The new bell for the Protestant church in Penzberg has arrived.
The 160 kilogram bronze specimen is intended to replace a bell over 450 years old that the Penzbergers have to return to Poland.
So it is fitting that the renovation of the church can now begin - mainly because of the long crack above the apse.
Penzberg - The Martin Luther Church in Penzberg has three bells.
The smallest example, the “Our Father Bell”, has to be returned to Poland by the parish, to the “rightful owner”, as Pastor Julian Lademann explains.
This is expected to happen in the coming spring or summer.
The reason for the return dates back decades.
During the Second World War, the churches had to give away bells for armaments production.
In the early 1940s, two of the three bells in the Protestant church in Penzberg were confiscated.
According to Lademann, they came to a “bell cemetery” in Hamburg.
Most of it was melted down.
After the end of the war, around 15,000 bells remained.
The Penzberg specimens were not among them.
In 1952, the Protestant community was assigned the “loan bell”
In 1952 the Protestant community of Penzberg received permission to get a “loan bell” from the “bell cemetery”.
Not much is known about the bell assigned at the time.
She came from a church in Pomerania that no longer existed at the time, according to Lademann.
And it is said to date from 1563.
In Penzberg it rang for the first time on Maundy Thursday 1952. A few months later the municipality in Erding bought another copy.
The bell trio was complete again.
Pastor from Poland claims old bell
That the smallest bell had to be returned came as a surprise.
Lademann says that he found a letter from the regional church office when he became a pastor in Penzberg four years ago.
A pastor from Pomerania in northern Poland reported that he was claiming the bell that was confiscated by the National Socialists during World War II.
An examination showed that the claim is justified.
Lademann himself has no contact with Poland.
He suspects that it is a Catholic community.
According to him, the Poles themselves only know that their bell hangs somewhere in Bavaria.
The whole matter is in the hands of the Foreign Ministry and the Evangelical Church in Germany.
New cast: "A wonderful experience"
For the Penzbergers, that also meant that they needed a new bell. This was presented for the first time on Tuesday evening. It should be called “international understanding”. The approximately 5000 euros were financed through donations. Two married couples are immortalized on the bell as major donors: Werner and Sieglinde Steiger as well as Evi Haag and Jens Meier.
The bell was cast in the Rincker bell foundry in Sinn near Frankfurt.
It was “a wonderful experience”, says Sieglinde Steiger, who was there with the couple Haag / Meier and Margot Süskind, confidante of the church council.
It was done "with a lot of love", the company boss said a word of blessing, reports Pastor Sandra Gassert.
The decorations are the result of an art competition: They show people meeting in the middle from all directions (the design is by Susanne Hanus), and a cross (by Helmut Gröbel).
In spring or summer, the bell should be installed in the church tower after a pageant.
The masonry must be opened for this purpose.
In addition, all bells need a new suspension.
The bell system will also be converted to electrical control.
Martin Luther Church is facing major renovation - crack across the apse
So it is fitting that the listed church is already undergoing major renovation. Actually, as reported, it should have started in September. But now the time has come. The monument authority had sent their permission, announced Lademann on Wednesday. “We are ready to go.” The renovation costs are estimated at around 454,000 euros. It should start in autumn with the interior, where a large crack runs across the apse. The entire electrical system also has to be replaced. During this time, the evangelical community will celebrate its services at Gut Hub. The renovation of the exterior should continue from spring 2022. The community has already collected a large part of the money. According to Lademann, around 80,000 euros are still missing. As reported, the Catholic Christ the King Church in Penzberg will soon have to be renovated.