In Memoriam 1992-1997/Maria Ehlers

MARIA EHLERS

?—1995

With grieved hearts we have to inform you about the passing of Mrs. Maria Ehlers, a staunch and devoted handmaiden of the Blessed Beauty. Her loyalty and steadfastness in face of the persecutions of the German Bahá’ís during the Third Reich are unforgettable. She was among those seven Bahá’ís wrongly accused of continuing “the organization of the dissolved and forbidden Bahá’í sect” in a public trial in 1944.

We humbly offer prayers for the progress of her precious soul in the

Abhzi Kingdom.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany to the Universal House ofjustice

[Page 271]IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997 271

Maria Elders

We were deeply saddened to receive your faxed letter of 22 December 1995 and learn of the recent passing of Maria Ehlers. The example ofher unwavering faith during the early years of the Cause in Germany and her constancy in the path ofservice will surely be long remembered by the German believers and abundantly blessed and rewarded in the spiritual world.

Kindly express to her family and friends our loving sympathy at their loss. We shall pray at the Sacred Threshold for the advancement of the soul of this beloved maidservant

Of Baha’u’llih.

Universal House ofjustice December 27, 1995

Maria Ehlers, née Klingeberger, passed

away on December 16, 1995, following a short stay in the hospital. Together let us sojourn with her for a while longer and review her life on this earth.

Maria was born in Janet, in Silesia, nowadays a region in Poland. She left her parental home early, freeing herself from the religious narrowness that she had, until then, experienced. She joined the German Youth Movement and became influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy. At length she moved to Heppenheim (Germany) and found work there as a nursemaid.

Here she came to know the Bahá’ís, doubtless the most decisive event in her life. She was inspired by the Bahá’í vision of peace and the notion that world peace must be founded on amity among the great religions and that all religions are expressions of the will of the one true God who has created them. The Bahá’í Faith provided her with a new, positive disposition toward religion, and she saw it in a true sense liberating, universal, and peace—bringing for all cultures.

In 1936 she accepted the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and became a Bahá’í. From that point onward her life was molded by her new—found faith. At that time the Bahá’í religion was just ninety—two years old and had been represented in Germany for roughly thirty years. Baha’u’llah calls upon the peoples of the world to unite to form a worldwide league of cooperation, which leaves room for the manifold variety of cultures, while at the same time enabling the solutions of the world’s problems and finally the establishment of world peace. In the words of Maria Ehler’s favorite prayer, “Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home."164

From the time of her declaration, Maria Ehlers carried these thoughts wherever she went. The Bahá’í’s in Darmstadt (Germany) are thankful that she planted the seed of

“‘4 771: Promulgatian OfUniz/erxzzl Peace, p. 138.

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faith in their midst. Her undaunted courage cost her interrogation by the Gestapo and a severe fine during the period of suppression of the Bahá’í Faith during the Third Reich, which considered the notion of the equality of all races to be subversive.

Maria discovered in the Bahá’í Faith a freedom rather than suppression; and her social circle included not only Bahá’ís but also innumerable friendships with people from all walks oflife, ranging from beekeepers, whom she knew through her husband, to Salesian exiles and members of the Jewish—Christian organization of Buberhaus in Heppenheim.

In 1937 Maria married the toolmaker and beekeeper August Ehlers. As a consequence of the bee breeding, they were allowed to set up home in a nature reserve near Heppenheim, where they lived in natural surroundings for a considerable time with neither water mains nor electricity. Their home became a refuge and a center of hospitality for Bahá’ís and non—Bahá’ís alike; everyone felt at home there. The ideals of the Bahá’í Faith formed the basis of every conversation, and every visitor was destined to learn something.

Maria and August had two children, Rainer and Heidrun, and through them three grandchildren. During the Second World War and afterward, the Ehlers provided shelter for displaced persons, first for his parents, then for hers, then for one of Maria’s aunts, and in the end for two additional families. Theirs was a demonstration of the true meaning of sacrifice. Flhanks to the extensive grounds they were able to keep goats during the years ofwant and thus hold the enlarged family above water. All four of their parents lived with them until their passings, and Maria tended them one and all.

Maria’s granddaughter Natascha lived close by for four years. As late as October

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

1994 the two undertook a journey to the World Centre in Haifa, Israel. In the spring of1995 Maria moved into an old people’s home where she was once again glad for the opportunity to talk about the Cause of Baha’u’llah.

Maria Ehlers was spirited, courageous, independent, and vivacious, thankful in every life situation. As she loved nature so much, I should like to describe her homeward journey with a simile. She left the constraints of this world like a butterfly that has broken out of its cocoon, spread its wings, and conquered a world on which we, as caterpillars, cannot adequately dream. Let us try to overcome the pain of separation by sharing with her the joy of her liberation.

From tzfimeml oration

ofli’red by Claudia Gollmer