Adelbert Mühlschlegel
Adelbert Mühlschlegel ( born June 16, 1897 in Berlin, † July 29, 1980 in Athens ) was Bahai and one of the seven Hands of the Cause of God, who were appointed on 29 May 1952 by Shoghi Effendi.
Life
The years from 1897-1951
Adelbert Mühlschlegel grew up in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg and studied medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau, in Greifswald and in Tübingen.
In 1920, he received in Greifswald from his mother a letter in which they told of the Bahai faith, which they had met in Stuttgart. He wrote a letter to Abdul- Baha in which he confessed his faith in Baha'u'llah. Mühlschlegel received in October in response a missive from Abdul- Baha.
Opened in 1922 in Stuttgart Dr. Mühlschlegel a doctor's office and began to give lectures for the small Baha'i community in Germany, worked as a translator and was active as a writer. So he wrote a melodrama for a Bahai Congress in September 1924. Mühlschlegel In the same year was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is in Germany, where he remained until 1937, when the Council was dissolved by the Gestapo.
Mühlschlegel held 1925 on the World Esperanto Congress in Geneva a presentation on the Baha'i faith in Esperanto. Through his translation work he acquired also a sound knowledge of other European languages and Arabic. He has translated the Book of the Covenant and the Book of Certitude.
1926 married Mühlschlegel Herma Weidle. They had two girls and three boys, one of whom died in early childhood. 1936, the couple went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Mühlschlegel and met Shoghi Effendi know personally. Before Mühlschlegel knew him only from numerous letters.
1937 a large part of Mühlschlegels Baha'i books were confiscated and 1944, his home was bombed. After the Second World War, the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria in 1946 erected. Mühlschlegel was elected to the Board and served there until 1959, often as chairman.
Hand of the Cause of God
1952 Mühlschlegel was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God. In this capacity he traveled extensively. He participated in the International Baha'i conferences in Stockholm ( 1953) and Frankfurt am Main ( 1958) and represented 1957 Shoghi Effendi in the formation of the Regional Spiritual Assembly for Scandinavia and Finland. Also in 1957 Shoghi Effendi died in London. Mühlschlegel hastened there, prepared Shoghi Effendi body for the funeral and took part in it.
Besides his numerous travels he also attracted to often to support the Baha'i site. So he left Stuttgart in 1958 and eventually settled in Tübingen. 1959 Mühlschlegel suffered a heart attack and gave up his job. So he could henceforth devote all his time to the service of faith. In 1962 he was present at the election of the first National Spiritual Assemblies of Sweden and Finland.
1964 his wife died Herma after a long illness. Mühlschlegel moved to Vienna in order to strengthen the Austrian Baha'i community. He married again, namely Ursula Kohler, and traveled with her world for the Bahai faith. So he traveled 1969-1970 by order of the House of Justice to Pakistan, India, Nepal, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and Iran.
1970, the couple moved Mühlschlegel in the Canton of Fribourg. 1971 and 1972 he participated in the Baha'i youth conferences in Fiesch in Switzerland, some in Salzburg, Padua and at Plön Castle. In these two years, he traveled twice to Africa. He participated in the National Conferences in part for the initial formation of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Lesotho, Swaziland, Rwanda and Seychelles. He also traveled to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, in the Union of South Africa, to South West Africa, now Namibia, and Malawi where he advised the Bahai.
1974 attracted Mühlschlegels to Hofheim am Taunus. From there they traveled in 1975 to Venezuela, Curacao, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. There he visited the Bahai communities, held mostly in Spanish talks, was for newspapers, radio and television stations interviews, visited politicians etc.
Finally Mühlschlegels moved in 1977 to Athens. There he took at an age of 80 years as a representative of the Universal House of Justice to the Assembly for the formation of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Greece part.
Mühlschlegel wrote numerous poems. A selection of these poems was published to commemorate his 80th birthday. He also left behind a book on world history, which overcomes the usual Eurocentrism. Excerpts are published in the biography of Ursula Mühlschlegel. He died in 1980 and was buried in the first cemetery of Athens.