Uwe Holmer

Holmer was born on 6 February 1929 in Wismar, Germany. He joined the Hitler Youth, seeing it as an opportunity to learn new things in an optimistic and comradely environment. As a teenager, Holmer suffered from health issues, sending him to a lung clinic for ten months, where he befriended an older boy who took care of him and told him about Jesus. This experience would shape his later ministry. After graduating secondary school in 1948, Holmer studied at the University of Jena to become a Lutheran minister. Even though Jena was located in Soviet East Germany, the university still offered theology classes taught by anti-Nazi Lutheran professors. Holmer was ordained and graduated in 1955, becoming a pastor in Leussow in the Ludwigslust district of Mecklenburg.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chronikderwende.de/lexikon/biografien/biographie_jsp/key=holmer_uwe.html|title=Uwe Holmer|website=Chronik Der Wende|language=de|access-date=4 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421223506/https://www.chronikderwende.de/lexikon/biografien/biographie_jsp/key=holmer_uwe.html|archive-date=21 April 2023}}

When his family escaped to West Germany in 1953, Holmer stayed in East Germany because he believed that it would need more pastors. He was a pastor in Mecklenburg from 1955 to 1967 and head of Bibelschule Falkenberg near Berlin from 1967 to 1983.{{cite web|url=https://www.idea.de/artikel/pfarrer-uwe-holmer-gestorben|title=Pfarrer Uwe Holmer gestorben|date=27 September 2023|language=de|trans-title=Pastor Uwe Holmer Died|website=Idea|access-date=15 October 2023|archive-date=20 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620201818/https://www.idea.de/artikel/pfarrer-uwe-holmer-gestorben|url-status=live}} Holmer criticized the GDR, opposing forced collectivisation of agriculture by the government. As a result, he became a target of the Stasi. Holmer's political stances prevented his family from visiting him for a year, and none of his children were allowed to attend secondary school, despite earning good grades.{{cite web|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/uwe-holmer-ist-tot-der-pfarrer-der-einst-honecker-aufnahm-19201847.html|title=Der Pfarrer, der Honecker aufnahm|date=26 September 2023|language=de|trans-title=The pastor who took in Honecker|website=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002173749/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/uwe-holmer-ist-tot-der-pfarrer-der-einst-honecker-aufnahm-19201847.html|archive-date=2 October 2023}} Holmer nearly appealed to the European Commission for Human Rights in response, but his bishop advised him to restrain from doing so, fearing that the state would close his Bible school.{{cite magazine |last=Nieswiodek-Martin |first=Von Ellen |date=2012 |title=Den Weg der Verständigung suchen |language=de |trans-title=Find the Path to Understanding |url=https://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/pdf_pro_2012_04.pdf |magazine=Pro Christliches Medienmagazin |page=31 |location= |publisher= |access-date=15 October 2023 |archive-date=11 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611192242/https://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/pdf_pro_2012_04.pdf |url-status=live }} In 1983, Holmer became head of {{ill|Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal|de}}, a sanatorium set up in 1905 to help addicts, seniors, disabled people, and homeless people.{{cite web|url=https://www.lobetal.de/aktuelles/meldungen/1099-wuerdigung-der-geschaeftsfuehrung-der-hoffnungstaler-stiftung-lobetal-zum-heimgang-von-pastor-uwe-holmer|title=Würdigung der Geschäftsführung der Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal zum Heimgang von Pastor Uwe Holmer|language=de|trans-title=Appreciation of the management of the Hoffnungstaler Foundation Lobetal on the departure of Pastor Uwe Holmer|access-date=23 February 2024|website=Hoffnungstaler Siftung Lobetal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224055824/https://www.lobetal.de/aktuelles/meldungen/1099-wuerdigung-der-geschaeftsfuehrung-der-hoffnungstaler-stiftung-lobetal-zum-heimgang-von-pastor-uwe-holmer|archive-date=24 February 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.lobetal.de/die-stiftung/wir-ueber-uns/geschichte|title= Historie|language=de|trans-title=History|website=Hoffnungstaler Siftung Lobetal|access-date=23 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203134908/https://www.lobetal.de/die-stiftung/wir-ueber-uns/geschichte|archive-date=3 December 2023}} Under his leadership, the Hoffnungstaler Siftung opened an addiction clinic and gained many Pietist employees in the face of staffing shortages. For his work there, Holmer received a medal of merit from the GDR.{{Cite book|last=Holmer|first=Uwe|title=Der Mann, bei dem Honecker wohnte|trans-title=The Man with whom Honecker Lived|language=de|year=2020|publisher= SCM Hänssler|isbn=978-3775145824|pages=220|edition=10th}}

{{see also|Erich Honecker#Start of prosecution and asylum attempts}}

Due to increasing instability in East Germany, Chairman of the State Council Erich Honecker was ousted from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and deposed three weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall.{{cite news|title=Entire East German leadership resigns|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=4 December 1989|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-12-04-mn-128-story.html|url-access=limited|access-date=15 October 2023|archive-date=24 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024061159/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-04/news/mn-128_1_east-german|url-status=live}} On 5 December 1989, the chief public prosecutor opened a formal investigation, causing Honecker to be placed under house arrest for one month. After being released, Honecker was forced to move from his house in Wandlitz, with the Volkskammer converting it into a sanatorium for the disabled.{{cite news|title=Honecker released from month-long house arrest|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=5 January 1990|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-05-mn-230-story.html|url-access=limited|access-date=15 October 2023|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061613/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-05/news/mn-230_1_house-arrest|url-status=live}} Although Honecker spent most of January 1990 in the hospital to remove a tumor, he lacked a home.{{cite news|title=Honecker has tumor removed|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=10 January 1990|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-10-mn-365-story.html|url-access=limited|access-date=15 October 2023|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306054644/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-10/news/mn-365_1_erich-honecker|url-status=live}} Honecker instructed his close friend and lawyer Wolfgang Vogel to ask the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg for asylum, as other places risked exposure to mob violence. After Honeckers' request for housing was denied by the state four times, Bishop Gottfried Forck agreed to send Erich and Margot to Lobetal.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/wg-mit-honecker-der-feind-in-meinem-haus/1617756.html|title=Der Feind in meinem Haus|date=18 October 2009|website=Der Tagesspiegel|language=de|trans-title=The Enemy in my House|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327011843/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/wg-mit-honecker-der-feind-in-meinem-haus/1617756.html|archive-date=27 March 2022|url-status=dead}}

From the end of January to April 1990, Uwe Holmer and his wife Sigrid housed Honecker and his wife, Margot. During this time, Holmer's house was inundated by journalists and protesters. However, Holmer believed that harboring the Honeckers was morally right and saw it as an act of forgiveness. After Honecker moved out of Holmer's house, Holmer maintained correspondence with Honecker, with Erich and Margot Honecker sending Christmas cards to Holmer each year until Margot died in 2016. Ten years after Erich Honecker's death, Holmer campaigned to transfer his remains from an urn on Margot Honecker's windowsill in Chile to a grave in Friedrichsfelde, Germany.{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/eine-deutsche-geschichte-honeckers-heimkehr-a-302068.html|title=Honeckers Heimkehr|date=29 May 2004|language=de|website=Spiegel Politik|trans-title=Honecker's Homecoming|access-date=15 October 2023|archive-date=20 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020175829/https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/eine-deutsche-geschichte-honeckers-heimkehr-a-302068.html|url-status=live}}

After Holmer's first wife, Sigrid, died in 1995, he married Christine Lander in 1996. Holmer adopted Christine's five children from her first marriage, as her husband died early.{{cite magazine |last=Nieswiodek-Martin |first=Ellen |date=2012 |title=Oma, Opa und 60 Enkel |language=de |trans-title=Grandma, Grandpa and 60 Grandchildren |url=https://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/pdf_pro_2012_04.pdf |magazine=Pro Christliches Medienmagazin |pages=28–30 |location= |publisher= |access-date=15 October 2023 |archive-date=11 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611192242/https://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/pdf_pro_2012_04.pdf |url-status=live }} After he retired, Holmer moved back to Serrahn to work in a rehabilitation clinic for addicts. He also joined the board of the German Evangelical Alliance. Holmer denounced the practice of abortion, declaring that aborted fetuses are "missing from every corner of society". He also criticized the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland for being guided by "extreme Bible criticism". Holmer regularly travelled to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to teach in Bible schools. In 2009, Holmer wrote an autobiography entitled {{Lang|de|Der Mann, bei dem Honecker wohnte}}.{{efn|Translation: The Man with whom Honecker Lived}} His story was also the subject of the 2022 documentary, {{Lang|de|Honecker und der Pastor}},{{efn|Translation: Honecker and the Pastor}} directed by Jan-Josef Liefers. Holmer praised the film, saying, "The concern from back then is well captured in the film." Holmer died on 25 September 2023 in his home in Serrahn.

• {{cite book |last1=Holmer |first1=Uwe |last2=de Boor |first2=Werner |date=1976 |title=Die Briefe des Petrus und der Brief des Judas (Wuppertaler Studienbibel)|trans-title=The Letters of Peter and the Letter of Judas (Wuppertal Study Bible) |language=de |location=Wuppertal |publisher=R. Brockhaus Verlag |isbn=3-417-25063-3}}
• {{cite book |last1=Holmer |first1=Uwe |last2=Hamm-Brücher |first2=Hildegard |last3=Hildebrandt |first3=Regine |date=1993 |title= Das geknickte Rohr aufrichten. Christen gegen Gewalt |trans-title=Straightening the bent pipe. Christians against violence.|language=de |location=Wuppertal |publisher=R. Brockhaus Verlag |isbn=3-417-24127-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Holmer |first=Uwe |date=2009 |title=Der Mann, bei dem Honecker wohnte |trans-title=The Man with whom Honecker Lived|language=de|location=Holzgerlingen|publisher=Hänssler Verlag|isbn=978-3-7751-4582-4}}
• {{cite book |last=Holmer |first=Uwe |date=2021 |title=Zuversicht. Weil Glaube trägt|trans-title= Confidence. Because Faith Carries.|language=de|location=Dillenburg|publisher=Christliche Verlagsgesellschaft|isbn=978-3-86353-730-2}}

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Category:1929 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:People from Wismar

Category:Hitler Youth members

Category:East German writers

Category:20th-century German Lutheran clergy

Category:21st-century German Lutheran clergy

Category:German anti-abortion activists

Category:German anti-communists