Synopsis
The experience of reconciliation through the Christian Peace Conference of 1958 and the first all-Christian Peace Assembly of 1961.
About the Author(s)
Richard K. Ullmann (1904-1963) was born in Frankfurt on Main and received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Frankfurt University. From 1927 to 1930 he lectured at the Sun Yat Sen University in Canton, and from 1934 to 1937, he had a German language school in Serres, Greece. After some time in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, he reached England as a refugee from Nazi oppression shortly before the outbreak of the war. From that time until his death, he worked in adult education and various Quaker activities, for many years serving as Associate Lecturer at Woodbrooke. Brought up as a Lutheran, he joined the Society of Friends in 1946.
Richard Ullman was a vice-president and member of the working commission of the Christian Peace Conference, convened for the first time in Prague in the summer of 1958, on the initiative of a group of Eastern European churchmen and theologians. Dedicated to furthering relationships of Christians in East and West Europe, this group proved increasingly successful in overcoming the cold war spirit which divided the church far more deeply than denominational differences. The Prague movement reached a peak in 1961 in the first all-Christian peace assembly, with a participation of nearly seven hundred Christians from all over the world. The pamphlet, The Dilemmas of a Reconciler, reflects the author’s experience with this organization.
As the pamphlet was going to press Richard Ullmann was stricken with a heart attack and died August 8, 1963, in Birmingham, England. In addition to this Pendle Hill pamphlet he left the following writings: German Parliaments (in co-operation with Sir Stephen King-Hall, 1954), Friends and Truth (1956), Between God and History (1959), and the Swarthmore Lecture of 1961, Tolerance and the Intolerable.
Pendle Hill Pamphlet #131
