Viktor Glondys

Viktor Glondys (7 December 1882 – 28 October 1949) was a theologian and Lutheran bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania. Born in Austria-Hungary and of ethnic German origin, he became active in Czernowitz and then present-day Romania, notably within the region of Transylvania after its union with Romania in 1918.

Born in Bielsko in then Austria-Hungary to an ethnically German family, Glondys initially studied philosophy before having a crisis of faith in 1903 that motivated him to convert to Lutheranism; he then started studying evangelical theology instead. His first pastoral assignment was as a vicar in Eisenau. He then became a personal vicar in Czernowitz in 1909. In 1910, he was officially ordained and inaugurated there, before in 1912 becoming pastor following the previous one's retirement. As a pastor, he led the congregation there through multiple Russian occupations during World War I before eventually being forced to flee to Upper Austria. He then advocated for a pro-Austria view during the war and was a refugee pastor. He later endorsed the Union of Bukovina with Romania after the fall of the Russian Empire. In 1922, he was elected city parish priest of Brașov. During his tenure, he was known for his extensive lectures on theology sponsored by the Gustav Adolf Association. In 1930, during the Great Depression, Glondys was appointed a priest. Soon after, in 1931, he delivered one of his most famous speeches on the Good Samaritan, which rejected völkisch interpretations of it and advocated for the universal commandment of love. He was attacked by the self-help movement (a pro-Nazi movement) for this speech, which eventually led him to state it was a "misunderstanding".

In 1932 he became bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession. He quickly started addressing the matters of autonomy for the church and school institutions. He eventually allowed Nazis to be accepted into church leadership. In 1934, during a meeting of the volksrat, or a People's Council of ethnic Germans, a fallout happened between him and the Nazis, upon which he revealed the existence of their plans to undermine the church. After a split in the self-help movement, Glondys started supporting the moderate factions of the Nazis in a concordat. By 1938, the Nazis gained a majority in the consistory, upon which Glondys immediately shifted to aligning himself with völkisch rhetoric and joining the National Renaissance Front. In 1939, he made another controversial decision against the Nazis, stating that he alone made ecclesiastical decisions and that no party disciplined the church. This eventually led to the new Volksgruppenführer of Romania, Andreas Schmidt, pressuring him to withdraw from the church, which he did in 1941. After this, he went to work at the Lutheran Academy and started promoting anti-Nazi works and interpretations of the bible, but in 1944 the Romanian coup d'état happened and the Nazi consistory was overthrown. It was agreed upon that Glondys would return to the post of bishop. During this brief period as bishop, Glondys tried to push a viewpoint to the government that the ethnic Germans were forced to, under moral duress, to cooperate with the Nazis, including in memoranda. However, the Soviet Control Commission demanded that Glondys be removed from office for being sympathetic toward Hitler, and so he was again forced into retirement in February 1945. From then on, he kept a relatively minor profile before dying in 1949.

Early life Viktor Glondys was born on 7 December 1882 in Bielsko, which was then part of the Duchy of Teschen in Austria-Hungary. He was the son of Joseph Glondys (1834–1906), the master baker of the town, and Johanna Glondys (née Klimecki; 1848–1938). Both of his parents were Catholic and ethnically German, and together they had four other children. Afterwards, he entered the University of Graz studying philosophy. After his exposure to philosophy without any theological commitments, he started to question the Catholic Church's dogmas and customs and became increasingly estranged from the church. He entered the candidate house in Bielitz, a residential facility for seminary students and clergy, in August 1906. He passed his ministerial examinations as a Protestant clergyman in Vienna in 1907. He first started distinguishing himself during this time through his sermons and religious instruction. On 15 November 1909 he passed his second theological examination before the Galician-Bukovinian superintendency in Biała. Due to him also having previously sat for his Examen pro candidatura at the University of Vienna's evangelical theological faculty, and passing in March, he was thus appointed as personal vicar to Josef Fronius in Chernivtsi (then known as Czernowitz). On 9 October 1910 he officially arrived at the church in Czernowitz, and was ordained and officially inaugurated by Fronius and Preacher G. Derer, where he gave his first speech on John 3:17.

In October 1911, Fronius announced his intentions to retire from service and move to Baden. On 1 January 1912 Glondys officially took up the post in a de facto position until 18 February, when he was meant to be formally inaugurated, with Fronius giving his farewell sermon on 24 January based on Psalm 20. He was formally inaugurated in this position on 25 February, which was conducted by Konsenior Deder. During the second occupation of the city by the Army of the Russian Empire in the midst of World War I, he led a sermon where he viewed the Russian occupation with apprehension, noting the panic it led among the local population even through the troops were orderly and enforced strict censorship and patrols. However, despite many fleeing, he stayed in the city, stating that he was a spiritual caregiver. He passed the main philosophical examination with a doctoral dissertation which explored Baruch Spinoza and his metaphysicial ideas, including Spinoza's key concepts of modes, substance, and attributes, to determine whether Spinoza's philosophical system was internally consistent, excluding external philosophers' later interpretations of Spinoza's works. The thesis received general distinction; however, the faculty did note in their remarks approving it that he limited his subject by focusing solely on immanent observation and criticism, which led to less rigorous elaboration, but due to his having to flee Czernowitz due to the Russian invasion, he had less access to literature on the subject. A few months later in June 1916, he came back to the city during the third occupation by the Russians. He was marked for deportation to Siberia, and so he fled the city by foot, going from Vienna to Ödenburg, eventually making his way to Haag am Hausruck in Upper Austria during a brief exile. He then advocated for a pro-Austria view during the war, and was recognized for his "merits" in promoting war bonds. Meanwhile, he was also listed in records as a refugee pastor for evacuated Bukovinians in upper Austria. He endorsed the Union of Bukovina with Romania in late 1918 alongside Alois Lebouton as a representative in the General Congress of Bukovina.

In 1919 Glondys became a doctor habilitate lecturing in epistemology and the history of philosophy at Chernivtsi University after returning to the city following its annexation by Romania. He also held a series of summer courses in German at Hermannstadt during the summer, focusing on the problem of the psychic and the pursuit of truth while balancing exact science.

Priest of Brașov and interwar period During the interwar period, Glondys was parish priest and eventually priest of the city of Brașov. Pictured is the Black Church, one of the most famous churches in Brașov. In June 1922 Glondys was elected city parish priest of Brașov (in German Kronstadt), arriving in the city on 7 June and being officially inaugurated the following day. He was addressed by District Dean Reichart-Zeiden, and his first pastoral act as priest was a benediction following the ceremony's end. His lectures were sponsored by the Gustav Adolf Association, including at least one on Luke 17:5, where he probed and asked the congregation if prayer was still needed, whether they should pray this way, and if people even wanted it. He was also invited by the (German-Völkisch Continuing Education Association) to deliver sermons and lectures across Germany including at Leipzig, Halle, Berlin, and Dresden during 1924.

In addition to these activities of delivering lectures and sermons, Glondys wrote books on philosophy through Krafft & Drotleff A.G. in Sibiu (Hermannstadt), on what he stated was the problematic nature of Christians' belief in God, specifically the intellectual barriers that stopped people from believing in God. In a sermon in 1928 he set forward some ideas of his: that German-Evangelical life must be active in Romania, and that the previous decline in German influence led to a deeper awakening; he celebrated the idea of a cohesive German national identity. He also advocated to keep the 7% of state taxes for religious purposes that was implemented in Romania during this time, which he stated was necessary and mirrored what the Reich was doing. The 33rd Landeskirchenversammlung (regional church assembly) held supplementary elections for the role of Bischofsvikar. However, the election was marked by what was described as a "struggle" because of differences regarding the historical backgrounds of the "Old Kingdom" and the "new provinces", such as Transylvania. He spoke out against the alienation of others by people who supported völkisch interpretations, stating that the universal commandment of love is valid, specifically stating: On 7 June 1932 he completed his ten years of service as a parish priest and then vicar, for which he was praised for contributing educationally to the church as an "outspoken fighter", even though the congregation noted he had trouble integrating into Transylvania early on.

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession Appointment and rise of fascism In 1932, a district synod of the church in Tepliß announced six candidates for the position of bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania after the previous bishop, Friedrich Teutsch, retired. The candidates included Glondys. The election was contested between him, Hermannstadt city pastor Friedrich Müller, self-help supported pastor Wilhelm Staedel, and the Mediasch lyceum Hermann Jekeli at the bishop's palace. He was given royal assent by King Carol II and formally installed on 20 November. At his formal installation and for his opening sermon to the 35th Church Assembly, he emphasized that the church had to assert moral influence in decisions within the nation. He called the current situation at the time volatile, noting student protests in Bucharest, Gyula Gömbös visiting Benito Mussolini over France, and the tensions among German minorities. He had two goals: to deepen international contacts which he could use as domestic political leverage against the central government, stating the church could fulfill a mission across Southeastern Europe; and to have ethnic cohesion between the ethnic Germans in Romania through the Lutheran faith. In addition to letting cohabitation happen, in January 1933, he allowed the regional church to accommodate the self-help movement on the basis of carrying out community projects in Transylvania. Parish offices stated in reports that the movement was clearly distanced from the church, had no loyalty to it, and was more focused on its leader, the Scharführer. This led to Glondys responding that the agitation by Nazis would lead to a rupture within the Saxon community and calling them disrespectful.

Afterwards, in July 1934, NEDR was banned again, eventually leading to a split in its movement: one fraction was led by Bonfert; Gust created the German People's Party (DVR) that was more radical; and the founder of the self-help movement Fritz Fabritius led the "moderate" Nazi fraction. This led to Glondys showing restraint on actively resisting Nazism, and, at least in letters, noted he was worn down by the warfare between the political parties of the DVR and the Volksgemeinschaft.

After the adoption of the 1938 Constitution of Romania in February, which led King Carol II to form a dictatorship, Glondys pledged his full commitment to the strength of the church towards the aspirations of the new constitution in a tribute telegram. On 30 April, alongside Roth, Glondys met with Minister of the Interior Armand Călinescu to present matters of the German church and of the evangelical church as a whole after the signing of the new constitution. Glondys raised some concerns; Călinescu responded that he would accommodate the church. In July 1938, the Nazis gained a majority in the church's superior consistory, which is seen as a miscalculation by either Glondys or Roth, allowing the members to have a mandate duration from 1939 to 1945. Immediately upon the new regional church assembly's opening in July, he aligned himself with völkisch rhetoric in a speech which praised eugenics and called assimilation with non-Germans a violation of God's will and a sin that was of the harshest punishable acts in the Old Testament.

Start of World War II and resignation Andreas Schmidt (pictured here) advocated for Glondys resigning during World War II, which he eventually managed to force him to do. Early in the year of 1939, on 15 January, Glondys declared his accession to the National Renaissance Front to Patriarch Miron of Romania, which had become the sole monopoly party in Romania following Carol II dissolving all other parties which directly embraced Nazism. He also prepared an agreement with Helmut Wolff, reversing his previous moves and allowing "appropriate participation" from members of the Völkisch movement, which was a decisive change. In March, he began promoting cultural pride and loyalty in the Saxon diaspora abroad and urging them to be proud of their German identity, saying they should balance loyalty to their host countries and also devote themselves to their ancestry to instill pride in "German roots". A few days later, in what was one of the most important decisions for the relationship between the church and Nazism, a meeting of the consistory happened. This diary entry was later debated because Böhm, a historian on the topic, claimed that it solely stated he joined the National Renaissance Front (a symbolic gesture because it was the sole representation) while others disputed that it was him joining the National Labour Front (which was under Nazi control and would have signalled direct alignment). After Schmidt took power, he decided to remove Glondys as he saw him as an obstacle to the alignment of the church with Nazi ideals. He was replaced, under the influence of Schmidt, by Wilhelm Staedel on 19 July 1941. Staedel had previously been disciplined by Glondys and barred from seeking higher ecclesiastical offices after he refused to accept Circular 924/1936, but Schmidt managed to override church law for him. In this post, he still exerted some influence and began to fight against the "national church" after it came under subordination of the German People's Party under Schmidt. He rebutted people who came into prominence at the time, like pastor Andreas Scheiner, who had dismissed the traditional evangelical dogma as outdated and proposed a "folk religion" which embraced Nazism. During the time, Glondys also started publishing in theology journals like the Journal of Systematic Theology, where he discussed interpretations of the Words of Institution. He argued these interpretations overlooked their worldview dimension and that understanding the idea of the future divine world being with the present one is essential. Finally, he was also the president of the Gustav-Adolf Association starting in August 1940 after it became a legal entity, from which he later resigned.

On 23 August 1944, the Romanian coup d'état happened, where Prime Minister Ion Antonescu was overthrown and the state stopped aligning with Germany. After the reconstitution of the governing body for the church, he was called back to resume his duties in October 1944. During this meeting, it was agreed upon that all ecclestical measures enacted under the rule of the Nazis would be declared null and void and that they were for forced upon under moral duress, and he stressed in the strongest terms possible that the church needed to show that they disapproved the events by removing all "politically compromised individuals". Leo Stern soon after visited Glondys, stating he was conducting a study from the Soviet Union for a report on the situation of Transylvanian Saxons and how deeply involved they were with Nazism.

On 27 November 1944 Glondys, Müller, and Roth created a memorandum which they presented to Michael I of Romania which refuted accusations that the Saxons were all disloyal and collaborators with Germany, and stated that ethnic Germans fit for military service were forced to enlist in the German Army. They handed it over to the Marshal of the Court, Dimitrie Negel, who appeared slightly sympathetic to the minority; nothing ever came of it because the King did not have true power at the time.

Personal life In 1912, Glondys married Alice Mayer (1888–1978), who was the daughter of Czernowitz's finance director and hofrat, Johann Mayer. Later in life during the 1940s, Glondys suffered from a severe unidentified illness, which led him to go on multiple medical trips to Germany and which he eventually used as an excuse to retire. In January 1939 he was unanimously awarded membership to the Senate of the Luther Academy in Sondershausen.

Legacy Glondys' legacy has been seen as mixed. On one hand, many praise his efforts to stop the renewal movement under Fritz Fabritius in the early 1930s, which blocked attempts to Nazify the church in the early 1930s.

However, Glondys was also extensively criticized for his inability to choose and take concrete actions on the severity of the church against members of the congregation at the time who were sympathetic to the Nazis by his contemporaries.