You can still see her shock and sadness. Pastor Almut Bellmann (39) is standing in the ruins of her burnt down church. An arsonist not only wounded the church, but also the souls of the congregation.
Bellmann has been looking after the faithful in the Paul Gerhardt Church in Pankow for six years. The pulpit from which she had previously preached was spared the fire. But the flames destroyed the more than hundred-year-old altar, the historic altarpiece and the wooden organ.
The fire, which also reduced the interior to rubble and ash, broke out last Thursday evening. A witness saw another man hurrying away from the church on Wisbyer Strasse. It is not yet clear when services can be held there again.
“The sympathy after the fire is huge,” says the pastor, touched. Therefore, a donation account was set up (see below). Bellmann: “We are collecting for the future preservation of the Paul Gerhardt Church.”
A prayer service was held in front of the church 24 hours after the devastating arson attack. Bellmann: “Around 120 to 150 parishioners of the Evangelical parish of Prenzlauer Berg-Nord, Bishop Christian Stäblein and General Superintendent Ulrike Trautwein came.”
They prayed together, sang the blessing song and talked a lot. On Sunday the first service took place in the Gethsemane Church, which also belongs to the parish. The sermon was all about the fire.
In the next few days, construction supervision, an expert and the insurance company will get an idea of the damage. The pastor hopes that by the end of the week it will be possible to see when the repairs can begin.
Also read: Arson attack on Paul Gerhardt Church in Prenzlauer Berg!
Bellmann sad: “But the altar can no longer be reconstructed in its old form.” The organ and altarpiece are also irretrievably lost. Only the wooden angel and the Easter candle survived.
Donation account: EKPN – IBAN: DE48 1005 0000 4955 192101 BIC: BELADEBEXXX