US Chapter's Open Discussion: Remembering Rev. Diether Gehrmann, the first General Secretary of IARF

Description

This IARF US Chapter memorial discussion remembers Rev. Dieter Gehrmann, IARF’s first full-time General Secretary, through the testimony of his family, colleagues and long-time collaborators. Dorle Gehrmann traces his formation in the post-war German Free Religious youth movement, his Unitarian theological education in the United States, and his appointment as General Secretary in 1972. Lucie Meijer recalls the growth of the Frankfurt Secretariat, the expansion of IARF membership and Gehrmann’s emphasis on encounter, dialogue, youth participation, social service and international cooperation.

The discussion becomes a valuable oral history of IARF itself. Participants remember pioneering conferences and study tours in Africa, Japan and India; humanitarian and educational projects through the Social Service Network; support for Unitarians in communist Eastern Europe and Transylvania; the 1984 Tokyo and 1987 Stanford Congresses; and Gehrmann’s role in building relationships among liberal religious communities around the world. Personal recollections also illuminate his energetic leadership style, strategic work under difficult political conditions, and lasting influence on later generations of IARF participants.