Education
Otto von Gerlach first studied law, then theology in Berlin, Heidelberg and Göttingen.
Otto von Gerlach first studied law, then theology in Berlin, Heidelberg and Göttingen.
In 1835 he started as a minister of the Evangelical Church in Prussia at the Saint Elisabeth Church in Berlin. In the worker district he laid the groundwork for modern social work, for example, an association of unemployed workers. He pushed successfully for the building of the Elisabeth Hospital, and king Frederick William IV of Prussia let him assist in the building of the model hospital Bethanien.
In 1847, the king appointed him 4th minister of the Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church.
In 1848 he became Consistorial Counsellor at the old-Prussian Marcher Consistory at Berlin, in 1849 professor at the University of Berlin. In 1844, he was found guilty of mistreating a maid, which led to her death, and sentenced to one year in prison, but he never had to serve his time.
Due to his work in the worker districts, he suffered from several diseases, including smallpox and encephalitis. He died at the age of 48, after suffering several strokes.
He was influenced by the Great Awakening movement and was a member of the Christlich-deutsche Tischgesellschaft of Adolph von Thadden (1796–1882).