Born in 1931, in Munich, to an Adventist mother and a Catholic father, Harald Knott attended school in Munich and Starnberg. Afterwards, he studied as a Civil Engineer.
In 1949, Knott gave his heart to Jesus and was baptized in Munich. Knott felt the call to serve God and so, from 1953 to 1955, he decided to work as a colporteur for the Adventist Church. In 1955, his zeal for mission led him to start studying theology at the Marienhöhe Seminary in Germany, graduating in 1960.
The same year, he married Krimhilde Schmidt, a classmate, and, in 1962, he started working as a pastor in Zurich.
In 1972, Knott was elected president of the Swiss Union, a position he held until 1980.
In 1975, while serving as president of the Swiss Union, he was also elected director of the Lay Activities (Mission) and Sabbath School departments at the Euro-Africa Division (now Inter-European Division) in Bern, holding this position until 1987.
Before retiring in 1993, he also served as president of the South German Union, after his election in 1987.
Knott’s retirement
After his deployment abroad, in Germany, and retirement from active service, Harald Knott and his wife returned to his adopted home in Switzerland. Their son was married in Zurich, and they themselves had owned a flat on the outskirts of Bern since their time in the Division, a flat into which they now moved back.
But Harald Knott was not yet ready to retire permanently and be confined within his four walls. Evangelistic outreaches in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Germany followed - work that he had already counted among his main focuses during his active service time. He held his last series of lectures in 2000 in Baden-Württemberg, namely in Schopfheim. His efforts were interrupted by a heart operation in December 2005 – where he received four bypass surgeries.
His wife, Krimhilde, had been working part-time in book evangelism since 1971. It was she who introduced the idea of subscription renewal via telephone to the Swiss Publishing House in Krattigen.
In the last years of his life, during spare time and between his preaching assignments, Knott was busy digitizing his numerous travel notes and slides from his time as a department leader in the Division. During those years, he often had to go to Cameroon, Angola and Mozambique - countries that were still part of the European Continental (Euro-Africa) Division at the time.
Knott’s spiritual legacy
Knott always cited two Bible verses as motto of his life: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I a”" (John 14:3) and, as Knott used to say, the telephone number to heaven: “and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15)
The EUD officers and the entire team of the Inter-European Division send their heartfelt condolences to Elder Knott’s family and express respect and appreciation for his service and mission for God and for the Church. “We trust our common hope in that blessed day of resurrection in Jesus Christ.”
