By Gunnar Schupelius
There is still a lack of money for the urgent renovation of the building. And even the day-to-day running of the church is not sufficiently taken care of. This stinginess is ridiculous and undignified, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The Memorial Church is more than a church. It is a landmark by which one recognizes this city. But she is not appreciated as such, at least not when it comes to money. Then the senate has its hand on the bag and the evangelical state church is always stingy.
There was already a lot of fighting over the ruined tower so that it could be renovated between 2010 and 2015. The newer buildings, which are also 60 years old, are not doing well either. All concrete honeycombs with their blue glasses have to be removed and reworked. There are 5,200 glass panels on the new church tower alone, and repairing them costs around five million euros. A total of 36 million euros is required for the repair of the church building.
The Bundestag has approved 17.6 million euros for this. The money will only be paid out if the parish can also raise the rest. Ten million euros were promised by the Senate, three million euros by the regional church. That is not enough.
Apart from the renovation, the maintenance of the buildings is also a problem. It devours around 200,000 euros per year. Of this, the regional church normally only pays about 20,000 euros. The rest is collected through grants and donations.
The congregation also has to finance an entire pastorate from donations, because the regional church only pays for one pastor. The situation is similar with the church wardens who guard the entrances: at least three are needed, only one is paid by the regional church, which also only finances the position of the only church musician to a third.
The tense situation turned into a real crisis during the Corona years. Because during this time there were no visitors. In 2019, there were still 1.3 million people who came to the church to visit or to attend the service. Their number dropped to 15 percent. Accordingly, the donations given by the visitors decreased.
Pastor Martin Germer, who has been preaching in the Memorial Church since 2005 and is known for his great commitment, will retire at the end of August. He once again addressed the public to draw attention to the emergency. It was “by no means the case that the regional church was contributing to the real costs in an appropriate manner,” he told the evangelical press service.
And he told us quite frankly: “The Memorial Church is on its last legs.” It didn’t deserve that and it’s unworthy of this city, which would be perfectly capable of preserving its famous landmarks if it wanted to.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
