1. Harald Poelchau was a German prison chaplain, religious socialist and member of the resistance against the Nazis.
18 Facts About Harald Poelchau
1. 2.
Harald Poelchau's father was a Lutheran pastor in the village.
3.
Harald Poelchau attended the Ritterakademie Gymnasium in Liegnitz, where he participated in Bible classes and became involved in the German Youth Movement, which influenced him to turn away from a rural conservative piety.
4.
At the University of Tubingen, Harald Poelchau met the librarian Dorothee Ziegele.
5.
In 1938 the couple's son, baptised Harald Poelchau, was born, and in 1945 Harald Poelchau's daughter Andrea Siemsen.
6.
Harald Poelchau served as executive director of the German Association for Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Court Assistance in Berlin and as assistant to Paul Tillich at Frankfurt University.
7.
Harald Poelchau applied for a position as prison chaplain at the end of 1932 and was instated on 1 April 1933 as the first clergyman in a prison appointed under the Nazi regime.
8.
Harald Poelchau was opposed to the Nazis from the beginning, but did not join the Confessing Church.
9.
Harald Poelchau soon became an important source of support for the victims of Nazi persecution, and gave spiritual comfort to hundreds of people sentenced to death as they faced execution After the unsuccessful coup attempt of 20 July 1944, many of his close friends were sentenced to death.
10.
Harald Poelchau knew early on that only an escape into hiding would ensure survival.
11.
Harald Poelchau provided support for Arvid and his American wife Mildred Harnack, John Rittmeister, Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen, Kurt and Elisabeth Schumacher, Walter Husemann, Adam Kuckhoff, and many others.
12.
Harald Poelchau provided them with ration cards, cash and found accommodation for the family.
13.
Harald Poelchau found work for Manfred Latte, who became an ice delivery helper, and later gardener.
14.
From 1941, Harald Poelchau belonged to a resistance group of people around Helmuth James Graf von Moltke known as the Kreisau Circle.
15.
Harald Poelchau took part in the first meeting of the group.
16.
When Harald Poelchau was unable to push through his ideas for prison reform in the east, he resigned his position.
17.
Harald Poelchau dedicated himself to this task until his death in 1972.
18.
Harald Poelchau is buried in the Zehlendorf cemetery in Berlin.