Johannes Bähr was born in Düsseldorf on 5 September 1902 and became a Protestant pastor after studying theology. In 1937 he was assigned to Mutterstadt, where he served for 17 years. He was married to Margarete Jerusel and had ten children. Even before coming to Mutterstadt, Bähr had supported Jewish residents and refused to exclude Jewish families from a deaconess association. On 10 November 1938, after the synagogue had been set on fire and Jewish residents attacked, he told his pupils that what was happening was wrong and that Jews were human beings who must be treated humanely. He was arrested the same day, detained for two days, banished from Mutterstadt for several days and warned for “favouring Jews.” He continued to be monitored and interrogated by the Nazis, but was not intimidated. In 1943 he secretly buried the Jewish wife of the Mutterstadt organist in Mannheim’s Jewish cemetery.
