wfn.org | Hans-Otto Hahn, Former Vice-President of German Protestant

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

Hans-Otto Hahn, Former Vice-President of German Protestant
Churches' Social Service Agency Dies
LWF General Secretary Commends Hahn's Commitment to Improving
People's Lives

GENEVA, 12 November 2003 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko has paid tribute to
Rev. Dr Hans-Otto Hahn's passionate commitment to the improvement
of people's living conditions worldwide. Hahn, former
vice-president of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) social
service agency (Diakonisches Werk) died on November 3 in
Stuttgart, aged 67. 

In a condolence letter to Hahn's family and EKD's colleagues,
Noko said the former head of German Protestant churches' social
service work made a "significant contribution to our joint
commitment to worldwide diakonia." 

Hahn, a committed partner of the LWF Geneva Secretariat and the
field offices as well as a respected member of LWF
decision-making bodies for decades, shared his understanding of
situations and developments and combined extensive support with
constructive criticism, Noko said. "His thoughts and actions were
based on the gospel. His work took him to many parts of the
world, provided him with insight in countless social realities
and sharpened his awareness of human need and suffering," the
general secretary underscored.

Born in 1936 in Erbach, Germany, Hahn was ordained as a pastor of
the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau in 1963. After serving
as a parish pastor for some years, he worked as a scholarship
administrator in the diakonia office, becoming director of the
newly established ecumenical diakonia department in 1969. Hahn
was responsible for Bread for the World, "Churches Helping
Churches," a scholarship program, "Hope for Eastern Europe" and
diakonia emergency assistance.

Hahn was one of the individuals behind the founding of Action by
Churches Together (ACT) International, a worldwide network of
churches and their related agencies meeting human need through
coordinated emergency response. The LWF is a founding member of
the Geneva, Ecumenical Center-based ACT. 

In 1984, Hahn received an honorary doctorate from the Thiel
College, Greenville (Pennsylvania, USA), and from the theological
academy in Madras, India in 1992. In 1988, he was honored with
the Commander's Cross of the first class Order of Merit of the
Federal Republic of Germany. (358 words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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