{{Short description|German Christian writer, poet and journalist. (1903–1942)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} '''Joachim Georg Wilhelm Klepper''' (22 March 1903 – 11 December 1942) was a German Christian writer, poet and journalist.

==Life== Klepper was born in Beuthen an der Oder, (now Bytom Odrzański in Poland) on 22 March 1903.<ref name="rbb">{{Cite web |date=2018-11-18 |title="Vier Stimmen - Das Schicksal der Familie Klepper" |url=https://www.rbb-online.de/unternehmen/presse/presseinformationen/programm/2018/11/vier-stimmen---das-schicksal-der-familie-klepper.html |access-date=2026-01-22 |website=www.rbb-online.de |language=de}}</ref><ref name="Stolpersteine">{{Cite web |title=Jochen Klepper {{!}} Stolpersteine in Berlin |url=https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/de/teutonenstrasse/23/jochen-klepper |access-date=2026-01-22 |website=www.stolpersteine-berlin.de}}</ref> He was the third child born to his mother Hedwig Klepper née Weidlich and his father, a Protestant pastor by the name of Georg Klepper. Klepper was the first born son to the couple and had four siblings. His older sisters were named Margot and Hildegard. His two younger brothers were named Erhard and Wilhelm.<ref name="Stolpersteine" />

Suffering from severe asthma, he was schooled at home by his father, a Lutheran minister, until the age of 14. He then studied at the Gymnasium in Glogau. In 1922, he started studying theology at the University of Erlangen, before transferring to the University of Breslau a year later. He completed his degree and began doctoral studies, but in 1926 he abandoned this, instead working as a church publisher and later a journalist to support his family.<ref name="GDW" /> He held a sermon as a substitute to his ill father in 1927.<ref name="Herl2003">{{cite journal |last1=Herl |first1=Joseph |title=The Hymns of Jochen Klepper |journal=The Hymn |date=July 2003 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=7–15}}</ref>

In 1931, Klepper married the widow Johanna (Hanni) Stein, née Gerstel.<ref name="GDW" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Berliner Geschichte: Jochen Kleppers Roman "Der Vater" |url=https://www.gerhildkomander.de/themen/160-berliner-geschichte-jochen-kleppers-roman-der-vater.html |access-date=2026-01-22 |website=www.gerhildkomander.de}}</ref> They moved to Berlin where he worked for the radio but was dismissed in 1933.<ref name="GDW" />

Starting in December 1935, he wrote for Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenbergs journal ''{{ill|Weiße Blätter|de}}'' (''White Papers'').<ref>Maria Theodora Freifrau von dem Bottlenberg-Landsberg: ''Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. 1902–1945. Ein Lebensbild''. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2003, {{ISBN|3-931836-94-0}}, S. 134.</ref>

In December 1940, Klepper was drafted by the German Army — perhaps a bureaucratic mistake since citizens married to Jews were not to be drafted. His wife however had been baptised just prior to their church wedding in 1938. While Klepper did not see combat, he served in a supply unit for forces through Bulgaria, Poland and Soviet Union before being discharged in 1942 to tend to his wife.

Klepper's wife, Johanna, had two daughters from her previous mariage. The girls were called Brigitte and Renate. Brigitte, the older daughter, was sent to England. Renate was too young to emigrate and stayed behind.<ref name="rbb" />

On 11 December 1942, after Adolf Eichmann refused visa for the couple's second daughter, the three of them committed suicide<ref name = "GDW" /> by turning on a gas valve. Jochen wrote in his journal just before they died: "Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mcusa-archives.org/mhb/Homan-GermanMennonite.html|title=A German Mennonite Affirmation of Jochen Klepper in Nazi Germany|last=Homan|first=Gerlof|date=July 2000|accessdate=17 June 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704134522/http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MHB/Homan-GermanMennonite.html|archivedate=4 July 2008}}</ref> After their death, his sister Hildegard gave the diary to the Allied trial{{clarify|date=April 2021}} against Adolf Eichmann where it was used as evidence against him (Session 51).

== Diary == The book ''In the Shadow of Your Wings'', appeared in 1956, contains a selection from the diaries of Klepper.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alles ist erlaubt nur jüdisch darf man nicht sein - Jochen Klepper : Ein christlicher Schriftsteller verstrickt ins Jüdische Schicksal |url=https://ursulahomann.de/AllesIstErlaubtNurJuedischDarfManNichtSeinJochenKlepperEinChristlicherSchriftstellerVerstricktInsJuedischeSchicksal/komplett.html |access-date=2026-01-22 |website=ursulahomann.de}}</ref>

Klepper wrote many hymns that became part of modern Protestant and Catholic hymnals, such as "Gott wohnt in einem Lichte" and the Advent hymn "Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen".

==References== <references>

<ref name = "GDW">{{cite web | url = https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/jochen-klepper/?no_cache=1 | title = Jochen Klepper | website = gdw-berlin.de | access-date = 22 January 2021 }}</ref>

</references>

==External links== {{Commons category|Jochen Klepper}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080220141136/http://lutheranwiki.org/Jochen_Klepper Klepper's Life, Theology, and Spiritual Poetry] * [https://www.liederdatenbank.de/artist/3743 List of texts] by Klepper at liederdatenbank.de * [https://www.scm-shop.de/media/import/mediafiles/PDF/588725000_Leseprobe.pdf "Jochen Klepper", biography by Markus Baum]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klepper, Jochen}} Category:1903 births Category:1942 deaths Category:1942 suicides Category:People from Nowa Sól County Category:German Lutherans Category:German non-fiction writers Category:Suicides by gas Category:Writers from the Province of Silesia Category:20th-century German poets Category:German male poets Category:20th-century German journalists Category:20th-century Lutherans Category:German Army personnel killed in World War II Category:20th-century German diarists Category:German people who died in the Holocaust Category:Suicides in Germany Category:Christian writers Category:Writers from Lubusz Voivodeship Category:20th-century German male journalists