Margarete Schneider
"The woman at his side"
She - called Gretel by everyone. Her husband was the first German pastor to be murdered by the Nazis. He did not preach the new cult of the Führer, but God as witnessed by Jesus Christ. Margarete Schneider stood faithfully by his side on his way through martyrdom. Strong and modest, straightforward in her faith, composed and yet passionate. After her husband's death, she raised their six children and passed on his message to future generations. The quiet example of this brave woman speaks all the louder." (from Paul Dieterich "Margarete Schneider", Hänssler-Verlag 2019")
Margarete Schneider died in December 2002 at the age of almost 99.
On the tenth anniversary of the death of Margarete Schneider (1904-2002), the Protestant church remembers the wife of the "preacher of Buchenwald", the pastor Paul Schneider, who was murdered in the concentration camp. According to the Simmern-Trarbach church district, she died on December 27, 2002 at the age of 98.
"We are grateful to her because she retained her love for her church, even though the church, in particular the then Consistory of the Rhine Province, was guilty of Paul Schneider, her and the family," said Rhineland President Nikolaus Schneider. Margarete Schneider was a witness and part of the martyrdom of the Buchenwald preacher, said Schneider, who is also Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
Pastor Elsa-Ulrike Ross from Weimar, Chairwoman of the Pastor Paul Schneider Society, paid tribute to the pastor's wife from Wildberg in the Black Forest as a life-affirming personality. She transformed suffering into strength and energy: "Without her, hardly anyone would know anything about Paul Schneider."
Margarete Schneider published a book about her husband, which was also published in the former GDR. "She used every opportunity to write about him and trace his path of following Jesus right up to his death," said Ross. The mother of six children repeatedly advocated reconciliation and peace.
Mrs. Schneider had always remained connected to the Hunsrück region and had actively participated in the memorial events for her husband, the statement continued.
Her memory stands on an equal footing with that of her husband in the parishes where her husband was a pastor, emphasized the Dickenschieder pastor Dietrich Benninghaus.
Horst Hörpel, superintendent of the Simmern-Trarbach church district, paid tribute to Margarete Schneider as "one of the most impressive personalities I have had the privilege of meeting in my life". He also referred to her involvement in the prayers for peace at the stationing site near Hasselbach in the 1980s. "Her life made it clear how free a person can be when they know they are bound to the word of the cross," said Hörpel.
Margarete Schneider has received numerous honors for her commitment, including the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and honorary citizenship of the Hunsrück community of Dickenschied.
Curriculum vitae in data
1904 Margarete ("Gretel") Dieterich is born on January 8 as the tenth child of the pastor and his wife.
Karl Dieterich and Marie née Rüdiger born in Wildberg in the Black Forest
1913 Relocation; Karl Dieterich becomes pastor in Weilheim/Tübingen
Attends the Lyceum in Tübingen until the intermediate school leaving certificate (10th grade)
1916 The brothers Ernst and Wilhelm fall in France
1918 Confirmation, motto Matth. 5,16 "Let your light shine..."
1920 Theology student Paul Schneider lives in the Weilheim vicarage during the summer semester
1922 Engagement to Paul Schneider in Weilheim
1926 Wedding in Weilheim (12.8.), saying: Ruth 1:16 "Where you go..."
Moves into the vicarage in Hochelheim; Paul Schneider succeeds
of his late father, pastor for the parishes of Hochelheim and
Dornholzhausen in the district of Wetzlar
1927 Birth of the first son Dieterich, called Dieter on 20.4.
1929 Birth of daughter Eva Maria, called Evmarie on 1.9.
Foundation of the women's aid organization
1930 Birth of the second son Paul Hermann on 6.12.
1933 Birth of third son Gerhard on 8.2.
Public statement by Paul Schneider against SA Chief of Staff Röhm, followed by a complaint
and temporary leave of absence from office at the instigation of the NSDAP Wetzlar (October)
1934 Last sermon in Hochelheim (28.1.); renewed leave of absence and transfer to the
Parish of Dickenschied/Womrath in Hunsrück; move to Dickenschied (25.4.)
Clash between Paul Schneider and the district leader of the NSDAP at the
Funeral of a member of the Hitler Youth in Gemünden.
Thereupon first period of detention in Simmern from June 13 to 20
1935 Birth of the fourth son Karl Adolf on 17.1.
Second detention in Kirchberg from March 16 to 19
1937 Birth of the fifth son Ernst Wilhelm on 13.5.
Third arrest (May 31) and "protective custody" in Koblenz
Expelled from the Rhine Province (July 24); stays in Baden Baden
and Eschbach/Usingen, partly with family; return to the communities at the request of the
Presbytery (2.10.); Thanksgiving service in Dickenschied; on the way to the
Church service in Womrath fourth arrest (3.10.); police prison in Koblenz
(until 27.11.); after renewed refusal of expulsion and last reunion
With Gretel, transfer of Paul Schneider to Buchenwald concentration camp (27.11.), prisoner 2491
1938 Paul Schneider from April until his death in solitary confinement in the detention cell building
1939 Schneider killed in the military hospital building by an overdose of strophanthin (July 18)
Margarete Schneider collects the body from Buchenwald
Transfer of the sealed coffin to Dickenschied on 19.7.
and funeral in Dickenschied on 21.7.
1940 Moves to Wuppertal-Elberfeld to a house that was built by friends from the confessing
Church house purchased to provide for the family (25.4.)
1943 House burns down due to air war; moves to Tübingen in September to live with his mother,
who dies at the end of November.
1945 Apartment has to be vacated for the French occupying forces;
The family was split up into makeshift accommodation until, as victims of fascism
is allocated an apartment towards the end of the year.
1946 Co-establishment of the church's women's work and the Mothers' Convalescent Home
in Württemberg (until 1959), preparation times for rural women (until 1964)
1951/2 Founding member of the All-German People's Party (GVP) with Erhard Eppler
1953 "The Preacher of Buchenwald" appears, compiled and written by her
1954 First visit to Buchenwald on the occasion of the Church Congress in Leipzig
1959 Construction of the "Häusle" in Dickenschied for future summer stays
Apartment in Tübingen is retained until 1964.
1960 Family reunion in Tübingen with the son who emigrated to the USA in 1955
Paul Hermann; subsequent fatal accident involving the sons through no fault of their own
Dieter and Gerhard; serious injuries to Karl Adolf (18.4.)
1964 Gives up his apartment in Tübingen, spends the winter with his daughter Evmarie in
Stuttgart-Botnang (until 1967)
1983 Winter stays in Liederbach am Taunus with her daughter Evmarie (until 2001)
1997 Foundation of the Pastor Paul Schneider Society in Weimar
Nursing care in Liederbach; from September 2002 in the nursing home in Schwalbach/Taunus
2002 Margarete Schneider dies in Schwalbach on December 27, 2002 at the age of almost ninety-nine
2003 Burial at the side of her husband in Dickenschied (4.1.)
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