I do not know if I told you before but Pastor Knak died at the home of his daughter and son-in-law. Rev. Preuss I have a report of his death. As his body was carried out of town to return to his home in Berlin a crowd gathered and sang “Las mich Gehen”. [“Let Me Go, That I May Jesus See” (ALH 642, de)] The Preuss family consisted of five sons and a daughter. Each of the sons became a Pastor and the daughter married one. My Grandfather, George U. Preuss was, I believe, the youngest son. He came a missionary to German speaking Lutherans in America – first in Ohio, then Pennsylvania and finally in New York. My father was born in Ohio but was raised in Pennsylvania. My father continued the tradition being ordained in 1928. Although serving as an LCA pastor, in his later years he felt more comfortable worshipping at the Missouri Lutheran Church.Paul
Gustav Knak dies at Dünnow
On July 27th 1878, shortly before 11 o’clock in the evening at the Dünnower rectory Gustav Friedrich Ludwig Knak, pastor of the Bethlehem Church in Berlin died of a heart attack.
The church choir had gathered on the previous Sunday, July 21, in the renovated church to sample the new organ in preparation for its dedication. Attending, next to the pastor’s family, was the old Pastor Knak, the father of the pastor’s wife. The choir sang for Knak the most famous of the many songs written by him "Let me go ... " After the last verse Knak left the c
hurch and said," Wonderful, wonderful! The Lord brings us all to paradise!" On Friday, July 26th Knak had still bathed in the Baltic Sea. On the evening of the 27th Kannenberg and Preuss still discussed the configuration of the upcoming dedication. Knak became animated to ensuring that the opening hymn “O that I had a thousand tongues...” according to the melody of his most favorite after a short testing day should be sung.
Kannenberg considered his own melody of the hymn and sang it properly, after which Knak agreed with him. Knak then ate supper with the family with a good appetite, then went upstairs to his room to bed, but immediately called to his daughter, Little Marie, “I am so totally different. Quickly call Ernst, I will probably leave you now”. All family members rushed to his bedside, where they heard him pray more:
“Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit ", then with barely audible voice: “Last Supper ".
Then he died.
Kannenberg, who had summoned the maid, closed the dead man's eyes.
All knelt down and prayed silently. They sensed the nearness of death, but also the truth of the thoughts of the deceased he has put into words in his hymn "How they so softly rest, all the saints":
Da schlug die Stunde, deren [Then the hour struck, of which]
sie längst geharrt, da brach die Hütte, [he had long been waiting, when the hut broke down,]
die sie so oft beschwert; [that so often weighed him down;]
und auf der Engel Himmelswagen [and on the angels' chariot]
eilte der selige Geist nach Hause. [the blessed spirit hurried home,]
On Sunday morning the body was dressed in Knak’s black suit and gown and since Knak was a tall, heavy man, was carried down with some difficulty on the narrow staircase to the ground floor by Pastor Preuss, Kannenberg and the master tailor Frederick Voll.
On Tuesday evening, July 30th, a brief funeral was held at the Rectory and the coffin was then led from the village with the pealing of bells and the large participation of the community singing as it was transported to Berlin.
(Other documents indicate that the community sang Knak’s favorite hymn “Laßt mich gehen” as his coffin was transported away from the Rectory.)
*Translated from the original German document written by Hans Schreiber on the
“History of the vicarage Dünnow, District Stolp (Pomerania) and its Surrounding”.by Paul G. Preuss, great grand-son of Karl Ernst Preuss
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