Oldest ward in Ruhrgebiet celebrates 100th
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HERNE, Germany — The oldest ward in the Ruhrgebiet of Germany, organized in the autumn of 1901, celebrated its 100th anniversary Nov. 11.
The industrial area of western Germany where approximately 20 other cities and towns amount to 6 million people is called the "Ruhrgebiet" because of the Ruhr River. Industrialization began about 1850 because of an inexhaustible amount of coal.
Exact date of the ward's organization is not known, only that it was organized in the autumn of 1901. Mayor Waltraud Papst of Herne joined Elder Wolfgang Paul, President Lynn M. Hansen of the Hamburg mission, President Wolfgang Hiemer of the Dortmund Germany Stake and members for a special sacrament service commemorating the anniversary of the ward.
Mayor Papst expressed her appreciation to attend and learn more about the Church and its history in Herne. Bishop Dietmar Richter explained how six other wards were created from the Herne Ward. "The Lord really blessed us," he said.
There was a low level of religious tolerance in Germany when the ward was organized at the beginning of the last century. The first missionaries from America were met with hostility and resistance. At one of the first baptisms in the Rhine-Herne-Canal a policeman attended and imposed a fine of four deutsche marks.
The first meetings where held in a member's home where the missionaries also lived. In 1902 larger rooms where rented. Police had to approve the Church meetings and a license to gather was granted for only one week.
Newspapers gave a very negative description of the "Mormons." In February 1902 the Generalanzeiger (newspaper) of Dortmund wrote about the "two American swindlers in Herne who use mixed-up doctrines." The newspapers asked the missionaries to leave Herne. But the work went on.
Many members faced difficult situations when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Some members lost their jobs. Homes were searched by the police and some members were imprisoned.
After the war, food and clothes were distributed in Herne as part of the Church welfare program. In the 1950s and 1960s many members immigrated to the United States and the German wards suffered because of this loss.
In 1969, Elder Hartman Rector Jr., then of the First Council of the Seventy, dedicated a chapel in Herne. Today, the reputation of the Church is not so negative as in the past. One reason for improvement is that the ward performed service projects and invited neighbors to high quality musical presentations.
Some of the early members were Rudolf Burkhardt and his wife, Gertrud, now 86 and 84 years old respectively. During World War II Brother Burkhardt served as a soldier all over Europe. After the war he was baptized in Freiberg, Saxony. He and his wife soon moved to Herne where he became district president of the Ruhr District from 1954-55.
"My membership in the Church totally changed my life," he said. "Until my baptism my life was influenced by many years of military service. But through my callings in the Church my philosophy of life and my way of behaving changed for the better."
On April 25, 1987, Brother Burkhardt received the sealing power by then Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve. Sister Burkhardt was baptized in 1949. She loved to sing in the famous, and highly popular, choir of the ward.
