{{Short description|German Lutheran theologian (1927–2022)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Werner Leich | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1123-036, Gera, Johanniskirche, Friedensgebet (Werner Leich).jpg | caption = Leich in 1989 | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|01|31|df=y}} | birth_place = Mühlhausen, Thuringia, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|12|17|1927|01|31|df=y}} | death_place = Gotha, Thuringia, Germany | education = {{ubl| | University of Marburg | University of Tübingen | Heidelberg University}} | occupation = {{ubl | Lutheran theologian | Landesbischof }} | spouse = | children = | awards = {{ubl| Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia | Four Freedoms Award }} }}
'''Werner Leich''' (31 January 1927 – 17 December 2022) was a German Protestant theologian and pastor. From 1978 to 1992, he was the longest-serving Landesbischof of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia during the era of the German Democratic Republic, and led the state church’s independence from the regime.
== Early life and education == Leich was born in Mühlhausen on 31 January 1927. His father was a jurist and the mayor of Schalkau, and his mother was a teacher; she died six months after he was born. Leich grew up living with his aunt and his grandmother in Weimar, until his father married again and integrated him into the new family in Schalkau. In 1939, his father lost his position as mayor due to arguments with the Nazi party, and was assigned to a minor position in Gotha. Leich was then educated at the Ernestine-Gymnasium there until 1942.<ref name="Findeis" /> In 1942, he left the school early to volunteer for the German Luftwaffe, and by 1945 had risen to the rank of Fahnenjunker.<ref name="Aufarbeitung" /> After World War II, he first trained to be a metalworker.<ref name="Aufarbeitung" /> He returned to his school, earning his Abitur in 1946. He met his future wife, Trautel Sickert, during a ball at a dancing school<ref name="Gotha" /> In 1947 he began studying theology at the University of Marburg with Rudolf Bultmann. He completed his studies at the Heidelberg University from 1950 to 1951,<ref name="Findeis" /> studying with Edmund Schlink.<ref name="Aufarbeitung" />
== Professional career == In 1951, Leich entered his first post as a vicar in Angelroda. A year later, he and his wife married; they had two children.<ref name="Findeis" /> He became pastor in Wurzbach in 1954.<ref name="Wende" /> From 1960 he was a member of the synod of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia,<ref name="Findeis" /> and the synod's vice-president from 1967 to 1978.<ref name="Wende" /> From 1978 to 1992, he was bishop of the Lutheran Church in Thuringia, holding the position longer than anyone during the era of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).<ref name="Findeis" /><ref name="Pietzsch" />
In 1983 Leich, along with Erich Honecker, reopened the Wartburg castle after its restoration.<ref name="MDR" /> He was also the leading bishop of the united Lutheran churches in the GDR from 1983 to 1986, and president of the conference of Protestant church leaderships (''Vorsitzender der {{ill|Konferenz der evangelischen Kirchenleitungen|de|Konferenz der Evangelischen Kirchenleitungen in der DDR}}'') in the GDR from 1986 to 1990.<ref name="FP" /> For much of his career, Leich defended worshipping God in an anti-religious communist environment, saying of this, "a lot of times we did hide being Christians"{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}. Leich promoted ecumenism.<ref name="MDR" /> He steered a firm course of independence of state and church. On 3 March 1988, he met with Honecker, demanding social reforms in the GDR.<ref name="Aufarbeitung" /> The Lutheran Church had offered an avenue for critics of the regime and people who wanted to leave the country to make their demands public, but its Berlin office was closed due to over-crowding.<ref name="Stasi" /> After the spring of 1989, he no longer used the slogan "Kirche im Sozialismus".<ref name="MDR" /> He is remembered as a proponent of the Peaceful Revolution.<ref name="Gotha" />
<gallery mode="packed" heights="220px"> File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0421-427, Eisenach, Wiedereröffnung der Wartburg.jpg|Reopening of the Wartburg, Honecker (2nd from l.) and Leich, 1983 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1123-036, Gera, Johanniskirche, Friedensgebet.jpg|Peace prayer in the {{ill|Johanniskirche, Gera|de|Johanniskirche (Gera)|lt=Johanniskirche}} in Gera; Joachim Urbig (l.), Leich </gallery>
== Personal life == Leich retired in 1992, and published an autobiography,<ref name="Findeis" /> ''Wechselnde Horizonte. Mein Leben in vier politischen Systemen'' (''Changing Horizons: My Life in Four Political Systems'').<ref name="Wende" /> He took care of his wife until her death in 2021.<ref name="Gotha" />
Leich died at a hospital in Gotha after a short illness, on 17 December 2022 at age 95.<ref name="FP" /><ref name="MDR" />
== Awards == In 1984 he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship.<ref name="Roosevelt" /> In 2005, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia.<ref name="Recipients">{{Cite web |url=http://www.thueringen.de/de/tsk/orden/thueringer_verdienstorden/ordenstraeger/ |title=Thüringer Verdienstorden > Ordensträger |publisher=Thuringia |access-date=2012-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205110304/http://www.thueringen.de/de/tsk/orden/thueringer_verdienstorden/ordenstraeger/ |archive-date=2010-02-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Autobiography == * 1992: ''Wechselnde Horizonte. Mein Leben in vier politischen Systemen.'' {{in lang|de}} ({{ISBN|9783417241259}})
== References == <references>
<ref name="Findeis">{{cite book | last = Findeis | first = Hagen | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QBGqahL0m80C&pg=PA159 | title = Das Licht des Evangeliums und das Zwielicht der Politik | publisher = Campus Verlag | date = 2002 | page = 159 | isbn = 9783593370088 | language = de }}</ref>
<ref name="Pietzsch">{{cite journal | last = Pietzsch | first = Henning | editor1-last = Kramer | editor1-first = J. | editor2-last = Oswald | editor2-first = C. | editor3-last = Schluß | editor3-first = H. | url = https://akd-ekbo.de/wp-content/uploads/Sonderheft_DDR_optimiert.pdf | title = Die Evangelische "Kirche im Sozialismus" – Christliche Botschaft versus ideologische Gleichschaltung? | journal = Zeitsprung Sonderheft – Kirche in der DDR | location = Berlin | publisher = AKD Pädagogisch-theologisches Institut | date = 2012 | pages = 1–3 | language = de }}</ref>
<ref name="Aufarbeitung">{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/werner-leich | title = Leich, Werner | encyclopedia = Aufarbeitung | date = 2009 | language = de | access-date = 20 December 2022 }}</ref>
<ref name="FP">{{cite news | title = Früherer Landesbischof Werner Leich gestorben | url = https://www.frankenpost.de/inhalt.theologe-werner-leich-gestorben-leitender-bischof-in-der-ddr.5702e18b-d34b-472a-938e-f994ac50dbee.html | newspaper = Frankenpost | agency = dpa | date = 17 December 2022 | language = de | access-date = 20 December 2022 | archive-date = 17 December 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221217150410/https://www.frankenpost.de/inhalt.theologe-werner-leich-gestorben-leitender-bischof-in-der-ddr.5702e18b-d34b-472a-938e-f994ac50dbee.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name="Gotha">{{cite news | title = Trauer um Landesbischof Dr. Werner Leich | url = https://www.gotha.de/service/aktuell/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung-detailansicht/article/trauer_um_landesbischof_dr_werner_leich.html | publisher = Gotha | date = 19 December 2022 | language = de | access-date = 20 December 2022 }}</ref>
<ref name="MDR">{{cite news | title = Früherer Landesbischof Werner Leich gestorben | url = https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/thueringen/nord-thueringen/unstrut-hainich/landesbischof-leich-tod-evangelische-kirche-100.html | work = MDR | date = 17 December 2022 | language = de | access-date = 20 December 2022 }}</ref>
<ref name="Roosevelt">{{cite web | url = http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards | title = Four Freedoms Awards | publisher = Roosevelt Institute | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121101030549/http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards | archive-date = 1 November 2012 }}</ref>
<ref name="Stasi">{{cite web | url = https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/informationen-zur-stasi/themen/beitrag/das-treffen-zwischen-erich-honecker-und-landesbischof-werner-leich-1988/ | title = Schwieriges Verhältnis / Das Treffen zwischen Honecker und Bischof Leich am 3. März 1988 | website = stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de | date = | language = de | access-date = 20 December 2022 }}</ref>
<ref name="Wende">{{cite encyclopedia | url = http://www.chronikderwende.de/lexikon/biografien/biographie_jsp/key=leich_werner.html | title = Leich, Werner | encyclopedia = Chronik der Wende | date = | language = de }}</ref>
</references>
== External links == {{commonscat}} * [https://www.meine-kirchenzeitung.de/c-aktuell/das-letzte-interview_a37964 Vermächtnis: Altbischof Werner Leich / Das letzte Interview] (interview, in German) Meine Kirchenzeitung, 29 January 2017 * [https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/thueringen/nord-thueringen/unstrut-hainich/landesbischof-leich-tod-evangelische-kirche-100.html Die Wartburg 1983 – zwischen Honecker-Besuch und Lutherjahr] (video, in German) MDR 2003
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leich, Werner}} Category:1927 births Category:2022 deaths Category:20th-century German Lutheran bishops Category:People from Bezirk Erfurt Category:Heidelberg University alumni Category:Luftwaffe personnel of World War II Category:People from Mühlhausen Category:Marburg University alumni