Gustav-Adolf-Werk

A canopy of cast iron was erected over this "Swedes' stone" (German: Schwedenstein) in 1832, and close by, a chapel, built by Oskar Ekman, a citizen of Gothenburg (d. 1907), was dedicated on 6 November 1907.

[citation needed] It was then suggested by Superintendent Grossmann that the best memorial to the great champion of Protestantism would be the formation of a union for propagating his ideas.

[3] When Karl Zimmermann, a pastor and journalist from Darmstadt, used the Reformation festival in 1841 to found an association in support of the diaspora via public appeal, he did not mention the GAW at all.

In 1843 a general meeting was held at Frankfurt-am-Main, where no fewer than twenty-nine branch associations (vereine) belonging to all parts of Germany except Bavaria and Austria were represented.

At a general convention held in Berlin in September 1846 a keen internal dispute arose about the admission of the Königsberg delegate, Julius Rupp (1809-1884), who in 1845 had been deprived for publicly repudiating the Athanasian Creed and became one of the founders of the "Free Congregations"; and at one time it seemed likely that the society would be completely broken up.

On the other hand, GAW's comparable critical attitude in relation to Roman Catholicism was shared in a broad audience,[3] expressed in the later Kulturkampf and as well in the relationship with Austria and France.

Amid the political revolutions of the year 1848 the whole movement fell into stagnation; but in 1849 another general convention (the seventh), held at Breslau, showed that, although the society had lost both in membership and income in the meanwhile, it was still possessed of considerable vitality.

[3] Apart from its influence in maintaining Protestantism in hostile areas, there can be no doubt that the union has had a great effect in helping the various Protestant churches of Germany to realize the array and value of their common interests.

Under the leadership of Hans Gerber (1934–1944), the first lawyer, and among the only non presidents with a non theologician background, the Gustav Adolf Werk was comparable close to the regime and the Deutsche Christen.

The current approach is to gain interest for Protestant diaspora churches worldwide, the GAW as well interacts with immigrants from such regions, as possible messengers in their home countries.