Religion and Politics

by F. W. Sollmann

Overview

In 1919 Wilhelm Sollmann, as one of the founders of the German republic, became a member of the National Assembly in Weimar. He influenced the final draft of the constitution, especially the articles on education, religious freedom, and the relations between state and churches. For some time he served as commissioner of the government of the republic to the High Command of the army in cooperation with General Field Marshall von Hindenburg. He belonged to the staff of the German Peace Delegation in Versailles.

In this pamphlet Sollmann reflects that "in a world aflame with hatred and revenge men are pondering over the relation between religion and politics." He maintains that it is difficult to conceive how anyone in the light of events today can exclude politics from the realm of religion. By politics I mean the relations among the citizens of a nation and between the nations of mankind. To ignore these relations is to be indifferent toward the integration or disintegration of society; it is to leave to irreligious people decisions about peace and war between social groups and nations; it is to waive responsibility for religious freedom or persecution.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940158700286
Publisher:	Pendle Hill Publications
Publication date:	06/28/2017
Series:	Pendle Hill Pamphlets , #14
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	88 KB

About the Author

Friedrich Wilhelm Sollmann, descendant of an old Christian family, started his public career in his later teens as one of the leaders of the German youth movement about 1900. He early turned to journalism and became editor-in-chief of an important daily paper in Cologne and of a chain of ten periodicals in the Rhineland. He opposed the policy of the emperor before and during the war. Because of his efforts toward developing democracy in Germany and achieving for Europe a federation based on equal rights of all nations his papers were suppressed a dozen times by the imperial government during the first World War.

In 1919 Wilhelm Sollmann, as one of the founders of the German republic, became a member of the National Assembly in Weimar. He influenced the final draft of the constitution, especially the articles on education, religious freedom, and the relations between state and churches. For some time he served as commissioner of the government of the republic to the High Command of the army in cooperation with General Field Marshall von Hindenburg. He belonged to the staff of the German Peace Delegation in Versailles. In spite of his opposition to the terms of the treaty he campaigned in Weimar and in the nation for the acceptance of the peace treaty in order to end the war. He was one of the organizers of the passive resistance against the French armies in the Ruhr.

He was repeatedly re-elected to the German parliament and even elected under Hitler’s administration in 1933. In the hard struggle of the republic for its existence he consistently continued the work which he considers to be the task of his life: education for citizenship in a democracy. This he carried on as editor, as columnist, as director of a nationwide news service, as member of the board of directors of the National Federation for Adult Education and as cabinet minister during the darkest year of Germany’s post-war history, when the Reich was shaken by armed communist and national socialist revolts. As a member of the committee of Foreign Affairs and of the Interparliamentarian Union he was delegated to many international conferences, in which he worked for demilitarized zones between the nations and for gradual disarmament.

In March, 1933, he was the first member of parliament to be attacked by Nazi stormtroopers. Though gravely wounded he succeeded in escaping to a hospital in Luxembourg.