Emmaus Church

The Emmaus Church of the Evangelical Emmaus-Oelberg parish in the Berlin-Mitte church district of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia was built according to plans and under the direction of August Orth from 1890 to 1893 at Lausitzer Platz in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. It formed a building ensemble with the opposite Görlitzer Bahnhof, also planned by August Orth. The church nave, which was destroyed in World War II, was demolished, as was the annex of the church tower. A new church nave was built at the end of the 1950s.
The Emmaus community was initially a daughter of the St. Thomas community. In 1872, a temporary church was established at Lausitzer Platz to provide the future new community with its own worship opportunity. On April 1, 1887, the community formally separated from the St. Thomas community. At its founding, the Emmaus community had around 70,000 members. The elections for the Reichstag in 1877 brought an increase in votes for the Social Democrats in this urban area. The ruling class attributed this to the declining bond of the people to the church. The increasing poverty and proletarianization of the population resulted in mass church exits. The ruling class tried to regain their influence by supporting the church of the Old Prussian Union, thus promoting the construction of large churches. The district synod provided 200,000 marks for the construction of a church, and the magistrate took on the same amount and provided the land at Lausitzer Platz. The foundation stone was laid on June 5, 1890. Due to objections from the Building Academy and the building authority responsible for checking the building statics, construction had to be suspended until spring 1891. The church was consecrated on August 27, 1893. The church pews accommodated 2,400 people. The Royal Court and Cathedral Choir sang during the service.

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