Johannes Würth – pastor and chronicler
Johannes Würth was a Lutheran pastor in Harxheim from 1909 to 1920. During this time he also worked as a diligent community chronicler and recorded the important events in the village in the chronicle of the Protestant church community.
Johannes Würth was born in 1865 in Wachenheim in the Zellertal and was pastor in the Protestant parish in Harxheim from 1909 to 1920 – i.e. also during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. Previously, he had served in the Lutheran congregation in Appenheim from 1891 to 1909, first as parish administrator until 1894 and then as pastor. After leaving the pastorate in Harxheim, Johannes Würth retired and moved back to his home parish of Wachenheim. He died there in 1947.
Pastor Würth in his younger years (the picture was probably taken during his time in Appenheim)
Image: Karin Schlaipfer, Appenheim
Johannes Würth was married to Emilie, née. Heiss (1879 – 1957), the marriage remained childless. During his time in Harxheim, the couple lived in the Lutheran parsonage. This was then the still existing farm in Bahnhofstraße 3. Diagonally opposite in Gaustraße 11 was the residence of the baker and mayor at that time Johann Adam Böhm I. Bahnhofstraße was still largely undeveloped at that time. Today’s road section Im Wickgarten (section of Rheinhessenstraße between the Mainzer Straße turn-off and the Bahnhofstraße turn-off) did not yet exist; traffic coming from Mainz ran through Mainzer Straße and Gaustraße to the south out of the village again.
Johannes Würth obviously liked to write and was active as a chronicler. In 1908, on the occasion of the expansion of the Protestant church in Appenheim, he published a comprehensive book entitled Geschichte der Gemeinde und Pfarrei Appenheim Umgebung. He used his time in retirement in his home community of Wachenheim to write a book entitled Heimatbuch für Wachenheim an der Pfrimm (Local History Book for Wachenheim on the Pfrimm), taking into account his surroundings. The municipality of Wachenheim named him its honorary citizen in 1931.
Pastor Würth was also an avid chronicler during his time in Harxheim. However, he did not write a book, but recorded the events in Harxheim in the chronicle of the protestant community. recorded. This parish chronicle rests in the archives of the Lutheran parish. All Lutheran pastors since 1858 wrote down in this book the significant events for the church community during their years in office. However, no pastor has written nearly as much as Rev. Würth. His notes extend over 128 pages and are actually more of a local chronicle than a chronicle of the Protestant parish.
From 1909 to 1913, Pastor Würth writes especially about the weather and the prosperity of the crops. He also mentions the new buildings, records results of elections and statistical surveys, and reports on special events. These include, for example, the inauguration of the new school in Mainzer Strasse in 1909, the celebrations to mark the particularly good grape harvest in 1911, and the installation of electric lighting in 1912.
After the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, the records increase significantly and the reader learns how the war affected the village. First of all, preparations for war, in particular the completion of the Mainz defensive fortification running north of Harxheim
Selzstellung
and the associated quartering in Harxheim. Already in 1914 pastor Würth reports about the first fallen soldiers from Harxheim. In the years that followed, news of deaths continued to come from the fronts. As the war progresses, Russian prisoners of war arrive in Harxheim and are used as agricultural laborers for several years. The relationship with them seems to have been quite ambivalent. Later, reports about the lack of food and all things of daily use take up more and more space. Finally, after losing the war, Harxheim is occupied by French soldiers. Despite the palpable disappointment over the lost war, reading Father Würth’s chronicle also conveys how the French way of life made its way into Harxheim with the occupation.
Johannes Würth in later years
Picture: Johannes Würth (1930): Heimatbuch für Wachenheim an der Pfrimm unter Berücksichtigung seiner Umgebung. With new preface published by Wachenheim Heimatbuch working group. Wachenheim. 2013
The
records of pastor Würth
are a very authentic and therefore valuable testimony about Harxheim at that time. The Heimat- und Verkehrsverein Harxheim e.V. thanks the protestant parish for the possibility to publish the records of pastor Würth in excerpts on its internet site. Readers interested in the unabridged version of the records can contact the parish office of the Protestant parish in Harxheim.
References:
Chronicle of the Protestant community of Harxheim. Archive of the Protestant community of Harxheim.
Würth, Johannes (1930): Heimatbuch für Wachenheim an der Pfrimm unter Berücksichtigung seiner Umgebung. Reprint by working group Wachenheim Heimatbuch. Wachenheim. 2013.
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