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Samariter Church  (German: Samariterkirche) is the church of the Evangelical Galiläa-Samariter Congregation, a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lustia. The church building is located in the Berlin borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The church stands on the Samariterplatz. The picture program of the original wall paintings and glass paintings with biblical stories from the New Testament, which were lost due to war damage and later interventions (continue reading under point 1.2 Church Embellishments) reveals the name of the church: for instance in memory of the parable told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveller who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road.

The Beginning
In the 1880s, construction began in the north-east of Berlin. The current local name of that part of Friedrichshain was Friedrichsberg as well as the railway-station 'Bahnhof Friedrichsberg'. On the city map of 1895 the area is planned, but only a few streets are already built with houses. See the area of M/6 in the map.

The plans for building the church were drawn up by the architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel. The architect had designed a building ensemble in the style of the Brick Gothic.

The façade is decorated with ornate pillar gables, corner towers and ornaments made of glazed bricks as well as mosaics and sandstone figures. Above the tower portal there is a statue of Christ in Savonnier limestone, an early work of the sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider.The church building was built in 1894 on the corner of Bänschstreet, formerly known as Mirbachstreet.

The tower of originally 60 m height was built to be a landmark viewable through all of the so-called Samariterviertel.

The foundation stone of the Samariter Church was laid on 7 May 1882, and the church was consecrated on 22 October 1894 in the presence of Empress Auguste Victoria and Prince Friedrich Leopold. On February 1, 1896 the Samariter parish was separated as a daughter from the St. Mark's parish and became an independent parish, because the parish of St. Mark's counted almost 140,000 members in 1892^.

And Empress Auguste Victoria donated 75,000 marks from the proceeds of the Castle Freedom Lottery.

The plans for building the church were drawn up by the architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel. The building seated for 1100. The architect Johann Gotthilf Möckel built the church in a neo-Gothic.

Church Embellishments
Samariter Church building was embellished by artist Professor Heinrich Saffer (*10 October 1856 Bamberg, †27. April 1936 Cuxhaven).

Saffer's specialities were history paintings, portraits and altarpieces. His realistic history and church painting earned him the attention of the Emperor's wife Auguste Viktoria.

He decorated the ribs of the star vault with leaf tendrils; in the present "Winter Church" this painting was exposed during restoration and partly repeated (by Restaurator Hans-Jürgen Wunderlich), also in the area under the south gallery these were made visible. (Rosette mit Darsellung des Bermherzigen Samariters, in Anlehnung auch an das ursprüngliche Kirchensiegel der Kirchengemeinde.)

Among other things, Saffer embellished the choir walls with pictures of the four Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.

Above the northern gallery Heinrich Saffer created the representation of the burial of Jesus Christ, above the southern gallery that of the resurrection.

The most splendid decoration of the interior were the three large stained glass windows on the east side of the sanctuary, which referred also to the name of the church. The oval medallion of the left window depicted the parable of the Good Samaritan (Gospel of Luke 10:30-37), the middle window showed Jesus and the grateful Samaritan (Gospel of Luke 17:11-19) and this window was a donation from the imperial couple. The right window depicted the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (Gospel of Luke 4:1-26).

In the three round windows on the northern and southern gallery, the works of mercy according to the Gospel of Matthew 25:35-36 were displayed. (Stained glass windows of the church destroyed in 1945)

The original equipment of the chancel with a pulpit and an altar with a wood-carved crucifix by Paul Scholz were removed in 1959.

The wall consoles bear angelic figures with the inscriptions of the Christmas message from Luke 2,14: "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among men of his good pleasure".



Sanctuary left side
!!! UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!!The mural depicting the Annunciation of Mary in the church sanctuary was commissioned and painted by ecclesiastical German artist ... .....

Sanctuary middle / Altar
In 1960, renowned Inge Pape ... donated a large, three-panel canvas mural of the Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection of Jesus Christ painted with Trompe-l'œil elements.

192? heating and light, first renovation
In 1923, the original church was demolished to accommodate growing membership, and a new facility was built in 1926. After the churches were equipped with new lighting and heating in 1927, the church was painted in 1928. The damaged windows are also repainted and barred. ....

Power describes the interior design, saying: In the sanctuary is one of the few elements of the original church building that is still in use today.

Church Bell and Bell Tower
The original bell from Samariter Church 1894 church building is still in use. The bell tower at Samariter Church was originally 60 Meter tall.





And included a steeple and roman cross. During renovations, the steeple was removed. The tower received damage following ...., resulting in repairs and the closure of the sidewalk.

The tower of originally 60 m height was built to be a landmark viewable through all of the so-called Samariterviertel.

Church in the 1930s and 1940s
see Out of steps Dr. Wilhelm Harnish was called as Pastor in 19.. Last big bomber attack on February 3rd, 1945 Invasion of the Soviet Army ''This scenery is described under the date of 25 April 1945 in the documentary novel "Finale Berlin" by Heinz Rein. The book describes the last weeks of the war in the streets at today's Ostbahnhof. Not only there, but in the entire district there were fierce battles 70 years ago with thousands of dead. Whole districts were destroyed. Unless they had been victims of the bombing before. On April 16, 1945, the Red Army had attacked Berlin from the Oder river. Only three days later the first units reached the eastern suburbs. The Soviet units fought their way into the centre via Frankfurter Allee and Landsberger Allee. A last contingent of Wehrmacht soldiers, Volkssturm men and adolescents confronted them.After the fighting in the last days of April 1945, more than half of the buildings in Friedrichshain no longer existed or were in ruins. (Text Thomas Frey, Berliner Woche;24.04.2015)''

Current Church Building
!!! UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!!Few elements of the original 1896 Church remain. The ... the sanctuary of the Church is original to the 1896 Church.

Original Pipe Organ
The original pipe organ by Sauer-Orgel is still in use and can be seen in the choir loft.

Parish in the 1980th
!!! UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!!In 1987, the Church was devastated by the ..., which caused major structural damage and led to the current remodel.

Samariter Church and Parish at present time
!!! UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!!A lot of renovation and restaration took place in the last 20 years, the Church was not closed to that. .... restore much of the plaster-work of the Church.

Church Appearances in newspapers
UNDER RECONSTRUCTION !!! Berliner Zeitung, DER TAGESSPIEGEL, Berliner Morgenpost

Pastors that have served Samariter Church
!!! UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!!
 * 1) Julius Koch (1896-1936)
 * 2) Emil Brucks (1896-1911)
 * 3) Waldemar Feder (1899-1911)
 * 4) Johannes Hachtmann (1905-1937)
 * 5) Dr. Leopld Clausnitzer (1909-1922)
 * 6) Alfred Schmidt (1916-1930)
 * 7) Dr. Wilhelm Harnisch (1931-1953)
 * 8) Karl Themel (1923-1928)
 * 9) Lic. Gerhard Klinge (1929-1934)
 * 10) Wilhelm Knebels (1934-1935)
 * 11) Martin Ueberschaar (1937-1947
 * 12) Lic. Ferdinand Geisler (1938-1953)
 * 13) Karl Meyer (1947-1965)
 * 14) Superintendent Dietrich Jungklaus (1953-1962)
 * 15) Herrmann Ringler (1953-1975) (Superintendent 1.1.1963)
 * 16) Siegfried Mueller-Schlomka (1965-1987)
 * 17) Karl Kuhnert (1967-1973)
 * 18) Dr. Klaus Kozial (1974-1975) (uninstalled as a pastor)
 * 19) Superintendentin Ingrid Laudien (1976-1994)
 * 20) Rainer Eppelmann (1975-1990)
 * 21) Peter E. Sedler (1991-2017)
 * 22) Joachim Grössing (1991-1996?) (Pastor on secondment duty)
 * 23) Ruth Küstner (1997-1999)
 * 24) Dr. Vera v. der Ostensacken (2017-2020) (Pastor on secondment duty)
 * 25) Dr. Dr. Vla. Kmec (2020–present)