A Flea Market Find and the Church Struggle

As I write this I am sitting in the Bonhoeffer house in Berlin, the house where Dietrich Bonhoeffer was living with his parents at the time of his arrest. I'm here studying with Andrew Root, focusing on Bonhoeffer's life and teachings. But during some free time, I found myself drawn into another piece of the history of the German church struggle. During the morning on our first day here, Andy and I wandered through a flea market near the Tiergarten and came across a beautiful vintage wall cross—a traditional confirmation commemorative gift. Inscribed on the piece is the name Matthäuskirche (St. Matthew's Church), Berlin-Steglitz. For a brief moment, I thought I had stumbled upon an extraordinary connection to Bonhoeffer, imagining it might have originated from the Matthäuskirche where he was ordained. It turned out to be a different St. Matthew's Church altogether. Yet the discovery sent me down a historical rabbit hole, and what I found proved fascinating in its own right. The story of Theodor Moldaenke and the congregation at Berlin-Steglitz offers a striking glimpse into the tumultuous years of the Kirchenkampf ("Church Struggle"), revealing just how deeply divided German Protestantism had become. Congregations were torn apart, loyalties fractured, and in some cases even clergy serving the same parish found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. For those interested in Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church, the history of Matthäuskirche in Berlin-Steglitz provides a vivid illustration of the ecclesiastical and political turmoil that defined the era.

Theodor Moldaenke served as a prominent pastor of the Matthäuskirche (St. Matthew's Church) in Berlin-Steglitz, a historic red-brick Neo-Romanesque Protestant church constructed between 1876 and 1880. More than simply a parish minister, Moldaenke also became one of the church's principal historians. In 1930, on the occasion of the congregation's fiftieth anniversary, he co-authored Vom Dorfkirchlein zur Großstadtkirche ("From Village Church to Big-City Church"), which traced the remarkable transformation of the parish from a small rural village church into one of the major Protestant congregations of metropolitan Berlin.

Today, Matthäuskirche stands fully restored, and the historic churchyard (Dorfkirchhof) contains information steles recounting the history of the congregation and the Church Struggle (Kirchenkampf). A memorial grave cross dedicated to Moldaenke also remains on the grounds, preserving the memory of his ministry and witness.

The Kirchenkampf and Resistance to National Socialism

During the 1930s, Matthäuskirche became one of the many battlegrounds of the Kirchenkampf, the conflict that divided German Protestantism under National Socialism. Moldaenke emerged as an early and committed member of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) and was among the founders of the Pfarrernotbund (Pastors' Emergency League), established to defend ecclesiastical independence and to support pastors affected by the racial policies of the Nazi regime, namely those pastors who had Jewish heritage and were therefore not "Aryan."

Within his own congregation, these larger conflicts assumed a deeply personal form. Moldaenke shared pastoral responsibilities with Werner Rogge, an enthusiastic member of the Nazi Party and supporter of the pro-regime German Christian movement (Deutsche Christen). Their opposing theological and political convictions divided the parish and created persistent tensions within congregational life. The fact that two pastors serving the same church could represent such radically different visions of Christianity underscores the extent to which the church itself became a battleground during the Third Reich.

Despite increasing surveillance and mounting pressure from the state, Moldaenke remained active within the Confessing Church. He supported the illegal Kirchliche Hochschule (Church Seminary), taught students associated with the movement, and conducted worship services aligned with the church's resistance to Nazi efforts to subordinate Christianity to ideology.

War and Devastation

The Second World War brought profound disruption to the life of the congregation. A wing of the parish hall (Gemeindehaus) was requisitioned by the Wehrmacht and converted into a military hospital. On March 1, 1943, Allied bombing in the vicinity caused severe damage to the church. Although the structure itself survived, the shockwaves shattered nearly all of its historic stained-glass windows.

As the destruction of Berlin intensified and much of Steglitz suffered extensive bomb damage, ordinary parish life became increasingly difficult. Eventually, the damaged nave ceased functioning as a regular worship space and was repurposed as a vast storage depot for furniture salvaged from neighboring homes destroyed during the air raids.

Legacy

Theodor Moldaenke's legacy rests not only in his decades of pastoral service but also in his steadfast commitment to the Confessing Church during one of the darkest periods in German history. As pastor, historian, and participant in the ecclesiastical resistance to National Socialism, he helped preserve both the spiritual integrity and historical memory of the Matthäuskirche congregation. The restored church and its memorials continue to bear witness to his life and ministry.

More broadly, the story of Matthäuskirche reminds us that the Kirchenkampf was not merely a contest between churches and the state, but a struggle that unfolded within congregations themselves. The divisions that characterized German Protestantism during the Nazi era were often painfully intimate, with colleagues, pastors, and parishioners finding themselves committed to profoundly different understandings of Christian faithfulness. In this respect, the story of Theodor Moldaenke and Werner Rogge provides a poignant local window into the same world inhabited by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his fellow confessing Christians.

Sources

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matth%C3%A4uskirche_(Berlin-Steglitz) 

https://www.matthaeus-steglitz.de/ 

https://www.matthaeus-steglitz.de/stelen/stele-13