Erlöserkirche Borgfelde

In the Borgfelde district of Hamburg, the Erlöserkirche belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran parish of St. Georg-Borgfelde. It was Hamburg's first new church after the Second World War. Georg Thielen's original was a neo-Romanesque hall with a central dome and room for six hundred worshippers. Its foundation stone was laid in 1902 and the inauguration followed in 1903. The Hamburg firestorm destroyed it in July 1943, and the ruins came down in March 1950. The present church was inaugurated on 9 November 1952, one day before the forty-ninth anniversary of that first ceremony.

Henry Schlote and Friedrich Richard Ostermeyer designed the rebuilt church as a simple gabled structure. The east wall carries a memorial by Hans Kock, added in 1955 for the victims of both world wars. The tower followed in 1957, complete with small balconies and bells consecrated that May. Inside, the space recalls a Romanesque basilica: a flat ceiling spans three aisles, and a round arch marks the altar area. High windows of plain glass keep the light bare. The only ornaments are a wooden cross behind the altar, carved pulpit walls by Ursula Querner, and reliefs by Fritz Fleer. Fleer's reliefs show the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan and Noah's Ark. Wheelchair users can reach the interior without steps.

Since 2004 it has formed one parish with the Holy Trinity Church in St. Georg. The church is a lively centre of worship, above all for Ghanaian Christians. Two congregations hold their services here: Christ Ambassadors Ministries International and the African Christian Church Hamburg. The African Center Borgfelde promotes hospitality and exchange between Africans and Germans, with an International Gospel Service as a key activity. One piece of Thielen's church never needed rebuilding: the parsonage survived the war and stood until its sale in 1990.