick church body readjusted its ambit accordingly, ceding congregations to and reveiving some from the Hanover Lutheran church body. |
The official church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Brunswickian Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... . |
| 1922 | 1933 | Frankfurt upon Main Evangelical State Church of Frankfurt upon Main |
United in administration | the formerly Free City of Frankfurt upon Main Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:*The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt... , in 1866 annexed by Prussia and since then part of the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau Province of Hesse-Nassau Hesse-Nassau Province was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868-1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel , the Duchy of Nassau, the Free... . In September 1933 the illegitimate church governing board merged the Frankfurt church body in the Evangelical State Church of Hesse-Nassau. |
The official Frankfurt church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Frankfurt. |
| 1870 | 1976 | Hamburg Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Hamburgian State |
Lutheran | Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in its borders before the Greater Hamburg Act became effective on 1 April 1937, thus including Hamburg's then exclaves such as Cuxhaven, Geesthacht Geesthacht Geesthacht is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg on the right bank of the river Elbe.-History:*Around 800: A church is documented.... , and Großhansdorf Großhansdorf Großhansdorf is a municipality in the district of Stormarn, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 3 km east of Ahrensburg, and 25 km northeast of Hamburg.- History :... , but without today's boroughs of Altona Altona, Hamburg Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937... , Harburg, Wandsbek Wandsbek Wandsbek is the second-largest of seven boroughs that make up the city of Hamburg, Germany. The name of the district is derived from the river Wandse which passes here. The quarter Wandsbek, which is the former independent city, is urban and, with the quarters Eilbek and Marienthal part of the... and further formerly Holsatian municipalities in the North Borough Hamburg-Nord Hamburg-Nord is one of the seven boroughs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, in north-western Germany... . |
The official Hamburg church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Hamburg. |
| 1864 | persisting | Hanover Lutheran Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover |
Lutheran | Prussian Province of Hanover Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation... , the territorial changes of the province in 1937 (Greater Hamburg Act) were not followed by a change in ecclesiastical ambit. In 1939 (Greater Bremen, annexation of Hanoveran suburbs of Bremen to Bremen proper) and 1942, when the provincial territory was altered along the Brunswickian border, both church bodies readjusted their ambits accordingly, ceding congregations to and reveiving some from each other. |
The official church body remained an intact church , since the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the church body. |
| 1882 | 1989 | Hanover Reformed Evangelical Reformed State Church of the Province of Hanover |
Reformed | Prussian Province of Hanover Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation... and some Reformed parishes in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein acceded since 1923 |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover in 1922, when the Hanover Reformed church body caught up in terms of the title with the Hanover Lutheran church body. The official church body remained an intact church , since the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the church body. |
| 1873 | 1934 | Hesse Cassel Evangelical State Church of Hesse-Cassel |
United in administration | the former Electorate of Hesse, in 1866 annexed by Prussia and since then part of the latter's Province of Hesse-Nassau Province of Hesse-Nassau Hesse-Nassau Province was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868-1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel , the Duchy of Nassau, the Free... . Some small northern exclaves in today's Lower Saxony were ceded in the 1920s to the Hanover Lutheran church body. In 1934 the Hesse Cassel church body merged in the Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck. |
The official Hesse Cassel church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, a merger, planned since 1926, with the Frankfurt, Hesse state and Nassau church bodies failed after quarrels about their Nazi radicalism. |
| 1934 | persisting | Hesse Electorate and Waldeck Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck |
United in administration | the former Electorate of Hesse, except of some small northern exclaves in today's Lower Saxony, and the former Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont The Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont and later the Free State of Waldeck was a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It was created following the German Revolution which forced Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont along with the other German monarchs to abdicate.On 30 November 1921, following a... , except of the Pyrmont exclaves. |
The official Hesse Electorate and Waldeck church body became a destroyed church , since it was merged from two destroyed church bodies. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck. |
| 19th c. | 1933 | Hesse state Evangelical Church in Hesse |
United in administration | People's State of Hesse. In September 1933 the illegitimate church governing board merged the Hesse state church body in the Evangelical State Church of Hesse-Nassau. | The official Hesse state church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Hesse. |
| 1933 | 1945 | Hesse-Nassau Evangelical State Church Hesse-Nassau |
United in administration | formerly Free City of Frankfurt upon Main Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:*The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt... , former Duchy of Nassau, both covered by then Hesse-Nassau province Province of Hesse-Nassau Hesse-Nassau Province was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868-1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel , the Duchy of Nassau, the Free... , and the People's State of Hesse |
In September 1933 the destroyed Frankfurt, Hesse state, and Nassau church bodies merged in the new Hesse-Nassau church body, which thus became a new church body radically organised according to the Führerprinzip Führerprinzip The Führerprinzip , German for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich... , thus anti-synodal and anti-presbyterial. With the end of the Nazi reign this church body was dissolved. Nazi opponents had organised along the church bodies merged into this church body. |
| 1877 | persisting | Lippe State Church |
Reformed | Free State of Lippe Free State of Lippe The Free State of Lippe was a German state formed after the Principality of Lippe was abolished following the German Revolution of 1918.After the end of World War II, Lippe was restored from Nazi rule. This autonomy ended in January 1947 when British forces incorporated Lippe into the new German... |
Few Lutheran congregations have their own organisations within the else Reformed Lippe church body. |
| 1895 | 1976 | Lübeck city-state Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Lübeckian State |
Lutheran | Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck, the Lübeck state church body persisted also after Prussia had annexed the Lübeck state by in 1937 (Greater Hamburg Act), and its incorporation into the Prussian Schleswig-Holstein province. | The official Lübeck state church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Lübeck state. |
| 1921 | 1976 | Lübeck region Evangelical Lutheran State Church of the Oldenburgian Region of Lübeck |
Lutheran | The Oldenburgian Free State of Oldenburg The Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution.... exclave of the Lübeck Region, the Lübeck region church body persisted also after Prussia had annexed the Lübeck Region in 1937 (Greater Hamburg Act), and its incorporation into the Prussian Schleswig-Holstein province. |
The official Lübeck region church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, its land provost (leading cleric) maintained a rather neutral position, so Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the official church body. |
| 1835 | 1926 | Lusatia Lutheran Church in Upper Lusatia |
Lutheran | the region of Kreishauptmannschaft Bautzen of the then Free State of Saxony | In 1926 the Lusatia church body merged in the Saxony state church body. |
| 1850 | 1934 | Mecklenburg-Schwerin Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Lutheran | Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a state in the Weimar Republic that was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin following the German Revolution... . In 1934 the Mecklenburg-Schwerin church body merged in the Mecklenburg state church body. |
The official Mecklenburg-Schwerin church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. |
| 19th c. | 1934 | Mecklenburg-Strelitz Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
Lutheran | Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz The Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a state of the Weimar Republic established in 1918 following the German Revolution which had overthrown the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz... . In 1934 the Mecklenburg-Strelitz church body merged in the Mecklenburg state church body. |
The official Mecklenburg-Strelitz church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. |
| 1934 | persisting | Mecklenburg (united state) Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg is a Lutheran church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Mecklenburg. The seat of the Landesbischof is the state capital Schwerin with Schwerin Cathedral as the principal church... |
Lutheran | former Free States of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a state in the Weimar Republic that was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin following the German Revolution... and Mecklenburg-Strelitz Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz The Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a state of the Weimar Republic established in 1918 following the German Revolution which had overthrown the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz... |
The official Mecklenburg state church body became a destroyed church , since it was merged from two destroyed church bodies. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... in Mecklenburg. |
| 1866 | 1933 | Nassau Evangelical State Church in Nassau |
United in administration | former Duchy of Nassau, in 1866 annexed by Prussia and since then part of the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau Province of Hesse-Nassau Hesse-Nassau Province was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868-1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel , the Duchy of Nassau, the Free... . In September 1933 the illegitimate church governing board merged the Hesse state church body in the Evangelical State Church of Hesse-Nassau. |
The official Hesse state church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Nassau. |
| 19th c. | persisting | Oldenburg Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg |
Lutheran | Free State of Oldenburg Free State of Oldenburg The Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution.... except of its exclaves of Birkenfeld and Region of Lübeck. In 1921 the Lübeck region church body had seceded from the Oldenburg church body, while the Birkenfeld church body had never been part of the Oldenburg church body. |
The official Oldenburg church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Oldenburg. |
| 1848 | persisting | Palatinate United Protestant Evangelical Christian Church of the Palatinate (Palatine State Church) |
United by confession | the then Bavarian Governorate of the Palatinate and some eastern districts in Mandatory Saar (League of Nations) Saar (League of Nations) The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles... . |
Since the parishioners' plesbiscite in 1817 all Palatine congregations are confessionally united. The official Palatinate church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of the Palatinate. |
| 1817 | 2003 | Prussia Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union abbreviations: ApU, EKapU |
United in administration | the Prussian provinces of Berlin, Brandenburg Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in... , East Prussia Province of East Prussia The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg .... , Hohenzollern Province of Hohenzollern Hohenzollern was a de facto province of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was created in 1850 by joining the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen after both formerly independently ruling Catholic princely lines of the House of Hohenzollern had handed over their... , Pomerania, Posen-West Prussia Posen-West Prussia The border province of historical period Posen-West Prussia was a province of the Free State of Prussia. The capital was Schneidemühl . The province had an area of 7,695 km², and was located within present-day Poland.... , the Rhineland Rhine Province The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg... , Saxony Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:... , Silesia Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th... , and Westphalia Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813... as well as the League of Nations mandate League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League... s of the Free City of Danzig Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas.... , Klaipėda Region Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors... and the Saar (League of Nations) Saar (League of Nations) The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles... , except of some eastern Palatine districts within the latter. All the parishes east of the Oder Neisse line, including the complete ecclesiastical provinces of Danzig, East Prussia and Posen-West Prussia vanished due to fleeing parishioners before the Soviet conquest and the subsequent violent expulsion of parishioners between 1945 and 1950, including many casualties. Also the bulk of the parishes in the Pomerania and Silesia ecclesiastical provinces were lost. |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces in 1922, accounting for the facts that the Weimar Constitution Weimar constitution The Constitution of the German Reich , usually known as the Weimar Constitution was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic... had done away with state church State church State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state... es in 1919, and that the old-Prussian congregations were then spreading over four sovereign states (Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Poland) and three League of Nations mandate League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League... s (Danzig, Klaipėda, and Saar) after the different post-Wold War I annexations. The new name was after a denomination, not after a state any more. It became a difficult task to maintain the unity of the church, with some of the annexing states being opposed to the fact that church bodies within their borders keep a union with German church organisations. The official old-Prussian church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the general synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Only the Westphalia ecclesiastical province remained an intact church, since the German Christians did not gain the majority in its provincial synod, while all the other old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces within Germany were taken over by German Christians as well. The Nazi opponents formed parallel Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... institutions on the old-Prussian general level as well as in the destroyed ecclesiastical provinces. |
| 19th c. | 1934 | Reuss Evangelical Lutheran Church in Reuss Elder Line |
Lutheran | former Principality of Reuss Elder Line Reuss Elder Line The Principality of Reuss Elder Line was a state in Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. The Counts Reuss of Greiz, Lower- and Upper Greiz , were elevated to princely status in 1778. Its members bore the title Prince Reuss, Elder Line, or Prince Reuss of Greiz... within the then State of Thuringia |
The Reuss church body was a stronghold of Lutheran Orthodoxy Lutheran Orthodoxy Lutheran orthodoxy was an era in the history of Lutheranism, which began in 1580 from the writing of the Book of Concord and ended at the Age of Enlightenment. Lutheran orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Calvinism and tridentine Roman Catholicism after the... and refused the merger with the other seven church bodies in Thuringia in 1920. However, in 1934 Reuss merged in the Thuringia church body. |
| 1868 | persisting | Saxony Evangelical Lutheran State Church of the Free State of Saxony |
Lutheran | until 1926 the then Free State of Saxony except of the region of Kreishauptmannschaft Bautzen , from 1926 on all the Free State of Saxony. All the parishes east of the Oder Neisse line vanished due to fleeing parishioners before the Soviet conquest and the subsequent violent expulsion of parishioners between 1945 and 1950, including casualties. | The new name came along with the new church constitution of 1922. The official Saxony church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Saxony. |
| 19th c. | persisting | Schaumburg-Lippe Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe |
Lutheran | Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic, headed by a Minister President. The democratic government was suppressed during Nazi rule... |
The Schaumburg-Lippe official church body remained an intact church , since the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the church body. Even the more, in 1936 the German Christian minority was excluded from the executive board, which was then only staffed with partisans of the Nazi-opponent Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... . |
| 1867 | 1976 | Schleswig-Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schleswig-Holstein |
Lutheran | Province of Schleswig-Holstein Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquered by Prussia and the Austrian Empire from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864... in its borders of 1921 to 1936 |
The official Schleswig-Holstein church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Schleswig-Holstein. |
| 1920 | 2008 | Thuringian Evangelical Church |
Lutheran | the State of Thuringia in its borders of 1920, until 1934 except of the areas comprising the former Principality of Reuss Elder Line Reuss Elder Line The Principality of Reuss Elder Line was a state in Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. The Counts Reuss of Greiz, Lower- and Upper Greiz , were elevated to princely status in 1778. Its members bore the title Prince Reuss, Elder Line, or Prince Reuss of Greiz... . In 1934 the Reuss elder line church body merged in the Thuringia church body. |
This new church body was a merger of first seven, since 1934 eight church bodies of the Thuringian monarchies (such as Reuss Elder Line Reuss Elder Line The Principality of Reuss Elder Line was a state in Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. The Counts Reuss of Greiz, Lower- and Upper Greiz , were elevated to princely status in 1778. Its members bore the title Prince Reuss, Elder Line, or Prince Reuss of Greiz... , Reuss Junior Line Reuss Junior Line The Principality of Reuss Younger Line formed a state in Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. The Counts Reuss of Gera, of Schleiz, of Lobenstein, of Köstritz and of Ebersdorf, each became princes in 1806, and they and their reigning successors bore the title Prince Reuss, Younger Line... , Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia.-History:The duchy originated from the medieval Burgraviate of Altenburg in the Imperial Pleissnerland , a possession of the Wettin Margraves of Meissen since 1243... , Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine of the Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha.... , Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia.... , Grand Duchy of Saxony, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany with its capital at Rudolstadt.-History:Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands... , and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with capital at Sondershausen.-History:... ). The official Thuringia church body became a very radical destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... of Thuringia. |
| 1873 | 1934 | Waldeck and Pyrmont Evangelical State Church of Waldeck and Pyrmont |
United in administration | Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont The Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont and later the Free State of Waldeck was a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It was created following the German Revolution which forced Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont along with the other German monarchs to abdicate.On 30 November 1921, following a... , since 1929 part of the Free State of Prussia as the District of Waldeck and the District of Pyrmont. Some small northern exclaves with Pyrmont Pyrmont Pyrmont may refer to:* Bad Pyrmont, a spa town in northern Germany* Pyrmont, Indiana, United States* Pyrmont, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia* Pyrmont Bridge is a landmark connecting Pyrmont, NSW to Sydney in Australia... in today's Lower Saxony were ceded in the 1920s to the Hanover Lutheran church body. |
The official Waldeck church body became a destroyed church , since it was taken over by Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, a merger, planned since 1926, with the Frankfurt, Hesse state and Nassau church bodies failed after quarrels about their Nazi radicalism. In 1934 the Waldeck church body merged in the Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck. |
| 1870 | persisting | Württemberg Evangelical State Church in Württemberg |
Lutheran | Free People's State of Württemberg Free People's State of Württemberg The Free People's State of Württemberg was a state of Germany during the Weimar Republic in Württemberg.-1918 revolution:As Germany underwent violent revolution near the end of World War I, the Kingdom of Württemberg was transformed from a monarchy to a democratic republic without bloodshed; its... |
The Württemberg official church body remained an intact church , since the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents of the Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... could act within the church body. |
List of Landeskirchen after 1945 with changes until 2009
Those of the following Landeskirchen, which existed in 1948, founded the new Protestant umbrella Evangelical Church in GermanyEvangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
. However, following the violations of the church constitutions under Nazi reign many church bodies did not simply return to the pre-1933 status quo, but introduced altered or new church constitutions – usually after lengthy synodal procedures of decision-taking -, often including an altered name of the church body. In a process starting in June 1945 and ending in 1953 the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union transformed from an integrated church body, sudivided into ecclesiastical provinces, into an umbrella-like church body, renamed into Evangelical Church of the Union under political pressure of communist East Germany in 1953.
The six old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces (Kirchenprovinz[en], sg.[pl.]), which were not or not completely abolished by the expulsion of its parishioners from the Polish and Soviet annexed German territories, assumed independence as Landeskirchen of their own between 1945 and 1948, however, simultaneously remaining member churches within the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union, thus rather converted into an umbrella.
The communist dictatorship in East Germany imposed further name changes and administrative reorganisations along the inner German borders. This was reversed after unification.
There were mergers of church bodies in 1947, 1977, 1989, 2004 and 2009, and more are to come. The German demographic crisis and rising irreligionism influence them, especially in former East Germany. The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th c., when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation of course existed long before.
For the last and this century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically assorted by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-war German church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. The very independent and autonomous organisational structure of German Protestantism provides for unconcerted developments. One can assort the table below alphabetically or chronogically by clicking on the button with the gyronny of four.
| Consti- tuted in |
Merged in | Name of the church body | Denomination | Territorial ambit | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th c. | persisting | Anhalt Evangelical State Church of Anhalt |
United United and uniting churches United and uniting churches are churches formed from the merger or other form of union of two or more different Protestant denominations.Perhaps the oldest example of a united church is found in Germany, where the Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United and Reformed... by confession |
the former Free State of Anhalt Free State of Anhalt The Free State of Anhalt was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic... |
Between 1960 and 2003 the Anhalt church was a member of the Evangelical Church of the Union. The Church body comprises only congregations of united confession. |
| 1821 | persisting | Baden Evangelical State Church in Baden abbreviation: EKiBa |
United by confession | the former Republic of Baden Republic of Baden The Republic of Baden was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, formed after the abolition of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1918... |
The new name replaced the prior United Evangelical Protestant State Church of Baden. The Church body comprises only congregations of united confession. |
| 1809 | persisting | Bavaria Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a Protestant church in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich.... abbreviation: ELKB |
Lutheran | Free State of Bavaria | The prior name extension right of the River Rhine was skipped in 1948, after Bavaria left of the River Rhine, i.e. Governorate of the Palatinate, had been seceded from Bavaria by the Allies in 1945. |
| 1989 | persisting | Bavaria and Northwestern Germany Evangelical Reformed Church - Synod of Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany |
Reformed | Bavaria Bavaria Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany... , Hamburg, Lower Saxony Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany... , former Mecklenburg in its borders of 1936, Saxony (state), and Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig... . |
Merger of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria and the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwestern Germany |
| 1948 | 2003 | Berlin and Brandenburg Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg abbreviation: EKiBB |
United in administration. | East Berlin East Berlin East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city... , West Berlin, and Brandenburg Brandenburg Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam... (in its borders of 1945–1952, thus without Polish-annexed eastern Brandenburg and territorial redeployments after the re-establishment of the state in 1990) In 1972 the church body installed double administrative structures for West Berlin on the one hand and for East Berlin and the parishes in the 1952-abolished state of Brandenburg on the other hand, because communist East Germany did not allow pastors and church functionaries travelling freely between East and West. The two administrations reunited in 1991. |
The new name replaced the prior March of Brandenburg ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Mark Brandenburg) in 1948, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. The new name reflected the fact, that Berlin was no part of Brandenburg state at that time. Between 1948 and 2003 the Berlin-Brandenburg church was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 2004 the Berlin-Brandenburg church body merged into the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. The church body comprised mostly Lutheran and few Reformed and united congregtions. |
| 2004 | persisting | Berlin, Brandenburg, and Silesian Upper Lusatia Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia abbreviation: EKBO |
United in administration. | Berlin, Brandenburg (in its borders of 1945–1952), and the German remainder of Silesia Silesia Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław... (mostly Saxon today), after the post-war Polish annexation of main part Silesia |
The church body comprises mostly Lutheran and few Reformed and united congregtions. |
| 1877 | persisting | Bremian Evangelical Church abbreviation: BEK |
United in administration | Bremen Bremen The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is... city and one united congregation in the historical centre of Bremerhaven Bremerhaven Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham... , whose other Lutheran parishes belong to the Hanoveran church body |
The church body comprises mostly Reformed and less Lutheran congregations and one united congregation. |
| 1872 | persisting | Brunswick Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Brunswick Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Brunswick The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick is a Lutheran church in the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The seat of the Landesbischof is Wolfenbüttel. Its district as a Landeskirche covers the former State of Brunswick in the borders of 1945... |
Lutheran | former Free State of Brunswick Free State of Brunswick The Free State of Brunswick was the republic formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19. It was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.-History:... In 1977 the Brunswick church body conveyed its tasks for its East German parishes to the East German Saxony Province church body Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony The Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony was the most important Protestant denomination in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. As a united Protestant church, it combined both Lutheran and Reformed traditions... . In 1992 the eastern parishes returned to the Brunswick church body. |
The new name replaced the prior Brunswickian Evangelical Lutheran State Church in 1970, after considerations, that the church body is rather a Christian than an organisation related to the Brunswickian state. After a British-Soviet boundary adjustment between the British Zone and the Soviet Zone in July 1945 the formerly Brunswickian salients (e.g. the eastern part of Blankenburg District, Hessen am Fallstein Hessen (Osterwieck) Hessen is a village in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Osterwieck.... ) and the exclave of Calvörde Calvörde Calvörde is a municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km northwest from Haldensleben between the Ohre river and the Midland Canal... became part of the Soviet zone. This did not affect the ecclesiastical affiliation. However, East Germany's sealing off its western border and its very restrictive granting of entry and exit visas made cross-border travelling for easterners almost impossible and difficult for westerners. In 1957 East Germany forbade further contact of the East German Brunswickian parishes with the western-based Brunswick church body on the pretense that the latter co-operated with enimical western NATO forces, following a concordat of the Brunswick church body on military chaplains for the Bundeswehr Bundeswehr The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities... . |
| 1921 | 1976 | Eutin Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Eutin |
Lutheran | the District of Eutin in Schleswig-Holstein | The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Lutheran State Church of the Oldenburgian Region of Lübeck, reflecting the fact, that Oldenburg had ceded its exclave Region of Lübeck to the Prussian Schleswig-Holstein province Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquered by Prussia and the Austrian Empire from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864... following the Greater Hamburg Act in 1937. On 1 January 1977 the Eutin church body merged into the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| 1922 1945 restored |
1933 de facto 1947 |
Frankfurt upon Main Evangelical State Church of Frankfurt upon Main |
United in administration | the formerly Free City of Frankfurt upon Main Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:*The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt... , 1945–1946 part of Greater Hesse Greater Hesse Greater Hesse was the provisional name given for a section of German territory created by the US military administration in at the end of World War II... and of Hesse Hesse Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state... since. |
The Frankfurt church body was restored after the end of the war, since the lawfulness of the September-1933 merger into the Evangelical State Church in Hesse-Nassau was doubted due to the influence of the Nazis and the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries ordered by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau |
| 1870 | 1976 | Hamburg Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Hamburgian State |
Lutheran | Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in its borders before the Greater Hamburg Act became effective on 1 April 1937, thus including Hamburg's former exclaves such as Cuxhaven, Geesthacht Geesthacht Geesthacht is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg on the right bank of the river Elbe.-History:*Around 800: A church is documented.... , and Großhansdorf Großhansdorf Großhansdorf is a municipality in the district of Stormarn, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 3 km east of Ahrensburg, and 25 km northeast of Hamburg.- History :... , but without today's boroughs of Altona Altona, Hamburg Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937... , Harburg, Wandsbek Wandsbek Wandsbek is the second-largest of seven boroughs that make up the city of Hamburg, Germany. The name of the district is derived from the river Wandse which passes here. The quarter Wandsbek, which is the former independent city, is urban and, with the quarters Eilbek and Marienthal part of the... and further formerly Holsatian municipalities in the North Borough Hamburg-Nord Hamburg-Nord is one of the seven boroughs of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, in north-western Germany... . |
On 1 January 1977 the Hamburg church body merged into the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| 1864 | persisting | Hanover Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover |
Lutheran | former Prussian Province of Hanover Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation... , in 1977 reduced for those parishes located in the Harburg area of Hanover province, which had been ceded to Hamburg in 1937 and increased by the parishes in Cuxhaven, which had been ceded from Hamburg to Hanover province on the same occasion by the Greater Hamburg Act. |
|
| 1934 | persisting | Hesse Electorate and Waldeck Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck abbreviation: EKKW |
United in administration | the former Electorate of Hesse, except of some small northern exclaves in today's Lower Saxony, and the former Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont The Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont and later the Free State of Waldeck was a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It was created following the German Revolution which forced Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont along with the other German monarchs to abdicate.On 30 November 1921, following a... , except of the Pyrmont exclaves, thus still including the exclave of Schmalkalden (Smalkald) Schmalkalden - Notable people :*Christoph Cellarius, scholar, born 22 November 1638, died 4 June 1707 in Halle*Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach, colonel, born 16 April 1758, died 21 November 1827 at Białokosz... in formerly East Germany and today's Free State of Thuringia. |
Between 1949 and 1989 the East German communist government inflicted similar problems onto the East German parishes of the Electoral Hesse-Waldeck church body as onto the eastern parishes of Brunswick church body. |
| 19th c. 1945 restored |
1933 de facto 1947 |
Hesse state Evangelical Church in Hesse |
United in administration | former People's State of Hesse | The Hesse church body was restored after the end of the war, since the lawfulness of the September-1933 merger into the Evangelical State Church in Hesse-Nassau was doubted due to the influence of the Nazis and the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries orderd by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau |
| 1947 | persisting | Hesse and Nassau Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau abbreviation: EKHN |
United in administration | formerly Free City of Frankfurt upon Main Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:*The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt... , former People's State of Hesse, former Duchy of Nassau, covered by today's states of Hesse Hesse Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state... and Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz .... |
Merger of the Frankfurt, Hesse state, and Nassau church bodies |
| 1877 | persisting | Lippe State Church |
Reformed | former Free State of Lippe Free State of Lippe The Free State of Lippe was a German state formed after the Principality of Lippe was abolished following the German Revolution of 1918.After the end of World War II, Lippe was restored from Nazi rule. This autonomy ended in January 1947 when British forces incorporated Lippe into the new German... |
Few Lutheran congregations have their own organisations within the else Reformed Lippe church body. |
| 1895 | 1976 | Lübeck Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lübeck |
Lutheran | former Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck | The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Lübeckian State, accounting for Lübeck's statehood being abolished by the Greater Hamburg Act in 1937. On 1 January 1977 the Lübeck church body merged into the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| 1934 | persisting | Mecklenburg Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg is a Lutheran church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Mecklenburg. The seat of the Landesbischof is the state capital Schwerin with Schwerin Cathedral as the principal church... abbreviation: ELLM |
Lutheran | former Mecklenburg in its borders of 1936 Communist East Germany's sealing off its western border and its very restrictive granting of entry and exit visas made cross-border travelling for easterners almost impossible and difficult for westerners. So the Mecklenburg church body conveyed its tasks as to its western parishes to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schleswig-Holstein and its successor North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. After unification the conveyed parishes decided not to return to their original Mecklenburg church body, personally and financially terribly weakened during East German dictatorship. |
After a British-Soviet boundary adjustment between the British Zone and the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany following the Barber Lyashchenko Agreement in November 1945 the parishes of Ratzeburg Cathedral and Bäk Bäk Bäk is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.... , Mechow Mechow Mechow is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.... , Römnitz Römnitz Römnitz is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.... , and Ziethen Ziethen, Schleswig-Holstein Ziethen is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.... became part of the British zone. This did not affect the ecclesiastical affiliation. So the Mecklenburg church body retains a stake as co-owner in the historically important Ratzeburg Cathedral. |
| 2009 | persisting | Middle Germany Evangelical Church in Middle Germany abbreviation: EKM |
United in administration | former Province of Saxony Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:... and the State of Thuringia in its borders of 1920. |
Merger of the Saxony province and Thuringia church bodies. |
| 1866 1945 restored |
1933 de facto 1947 |
Nassau Evangelical State Church in Nassau |
United in administration | former Duchy of Nassau, since 1945 split between Greater Hesse Greater Hesse Greater Hesse was the provisional name given for a section of German territory created by the US military administration in at the end of World War II... (and its successor Hesse Hesse Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state... ) and Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz .... |
The Hesse church body was restored after the end of the war, since the lawfulness of the September-1933 merger into the Evangelical State Church in Hesse-Nassau was doubted due to the influence of the Nazis and the Nazi-submissive German Christians German Christians The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles... , gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries orderd by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau |
| 1977 | persisting | North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church abbreviation: NEK |
Lutheran | Hamburg Hamburg -History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808... and Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig... |
Merger of Eutin, Hamburg, Lübeck and Schleswig-Holstein church bodies. |
| 1882 | 1989 | Northwestern Germany Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwestern Germany |
Reformed | the former Prussian Province of Hanover Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation... and some Reformed parishes in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Reformed State Church of the Province of Hanover in 1949, considering the accession of parishes outside of Hanover province (since 1923) and the latter's merger into Lower Saxony Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany... in 1946. In 1989 the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwestern Germany merged into the Evangelical Reformed Church - Synod of Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany |
| 19th c. | persisting | Oldenburg Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg |
Lutheran | former Free State of Oldenburg Free State of Oldenburg The Free State of Oldenburg was a state of the Weimar Republic. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II following the German Revolution.... except of its exclaves of Birkenfeld and Region of Lübeck Bishopric of Lübeck The Bishopric of Lübeck was a Roman-Catholic and, later, Protestant diocese, as well as a state of the Holy Roman Empire.-History: The original diocese was founded about 970 by Emperor Otto I in the Billung March at Oldenburg in Holstein , the former capital of the pagan Wagri tribe... |
|
| 1848 | persisting | Palatinate Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant State Church) |
United by confession | the formerly Bavarian Governorate of the Palatinate since 1945 divided between Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz .... and the Saar Protectorate Saar (protectorate) The Saar Protectorate was a German borderland territory twice temporarily made a protectorate state. Since rejoining Germany the second time in 1957, it is the smallest Federal German Area State , the Saarland, not counting the city-states Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen... (and its successor Saarland Saarland Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states... , as of 1957). |
The new name replaced the prior United Protestant Evangelical Christian Church of the Palatinate (Palatine State Church) in 1976. Since the parishioners' plesbiscite in 1817 all Palatine congregations are confessionally united. |
| 1947 | persisting | Pomeranian Evangelical Church Pomeranian Evangelical Church The Pomeranian Evangelical Church is a Protestant church body in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Hither Pomerania. It combines Lutheran and Reformed traditions... , abbreviation: PEK |
United in administration | German Hither Pomerania | The new name replaced the prior Pomerania ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Pommern) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the Pomerania church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 1968 communist East Germany ordered the church body to skip the term Pomerania from its name, then it chose the name Evangelical Church in Greifswald . The original name was readopted in 1990. |
| 1948 | persisting | Rhineland Evangelical Church in the Rhineland Evangelical Church in the Rhineland Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is a united Protestant church body in parts of the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse . This is actually the area covered by the former Prussian Rhine Province until 1920. It is the most important Protestant... abbreviation: EKiR |
United in administration | former Rhine Province Rhine Province The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg... (in its borders of 1938) |
The new name replaced the prior Rhineland ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Rheinland) in 1948, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1948 and 2003 the Rhineland church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. |
| 1868 | persisting | Saxony state Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Saxony abbreviation: EvLKS |
Lutheran | former Kingdom of Saxony Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War... except of the small area annexed to Poland in 1945 (modern Saxon Free State territory differs considerably more). |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Lutheran State Church of the Free State of Saxony since the Free State had been abolished in 1952, only to be re-established in 1990, which did not cause another name change. |
| 1947 | 2008 | Saxony province Evangelical Church of the Saxony Ecclesiastical Province Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony The Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony was the most important Protestant denomination in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. As a united Protestant church, it combined both Lutheran and Reformed traditions... |
United in administration | former Province of Saxony Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:... . |
The new name extended the prior Saxony ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Sachsen) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the church body of the Saxony Ecclesiastical Province was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. On 1 January 2009 the church body of the Saxony Ecclesiastical Province merged into the Evangelical Church in Middle Germany. |
| 19th c. | persisting | Schaumburg-Lippe Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe |
Lutheran | former Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic, headed by a Minister President. The democratic government was suppressed during Nazi rule... |
Any claim to merge the tiny Schaumburg-Lippe church body has been refused so far based on a solid self confidence, also laid during the Nazi era, when this church body became the only one in 1936, which staffed all its executive board only with partisans of the Nazi-opponent Confessing Church Confessing Church The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:... . |
| 1867 | 1976 | Schleswig-Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schleswig-Holstein |
Lutheran | former Province of Schleswig-Holstein Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquered by Prussia and the Austrian Empire from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864... in its borders of 1936 |
On 1 January 1977 the Schleswig-Holstein church body merged into the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| 1947 | 2003 | Silesia(n Upper Lusatia) Evangelical Church of Silesia(n Upper Lusatia) abbreviation: EKsOL |
United in administration | the German remainder of Silesia Silesia Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław... , after the post-war Polish annexation of main part Silesia |
The new name replaced the prior Silesia ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Schlesien) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the Silesia church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 1968 communist East Germany ordered the church body to skip the term Silesia from its name, then it chose the name Evangelical Church of the Görlitz Ecclesiastical Region . In 1992 the Silesia church body dropped its unwanted name and chose the new name of Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia. On 1 January 2004 the Silesia church body merged into the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. |
| 1920 | 2008 | Thuringia Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia abbreviation: ELKTh |
Lutheran | the State of Thuringia Thuringia The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states.... in its borders of 1920 |
The new name replaced the prior Thuringian Evangelical Church in 1948. On 1 January 2009 the church body merged into the Evangelical Church in Middle Germany. |
| 1817 | 2003 | Union Evangelical Church of the Union abbreviation: EKU |
United in administration | Berlin, Brandenburg (in its borders of 1946–1952), German Hither Pomerania, former Hohenzollern province Province of Hohenzollern Hohenzollern was a de facto province of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was created in 1850 by joining the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen after both formerly independently ruling Catholic princely lines of the House of Hohenzollern had handed over their... (ceded to Württemberg church body in 1950), former Rhine Province Rhine Province The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg... (in its borders of 1938), former Province of Saxony Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:... (in its borders of 1938), post-war German part of former Silesia Silesia Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław... province, former Westphalia Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813... (in its borders of 1815–1946), as well as the Saarland Saarland Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states... , except of its eastern formerly Palatine districts. |
The new name replaced the prior Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union in 1953, after the communist dictatorship in East Germany insisted on skipping the name element Prussia. Between 1948 and 2003 EKU was rather an umbrella, though running an own synod and executive body. Therefore it was an equal member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), even though all of EKU's member churches were simultaneously members of EKD on their own. The church was merged into the mere umbrella Union of Evangelical Churches Union Evangelischer Kirchen The Union Evangelischer Kirchen is an organisation of 13 United and Reformed evangelical churches in Germany, which are all member churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany.- Member churches in the UEK :... . |
| 1945 | persisting | Westphalia Evangelical Church of Westphalia Evangelical Church of Westphalia The Evangelical Church of Westphalia is a Protestant church body in the German state of Northrhine-Westphalia. It's the most important Protestant denomination in Westphalia... abbreviation: EkvW |
United in administration | former Province of Westphalia Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813... (in its borders of 1815–1945) |
The new name replaced the prior Westphalia ecclesiastical province (Kirchenprovinz Westfalen) in 1945, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1945 and 2003 the Westphalia church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. |
| 1870 | persisting | Württemberg Evangelical State Church in Württemberg |
Lutheran | former Free People's State of Württemberg Free People's State of Württemberg The Free People's State of Württemberg was a state of Germany during the Weimar Republic in Württemberg.-1918 revolution:As Germany underwent violent revolution near the end of World War I, the Kingdom of Württemberg was transformed from a monarchy to a democratic republic without bloodshed; its... plus former Province of Hohenzollern Province of Hohenzollern Hohenzollern was a de facto province of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was created in 1850 by joining the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen after both formerly independently ruling Catholic princely lines of the House of Hohenzollern had handed over their... (as of 1950) |
List of further Protestant church bodies in Germany
This is a list of more Protestant church bodies, which were not members of the German Federation of Protestant Churches- - 1918–1989: Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria – Territory: then the Free State of Bavaria right of the River Rhine
- - Lower Saxon Confederation (Reformed) – Territory: Calvinist congregations, mostly of Huguenot foundation, in the Free State of BrunswickFree State of BrunswickThe Free State of Brunswick was the republic formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19. It was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.-History:...
, the Free and Hanseatic Cities of HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Lübeck and the Prussian Province of HanoverProvince of HanoverThe Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation...
.
List of today's Landeskirchen
For a list of today's Protestant Landeskirchen in Germany see their umbrella Evangelical Church in GermanyEvangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
.
In Switzerland
SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
has no country-wide state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
, though most of the cantons
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
(except for Geneva
Canton of Geneva
The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland,...
and Neuchâtel
Canton of Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel is a canton of French speaking western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...
) recognize official Landeskirchen, in all cases including the Catholic Church and the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church
Old Catholic Church
The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.
See also
- Evangelical Church in GermanyEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
(1945 – today) - German Evangelical ChurchProtestant Reich ChurchThe Protestant Reich Church, officially German Evangelical Church and colloquially Reichskirche, was formed in 1936 to merge the 28 regional churches into a unified state church that espoused a single doctrine compatible with National Socialism...
(1933–1945) - Federation of Swiss Protestant ChurchesFederation of Swiss Protestant ChurchesThe Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches is a federation of 26 member churches — 24 cantonal churches and two free churches . The SEK-FEPS is not a church in a theological understanding, because every member is independent with their own theological and formal organisation...
(1920 – today)