Friedensau Mission and Mission Work of Ernst and Hilda Kotz in Tanzania

Friedensau Adventist University has its integral culture, the preparation of men and women for mission. Its history is laced with examples of brave students who became missionaries. Such was the beautiful story of Ernst and Hilda Kotz.

Born in Strombach near Gummersbach, Germany, on February 11, 1887, Ernst Kotz studied in Friedensau and at the Oriental Seminary in Berlin before beginning his missionary work in the then German East Africa. When he arrived there in 1905 he was designated to the South Pare Mountains and was dexterous with the Asu language. This language dexterity cut him out for a special role in his missions. In 1910 he became the director of the Pare field.

Hilda Ella Marie Koster, Kotz’s wife, was born in the Freetown of Lubeck, Germany, on September 15, 1888. From 1908 to 1910 she attended the Friedensau school to prepare herself for missionary work. After her marriage to Ernst Kotz, Hilda joined him in the mission field in Africa.

Kotz did much work in translation work into Pare. He wrote a grammar manual and translated a primer, a hymnal, the Gospel according to Matthew, an Old Testament storybook, and finally the New Testament. He also launched a periodical called Mbirikizi (Preacher). The Gospel of Matthew, which was issued in 1910, was the first translation of a portion of the Bible ever published by a Seventh-day Adventist. Stefan Höschele asserts that “Kotz’s language work made a significant impact on the denomination as a whole by stimulating similar activities in other Adventist missions, particularly in Eastern Africa, where Adventists soon participated in Bible translations into Luo, Gusii, Kinyarwanda, and, later, Jita.”[i] He was also instrumental in the educational developments of the mission field and showed much interest in ethnography. At a time when racial biases marred missionary endeavours, Kotz was exceptional.

The Kotzs were gifted and sacrificial in their mission work. At one time Mrs Kotz had to superintend the mission while her husband was interned in India and Egypt during World War I. Kotz “was the first Adventist cultural anthropologist and Bible translator; his balanced view of culture and insightful reflection on mission also mark him as one of the few Adventist missiologists in the era.”[ii] This mission family was exemplary and effective, a challenge for contemporary missionaries.