final years.” She was a Soviet soldier involved in the region’s conquest from 1944-45. ELCA regional representa-
tive Arden Haug calls the home “astounding,” explaining: “It is a symbol of the victims and the refu- gees returning to take care of their former enemies.”
Residents at Carl Blum House in Kaliningrad, Russia, are thankful that Lutherans launched the country’s first Protestant-run senior home in 2006.
Russia
Caring for former enemies I
By William Yoder
n 2006, Russia’s Carl Blum House opened its doors—those of a former schoolhouse—in Zadorozhye, a village in the impov- erished enclave of Kaliningrad/ Königsberg.
The 24-bed home is five miles south of Nemmersdorf, now called Mayakovskoye. In October 1944, that city was the scene of the first Soviet war crime—the systemic rape of women—on what was then Ger- man (East Prussian) soil. The killing of an estimated 300,000 civilians in Königsberg forced the mass evacuation and ultimate expulsion of the historic, ethnic German population living in the territory. Dietrich Brauer, bishop of the
Yoder is a freelance writer living in Belarus and working in Moscow.
34 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia (ELCER), said the location on this historic spot is coin- cidental, but church representatives do regard the home as a symbol of reconciliation. (The ELCER is under the umbrella of the St. Petersburg- based Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, a Lutheran World Fed- eration member.) The late Horst-Peter Boltz from
Steinfurt, Germany, was instru- mental in the home’s founding. His widow Anna-Grete and other Ger- man citizens remain active in its upkeep.
That concern and involvement is
touching for many of the residents. One woman, who wished to remain unidentified, shared: “I would never have dreamt that my former enemies would be the ones paying for my
Brauer said this axis of peace has become a triangle: Reformed believers from Vaassen, Holland, approached Christians in Steinfurt about how they could join in a part- nership for peace. So the Steinfurt Christians invited their new friends to visit the senior home in Zadoro- zhye. “Young people from Vaassen have visited the home in Russia and we have visited Dutch homes for senior citizens in return,” Brauer said.
The home’s mission is per- sonal for Brauer’s family too. His spouse and ELCER pastor Tatyana Petrenko directed the home until mid-2010.
Confessional and ethnic issues play no role in the selection of resi- dents. Decisive issues are “illness, need, homelessness and frailty,” states the home’s Web page. Brauer added: “We do not advertise for our- selves [as Lutherans] at the home; the home is open to all.” Residents can apply and be selected by either communal offi- cials or the Kaliningrad region’s Lutheran offices. Such social ministry projects, Brauer said, are an opportunity for an ecumenical joining of forces. It delights him that Roman Catholic and Baptist groups visit, but he is saddened that contacts with the Orthodox have remained minimal.
Difficult living conditions Brauer sees care of the elderly as a spiritual issue. The church must spring into action when the basic
LUISE WOLFRAM
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