Last year, the mayor of the municipality of Hohe Börde, Ms. Steffi Trittel, invited people to Nordgermersleben to exchange ideas and pay tribute to Peter Wilhelm Behrend. A broad network of interest developed and further meetings followed in Bebertal and Nordgermersleben. The work of the chronicler and pastor was the subject of several lectures and his 250th birthday was celebrated in a convivial atmosphere with a small exhibition.
This year's cultural-historical Easter walk organized by the Aller-Ohre-Verein will follow in the footsteps of the famous son of the town of Neuhaldensleben. All those interested are cordially invited to the Haldensleben Museum on Easter Monday at 14:00. Museum director Judith Vater will talk about Behrend's love of nature on the original sandstone garden gate posts with inscription, which have been preserved in the museum garden. Peter Wilhelm Behrend's garden was located in front of Magdeburg's city gate. However, before he made a name for himself through his research and publications on church and regional history, which are still highly regarded today, especially here in Haldensleben with his Neuhaldenslebische Kreis-Chronik, printed and published by Carl August Eyraud in Neuhaldensleben 200 years ago in 1824, and was made an honorary citizen of the town, he was initially just a normal little boy. After viewing and explaining his publications and the chronicle with its magnificent edition in the museum, participants in this year's cultural history Easter walk are therefore invited to get to know and explore this little boy and his steps in life.
Behrends was born on Sunday, June 27, 1773, in Neuhaldensleber Hagenstraße. He was baptized just one day later in St. Mary's Church. He first attended the preparatory school with the organist Richter until 1779 and then the town school at Marienkirchhof. At that time, the school had already been fundamentally reformed in the spirit of the Enlightenment and had developed from a Latin school into a middle-class school with an extended educational program. In 1792, Behrends was admitted to the University of Halle. Here he studied Protestant theology and in 1795 impressed the audience in Magdeburg with his examination sermon. He then earned his living as a private teacher in Neuhaldensleben and adjunct to the town's school board before being appointed principal of the Oebisfeld town school in 1796. From then on, he no longer worked in Neuhaldensleben, but was a pastor in Volkmarsdorf and Nordsteimke and, from 1807 until almost his death in 1854, a pastor in Nordgermersleben.
However, Peter Wilhelm Behrends always remained closely connected to his home town. He promoted the publication of the first weekly newspaper editions with specially written articles on the history of Neuhaldensleben's St. Mary's Church and had his Neuhaldenslebische Kreis-Chronik (Neuhaldensleben District Chronicle) printed by Eyraud in the same weekly newspaper printing works. Today, a plaque on the house where he was born and a street name in the southern station suburb commemorate his life and work.