Dr. h.c. Armin Rudi Kitzmann passed away on January 27, 2026.

The Faculty of Protestant Theology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich mourns the loss of its honorary doctorate recipient, retired pastor Armin Rudi Kitzmann.The former Protestant school chaplain was born on July 24, 1938, in Alexandrow (now Poland) and passed away at the age of 87 in Munich on January 27, 2026. In 2021, Armin Rudi Kitzmann was awarded an honorary doctorate by our faculty. With his passing, Munich’s urban Protestantism and theology lose an exceptionally committed publicist and a historically formative figure within Munich’s Protestant church community.

In addition to his work as a school chaplain in Munich, Armin Rudi Kitzmann was a highly dedicated publicist whose thematic focus over three decades was the history of Protestantism in Munich. He earned particular distinction through his book project “With Cross and Swastika” (1999), in which he meticulously and precisely documented—on the basis of primary sources—the history of Protestantism in Munich during the Weimar Republic and the National Socialist era. His most recent book, “The Risk of Resistance” (2016), offers impressive and profound insights, fully in line with modern resistance studies, into the Christian motivations for courageous conduct within the Nazi state.

Armin Rudi Kitzmann also proved to be an effective public mediator of his historical findings. With clarity and pointed conviction, he engaged as a publicist with historical topics—even controversial ones—and forcefully represented them in the public sphere.

Through his church-historical monographs, the pastor in school service combined his work with a clearly articulated interest in historical didactics. Literary depictions of history, as he once formulated, can demonstrate that “faith does not simply fall into the laps of descendants like an inheritance,” but rather “must be won and experienced anew again and again.” He brought history and faith together with great craftsmanship in historiography and an open-minded approach, thereby reaching a considerable readership in Munich, Bavaria, and beyond.

Armin Rudi Kitzmann left a lasting imprint on church-historical awareness “on the ground.” At a time marked by the resurgence of antisemitism and anti-democratic tendencies, this was a particularly significant achievement, as the faculty emphasized at the time of awarding the honorary doctorate. Through his publicist engagement with the church history of the Bavarian capital, he made a remarkable contribution to strengthening a historically grounded identity within Munich’s urban Protestantism.

The Faculty of Protestant Theology will honor his memory with deep gratitude.