Jochen Klepper

Jochen Klepper (March 22, 1903 – December 11, 1942) was a German writer, poet and journalist.

Life

Klepper was born in Beuthen, Silesia (now in Poland). Suffering from severe asthma, he was schooled at home by his father, a Lutheran minister, until the age of 14. He then studied at the Gymnasium in Glogau. In 1922, he started studying theology at the University of Erlangen, before transferring to the University of Breslau a year later. He completed his degree and began doctoral studies, but in 1926 he abandoned this, instead working as a church publisher and later a journalist to support his family. He preached a sermon as a substitute to his ill father in 1927.[1]

Starting in December 1935, he wrote for Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenbergs journal Weiße Blätter (White Papers).[2]

In December 1940, he was drafted by the German Army — perhaps a bureaucratic mistake since citizens married to Jews were not to be drafted. His wife however had been baptized and they had a church wedding ceremony in 1938. While Klepper did not see combat, he served in a supply unit for forces through Bulgaria, Poland and Russia before being discharged in 1942 to tend to his wife.

On 11 December 1942, after Adolf Eichmann refused visa for the couple's second daughter, the three of them committed suicide by turning on a gas valve - Jochen writing in his journal just before they died: Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives.[3] After their death, his sister Hildegard gave the diary to the Allied trial against Adolf Eichmann where it was used as evidence against him (Session 51).

Diary

The book "In the Shadow of Your Wings", appeared in 1956, contains a selection from the diaries of Klepper.

Klepper wrote many church songs and they are used in modern Protestant and Catholic hymnals, such as "Gott wohnt in einem Lichte" and the Christmas hymn "Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen".

References
  1. Herl, Joseph (July 2003). "The Hymns of Jochen Klepper". The Hymn. 54 (3): 7–15.
  2. Maria Theodora Freifrau von dem Bottlenberg-Landsberg: Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. 1902–1945. Ein Lebensbild. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-931836-94-0, S. 134.
  3. Homan, Gerlof (July 2000). "A German Mennonite Affirmation of Jochen Klepper in Nazi Germany". Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
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