THE GREAT BENEFACTOR AND PROMOTER OF THE LIEBENZELL MISSION HILDA VON DIEST was born on 11 January 1869 in Hamburg, the youngest of nine siblings in a wealthy banker’s household. At the age of 18, she married the twenty years older, aristocratic officer Heinrich von Diest (1849–1924). He owned a family estate in Daber (Pomerania, now Poland), where he moved with Hilda von Diest after his retirement from the army (1904). Among other things, she maintained personal contacts with the devout Empress Auguste Victoria (1858-1921) and exchanged letters with her. The Diests dreamt of having a family. But things turned out differently: they were unable to have children; Heinrich von Diest struggled with a nervous disorder throughout his life, which became increasingly worse. In Strasbourg, where her husband was stationed, the young woman sought the pastoral counselling of a pastor: Heinrich Coerper. He was the head of the deaconesses from 1897 to 1899. Hilda von Diest receives decisive impulses from him regarding faith in Jesus Christ. She describes Heinrich Coerper as her “spiritual father”. A lifelong friendship developed that would have a decisive influence on the Liebenzell Mission. By paying most of the rent for the “Villa Lioba”, Hilda von Diest made it possible for the young mission organisation to move from Hamburg to Liebenzell. When the house was to be sold in 1903 and Heinrich Coerper feared that he would have to look for a new location again, Hilda von Diest acquired the villa and donated it to the Liebenzell Mission. In the years that followed, she bought the entire Mission Mountain, today around ten hectares in size, piece by piece and later handed it over to the Liebenzell Mission. She decrees that “mission pupils are to be trained for the Gentile mission in the houses on the Mission Mountain”. She also acquires several buildings in Ott, which she bequeaths to the Liebenzell Mission. At the first general meeting of the Liebenzell Mission on 7 September 1903, then still called the “Committee”, she was elected to the board alongside Lina Stahl as one of seven women. Women thus formed a majority, which was unheard of in any mission organisation at the time. This made the German branch of the China Inland Mission very attractive to unmarried women who signed up for mission service, as they had greater freedom here than was usual in other mission societies. On 7 November 1946, Hilda von Diest died in “House Bethany”, which she had bought for the Liebenzell Mission in 1916 and where Heinrich Coerper also lived after his stroke at the beginning of 1933 until his death in 1936. Hilda von Diest was the great Benefactor of the Mission; without her financial support, the start in Liebenzell Mission would not have been possible. “Of all the faith Pastor Heinrich Coerper (1863–1936) founded the Liebenzell Mission. But without the faithful woman of prayer Lina Stahl (1842-1924) and without Hilda von Diest (1869–1946), the mission organisation would probably never have come to the Black Forest. missions in Germany, there was not a single one that had such a benefactor at its side in the founding phase as the Liebenzell Mission. The purchase of Villa Lioba along with the grounds and two other buildings was probably the largest donation received by a comparable mission organisation in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. From today’s perspective, the value of this property would certainly be estimated at many millions of euros,” says church historian Bernd Brandl. The Liebenzell Mission still benefits significantly from it today. Hilda von Diest would have had every reason to be bitter because her life did not turn out as she had wished. But she turned her “life wound” into a “life wonder” and used her fortune for mission – with traces of blessings that have continued to have an effect for 125 years. WE WOULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT TWO WOMEN 8 A warm welcome O The guest house “Pilgerruhe” is built. Today it houses offices and the head office of the Liebenzell Fellowship Association. Po Loges is baptised O Missionary Friedrich Doepke baptises the young man Po Loges: the first person to be baptised on Manus Island – after ten years of mission work. Sister Lina Stahl dies on 17 November O Without her prayers, the Liebenzell Mission would be unthinkable today. 1924 1924 1923
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