Adolf Schruth

The founder of Radebeul's town history research

The Reformation in Radebeul

Adolf Schruth is undoubtedly one of the most important representatives of local historians in the Elbland region in the 1920s. Born on 11 February 1872 in Dresden as the son of the merchant Theodor Schruth and his wife Anna Johanne, he initially turned to the watchmaking trade. He later worked as an editor for the local history magazine "Die Elbaue" and took on the position of editor of the Kötzschenbrodaer Generalanzeiger. Even then, the archive formed the basis for local history work and so he wrote the chronicles of the western Lößnitz communities such as Kötzschenbroda, Naundorf, Niederlößnitz and Zitzschewig based on the archive material in the Dresden Main State Archive. This was followed by his appointment as town chronicler in 1941, an honorary position in which he wrote down the daily chronicles of Radebeul from 1942-1944. Adolf Schruth finally died on 10 October 1946 and left his beloved Elbe Valley forever.

Schruth was one of the first local historians to adopt a historical-critical approach, scientifically analysing the archives and compiling his works on the history of the town according to the standards of verifiability.

One of his many topics was the Reformation in Kötzschenbroda. He writes the following about the years surrounding the change of faith:

The reigning Duke the Bearded was a strict Catholic and "would rather have merely gone into misery with his wife before he would have allowed a subject to deviate from Catholic doctrine in the slightest". The new confession was only able to spread from April 1539 through the Luther supporter and successor Duke Heinrich. The first Protestant church service was held in Dresden from June. However, as the pastor in Kötzschenbroda was not prepared to accept the Lutheran confession, he had to leave office and make way for the new pastor Veit Hammer, who significantly changed the parish of Kötzschenbroda. The surviving records of the visitations, which were ordered at regular intervals by the Saxon sovereign, provide information about this. Kaditz was the first to become an independent parish, separate from Kötzschenbroda. Within Kötzschenbroda, the actual parish area, new farming settlements were built around today's Vorwerkstraße and Fürstenhain. In addition, the sovereign recently took over the right to fill clerical positions (Kollatur). However, the first years after the Reformation initially brought hardship and sorrow to Kötzschenbroda, as it appears to have been plundered during the Schmalkaldic War (1564-1547). After 20 years in office, Veit Hammer was replaced by Hieronymus Greser, who left the post after just 4 years and was replaced by Sebastian Fröhlich. Under his leadership, for example, the Gottesacker cemetery was built. A new school was also built, with schoolmaster Peter Schweger, who was affectionately known as Schwegerchen. In 1580, a school reform was enacted which stipulated that young people should not only be taught catechism, prayers and Lutheran hymns, but also reading and writing. There was as yet no training for the teaching profession; in most cases, one's own profession was practised alongside teaching.

However, the call, especially of the new church confession, was sometimes not loud enough, and so fines had to be levied for failure to attend church. In addition, it was often the case that the farmers had had too much beer beforehand - they came to church drunk. This also had to be stopped by a patrolling day watch.

In 1598, a terrible fire destroyed the church, but fortunately it was rebuilt - also with the help of donations.

Gradually, however, the new Protestant-Lutheran creed was able to assert itself, and since 1892 Radebeul has been home to the Luther Church, named in honour of the reformer.

Maren Gündel (City Archive)

(1) Adolf Schruth: Chronicle of Kötzschenbroda (Part I)

(2) Radebeul town archive files p 16-35

(3) Stadtlexikon Radebeul - Historisches Handbuch für die Lößnitz, published by the Radebeul town archives in 2006