Nazi Germany's Policies on the Church (1933-1939) PDF

**Volksgemeinschaft -- Policies on the Church** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Specification:** | | | | Nazi Germany, 1933--39...

**Volksgemeinschaft -- Policies on the Church** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Specification:** | | | | Nazi Germany, 1933--39 | | | | Shaping society and the creation of the Volksgemeinschaft: the impact | | of welfare and the Kinder, Küche, Kirche policies on women; the | | importance of Robert Ley and DAF and its subordinate organisations; | | the significance of education and youth policies; the impact of | | racial theories and racial policies; **the impact of the regime on | | the Christian churches and religion.** | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Possible Questions** | | | | The effectiveness of the Nazis' policies on the Church -- did they | | work? | | | | The impact of the Nazis' policies on the Church -- positives and | | negatives for the Church | | | | A comparison of the Nazis' policies on the Church and another social | | group -- men/workers, women, children, the Jews etc. What policies | | had the biggest impact? | | | | OR | | | | The Nazis policies on the Church had the biggest impact -- if no | | other group is mentioned, write about them all | | | | The Nazis were successful or unsuccessful in creating a | | Volksgemeinschaft -- Was the Church effectively oppressed? Did it | | lose its influence? | | | | The Nazis were successful or unsuccessful in controlling opposition | | -- Was the Church controlled? What resistance came from the Church? | | | | The main reason why the Nazis had such little opposition -- policies | | on different groups (including the Church), terror, propaganda etc. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ **Background** In the 1930s the majority of German people were Christian, two-thirds of whom were Protestant and the remaining one-third Catholic. The 25-points programme spoke in favour of 'positive Christianity' and Hitler avoided direct attacks on the Church in his rise to power. He had previously got support from the Centre Party by promising to protect the Catholic Church and the Papen (a Catholic) was vice-chancellor. **Nazi ideology on the Church** Despite feigning support for the Church, there can be little doubt that Nazism was based on a fundamentally anti-Christian philosophy. The tension between Nazism and the Church was a result of conflicting ideology. Where Nazism glorified strength, violence and war, Christianity taught love, forgiveness and neighbourly respect. Moreover, Christianity was regarded as the product of an inferior race because Jesus was a Hebrew. Therefore it could not be reconciled with Nazi thinking. The Nazis did not regard Christian belief as compatible with membership of the Volksgemeinschaft. Nazism could not ignore the threat of the Church's well-established and powerful institutions. The Nazis did not want any other strong influence in people's lives or alternative thinking. The rise of Nazism posed fundamental political and ethical problems for the Christian Churches so they were bound to come into conflict. Some Nazis, such as Himmler and Heydrich openly revealed their contempt for Christianity. Hitler was most cautious but his true feelings were clear in a private conversation in 1933: ***Neither of the denominations -- Catholic or Protestant, they are both the same -- has any future left... They won't stop me stamping out Christianity in Germany root and branch. One is either a Christian or a German. You can't be both.*** **The German Faith Movement** One attempt to take to take control of religion was to establish a replacement called the German Faith Movement led by Nazi thinker Alfred Rosenberg. It was to promote the ideals of positive Christianity. Really it was a Godless movement. It became the state religion and all those in positions of authority were expected to join. It campaigned vigorously against Christian rituals such as prayers in school. Instead its members attempted to paganise the Christian rituals of baptism, marriage and death. A Nazi religious ideology was never fully outlined but it revolved around four main themes: - - - - By 1939, only 5% of the population were registered as members of the German Faith Movement which suggests it had limited influence. **Nazi Approach to the established Christian Churches** Hitler feared that in a conflict between state and Church that Christians would put the Church first. He saw the Church as a threat but a less divisive influence than other political parties and knew that any resort to strong-arm tactics would cause an outcry. Despite his real disdain for the Church, Hitler knew that religion was a delicate issue so initially he adopted a cautious conciliatory stance towards both Churches. In his first speech as Chancellor, Hitler paid tribute to the Churches as being integral to the well-being of the nation. There was no full-blooded attack on the churches in 1933-34 but they were not left to their own devices **Initial conciliation** **Catholic** In July 1933 a **Concordat** was signed between the Pope and the Nazi regime (represented by Vice-Chancellor Papen). - - - - In summary, Hitler promised to allow the Catholic Church to continue its work and the Pope ordered German priests to stay out of politics. The Catholic Church had agreed because they were frightened of being persecuted again. They wanted to safeguard their position. In the short term, the Concordat seemed to be a significant success. However, the Concordat agreement contradicted Hitler's aim to include the churches in Gleichschaltung, the Nazi process of coordination. It became quickly apparent that Hitler had little desire to respect the Concordat. **Protestant** In 1933 the Protestant faith was divided into 28 churches with 45 million members. The largest church was the Lutheran Church with 18 million members. These divisions gave Hitler the opportunity to impose his will. The Protestant churches were seen as a soft target because many of their middle-class members had voted for Hitler in the elections. Members of the SA were encouraged to attend Protestant services. This was done to give the idea that they could accommodate Protestantism. The Nazi regime hoped that the Protestant Churches would gradually be 'co-ordinated' through the influence of the group called the **German Christians**. This group hoped to reconcile their Protestant ideas with Nazi nationalist and racial thinking by finding common ground. They tried to persuade the Protestant Churches in 1933 to organise themselves into a **Reich Church** with **Reich Bishop, Ludwig Muller** at its head. By 1934, Muller had failed to attract any more than 2000 pastors to the German Christian Church. **More controlling measures leads to conflict** The courting of both Churches was totally insincere. They were merely being lulled into a false sense of security. Initial conciliation failed to establish sufficient control so the Nazis used more controlling measures against the Church and this led to conflict. By the end of 1933, Nazi interference in religious affairs was already causing resentment and disillusionment. By 1935 it was clear that the Nazi leadership had achieved only limited success in its control over the Churches. It was torn between a policy of total suppression, which would alienate large numbers of Germans, and a policy of limited persecution, which would allow the Churches and unacceptable degree of independence outside state control. Nazi tactics degenerated into a kind of war of attrition against the Churches. **Examples of more controlling measures** Muller was demoted and replaced with the **Ministry of Church Affairs in July 1936**, led by Hanns Kerrl, which coordinated harassment of practising Christians. Kerrl adopted a policy of undermining by a series of anti-religious measures, including: - - - - - - **The SS takes control of religious policy** Hitler later removed religion from the Ministry for Church Affairs and handed it to the SS. He demanded all Germans make a choice between their religion and the regime. For example, the ranks of the party were closed to anyone who did not come through the Hitler Youth. **Opposition** Individual Catholic priests spoke out against Nazism. By 1937, hundreds of Catholic priests had been arrested and imprisoned. These arrests, together with the breaches of the promise not to interfere in Catholic institutions, such as youth organisations, led **Pope Pius XI** to condemn Hitler in a famous public letter of 1937, entitled 'With Burning Concern.' Some German Protestants that refused to accept Muller's leadership and were alienated by Nazi policies, set up an organisation of their own, the **Confessional Church**. This was an opposition group. It upheld Orthodox Protestantism and rejected Nazi distortions. Led by Pastor Niemoller, by 1934 the Confessional Church gained support of about 7000 pastors out of 17,000. They claimed to represent the true Protestant Churches of Germany. Niemoller became an open critic of Nazi anti-semitism. His associates, Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth were equally courageous. Niemoller delivered a sermon in which he said that 'we must obey God rather than man"; he was interned in 1937 and for the next eight years he was held in various concentration camps. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Niemoller** was a nationalist, anti-communist who had criticized | | the WR and even sympathized with the rise of Nazism. However, during | | 1933 his doubts emerged because of Nazism's anti-semitism and its | | attempt to control the Churches. He played a crucial role in the | | formation of the Confessional Church in 1934 and after a highly | | critical sermon he was imprisoned from 1937 to 1945. Although his | | actions in the Third Reich were limited, his words have resonated | | through the years: | | | | When the Nazis came for the Communists | | | | I stayed quiet: | | | | I was not a Communist. | | | | When they came for Social Democrats | | | | I stayed quiet: | | | | I was not a Social Democrat. | | | | When they came for the Trade Unionists | | | | I stayed quiet: | | | | I was not a Trade Unionist. | | | | When they came for the Jews | | | | I stayed quiet: | | | | I was not a Jew. | | | | Then they came for me | | | | And there was no-one left to protest. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ **During WW2 -- not needed for an essay on 1933-39** The outbreak of war initially brought about a more cautious policy, as the regime wished to avoid unnecessary tensions. However, following the easy military victories against Poland and France (1939-40), and then the invasion of atheistic Soviet Union (1941), the persecution intensified. This was the result of pressure applied by anti-Christian enthusiasts, such as Bormann and Heydrich and the SS hierarchy. So, once again, monasteries were closed, Church property was attacked and Church activities were severely restricted. Even so, religion was such a politically sensitive issue that Hitler did not allow subordination of the Churches to give way to wholesale suppression within Germany. It was only in the occupied territory of Poland -- the area designated as an experimental example of the 'New Order' -- the events were allowed to run their full course. Here, many of the Catholic clergy were executed and churches were closed down. In the end the Nazi persecution of the Churches failed, but only because the war itself was lost. **Evaluation** **Did the Nazis successfully control the Churches? What was the impact on the Churches?** The Nazis achieved only limited success in their religious policy. **The German Faith Movement** was clearly a failure. Neo-paganism never achieved support on any large scale. The 1939 official census recorded only 5% of the population as members, although it shows the direction that might have been taken if the likes of Himmler had won the war. The Nazis had some success undermining the **Protestant Church** because of its existing divisions. Many Protestants rejected the German Christian Church but also the Confessional Church. By 1937 the Protestant churches had lost their ability to defend themselves against the state. In contrast to Catholics, protestant youth groups were rapidly integrated into the Hitler Youth. However, the attempt to establish a Nazis controlled, unified Protestant Church failed. The regime gave up and resorted to arresting more outspoken members. The Nazis faced **opposition** from numerous individual Christians who made brave stands against the Nazis. This made the dictatorship wary of launching a fundamental assault on religion. As a result, German loyalty to the Christian faith in the Protestant and Catholic Churches survived in the long term despite Nazism. *'The Churches were severely handicapped but not destroyed. Hitler's programme needed time: he was himself destroyed before it had taken root."* There was no all-out conflict between the Nazi regime and the Christian churches. Relations deteriorated, but churches remained open, and services were held. Neither of the Christian Churches were coordinated and therefore, both enjoyed a measure of independence. The Church was remodeled rather than abolished. They could not carry out a full Nazification. Research shows that religious affiliations and regional identities remained strong in 1930s Germany. **Did the Church provide real opposition?** Both the Catholic and Protestant Churches failed because of their inability to provide effective opposition to Nazism. Neither of the Christian Churches were coordinated and therefore, both enjoyed a measure of independence. So they both could have provided the focus for active resistance. Instead, they preferred, as institutions to adopt a pragmatic policy towards Nazism. They stood up for their own religious practices and traditions with shows off dissent, but generally they refrained from wholesale denunciations of the regime. The reasons for the Churches' reluctance to show opposition to the regime lay in their conservatism: They distrusted the politics of the left which seemed to threaten the existing order of society. The most extreme form of communism rejected the existence of religion itself. There was a nationalist sympathy for Nazism, especially after the problems of 1918-33. For many Church leaders it was too easy to believe that Hitler's national renewal was simply a return to the glorious days before 1914. This was particularly true of the Luteran Protestant Church, which had been the state Church in Prussia under Imperial Germany. Both Churches rightly feared the power of the Nazi state. They believed that any gestures of heroic resistance were more than likely to have bloody consequences. In such a situation, their emphasis on pastoral and spiritual comfort was perhaps the most practical and realistic policy for them. Effective Christian resistance, therefore, remained essentially the preserve of individual churchmen who put their own freedom and lives at risk in order to uphold their beliefs or to give pastoral assistance.