Albrecht Goes
Albrecht Goes was a prominent German literary figure who gained recognition in the post-World War II era. Born into a family with a strong Lutheran tradition, he was influenced by his upbringing and pursued a career in the ministry while simultaneously developing his literary talents. Goes began publishing poetry in the early 1930s and later wrote religious dramas for amateur church groups. Initially optimistic about the rise of National Socialism, he grew disillusioned and distanced himself from the regime, ultimately serving as an army chaplain during the war while witnessing the harsh realities of conflict and human suffering.
Following the war, Goes became a well-known television preacher, advocating for themes of tolerance, peace, and reconciliation, particularly between Germans and Jews. His most notable works, including "Unquiet Night," "The Burnt Offering," and "The Boychik," explore themes of guilt and redemption, resonating with the German public. These stories highlighted the potential for goodness to prevail over evil and contributed to his acclaim as a writer. Goes received several prestigious awards throughout his life for his contributions to literature and interfaith dialogue, and his legacy continues to be honored in Germany today.
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Subject Terms
Albrecht Goes
Author
- Born: March 22, 1908
- Birthplace: Langenbeutingen, Landkreis Öhringen, Germany
- Died: February 23, 2000
- Place of death: Stuttgart, Germany
Biography
Albrecht Goes was a major literary figure in Germany after World War II. Born in Langenbeutingen, Goes was the second son of Eberhard Goes and followed five generations and his elder brother into the Lutheran ministry. His mother, Elisabeth Panzerbieter, died when he was three. An imaginative child, in his teenage years he became an enthusiastic lover of nature and an accomplished pianist. While attending Schontal, he abandoned the usual ministerial clothing for the attire of the youth movement of the time. After a period of time at University of Berlin, Goes was ordained in 1930 by his father, and in 1933 he married Elisabeth Schneider, with whom he had three daughters. By 1932, he had begun to publish poetry, and in 1934 he began to write dramas on religious themes for amateur church groups, an activity he continued until 1959.
During the early years of the 1930’s, Goes was hopeful that Adolph Hitler’s National Socialism would bring progress to Germany, but eventually he became alienated from the Nazi government and joined the “inner emigration” of German writers and thinkers of the time. In 1934, he wrote to the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, whose works he had studied, expressing his concern and dismay over the rise of Hitler. From 1936 on, Goes published articles in the liberal Frankfurter Zeitung; he continued to publish essays and sermons on many subjects throughout his life. In 1938 became pastor of Gebersheim, a village near Stuttgart.
Although utterly opposed to Hitler’s aggressions, during World War II Goes served as a private (from 1940 to 1942) and then as army chaplain until the end of the war. He was mainly stationed at hospitals behind the Eastern Front. Back home, his wife helped those persecuted by the Nazis. It was in the Eastern Front that Goes witnessed both a dehumanized world of cruelty as well as revelatory moments of humanity. After the war, Goes became a well-known television preacher on the program The Word for Sunday, on which he gave sermons of a healing nature that encouraged tolerance, peace, and forgiveness as well as an appreciation of nature and art. He was also prominent in organizations working to reconcile Germans and Jews.
It was Goes’s experience at the Eastern front, however, that provided material for his best-known work, three stories about the evils of Nazi Germany. All three stories—Unquiet Night, The Burnt Offering, and The Boychik—featured ordinary people who come to terms with German guilt, but he also optimistically emphasized the way good could overcome evil, especially within a renewed Christian paradigm. All three stories were well received by the German public. In particular, Unquiet Night was a major best-seller and was translated into fifteen languages.
During the 1950’s Goes became a member of a number of important literary organizations. He was awarded the Hamburg Lessing prize in 1953, the Heinrich Stahl prize of the Jewish community in West Berlin in 1962, and an honorary doctorate of theology in 1974. In 1978, he was awarded the prestigious Buber Rosenzweig medal, given to those who contributed significantly to Jewish-Christian dialogue, and in 1981 an Albrect Goes Road was created in Langenbeutingen. In 1998, his ninetieth birthday was publicly celebrated, and after his death in 2000 an Albrect Goes Place was created in the state capital.