Adolf Kurtz papers, 1927-1971

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Kurtz, Adolf, 1891-1975
Abstract:
Letters, certificates, registers of German evangelical church records, and photographs, relating to German evangelical opposition to Nazism, and to refugee relief work.
Extent:
2 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box (2.0 Linear Feet)
Language:
German
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Adolf Kurtz papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The original accession consists of letters, certificates, registers of German evangelical church records, and photographs, relating to German evangelical opposition to Nazism, and to refugee relief work. This group of materials is mostly associated with Pastor Kurtz's later life in Oxford.

An increment received in 2011 consists of many original personal documents, mostly from the pastor's earlier years in Berlin. Among these are Kurtz's theological degrees, ordination diploma, marriage certificate, notifications from the Gestapo, Zonal Travel Permit for Occupied Germany, and so forth. The materials include the pastor's vita and other biographical information, as well as the papers of Eva Borchardt Kurtz, his wife.

Biographical / historical:

Adolf Kurtz, a Protestant evangelical pastor in Germany, following Hitler's ascent to power in 1933, resisted the government's efforts to control religious life in Germany. In that his wife was born a Jew, he organized a relief agency to help Christians of Jewish heritage. Along with other Protestant churchmen, including Martin Niemoeller, Karl Barth, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he founded the Confessional Church, an evangelical group that resisted the Nazification of the German churches. Most leaders of this movement were arrested; some died in concentration camps. Kurtz was interrogated several times, had his school for Jewish Christian children closed, and was nearly deported to Dachau; but he and his wife managed to survive the war in Berlin.

After the war, in 1948, Pastor Kurtz was invited by the British military authorities in Berlin to come to England to visit German prisoner-of-war camps. He soon discovered and took over a refugee congregation of German worshippers in Oxford where he remained until his death in 1975. Besides ministering to his parishioners' spiritual needs, Adolf Kurtz helped collect funds in Germany to rebuild Coventry, especially its cathedral, which was destroyed during a November 1940 Luftwaffe raid. Kurtz was present, along with many other German representatives, on March 23, 1955, when the queen presided over the laying of the new foundation for the new cathedral.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2011.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Adolf Kurtz papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
Website