German Churches and the Nazi State

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Catholic clergy and Nazi officials, including Joseph Goebbels (far right) and Wilhelm Frick (second from right), give the Nazi salute. Germany, date uncertain.
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GERMAN CHURCHES AND THE NAZI STATE

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A religious census taken in 1925 revealed that of an overall German population of 65 million, 40 million belonged to the main Protestant (Evangelical Lutheran) church, 21 million to the Roman Catholic church, and 620,000 to various smaller, mostly Protestant denominations. The term "Church Struggle" refers to the strained relationship between church and state in Germany in the 1870s and then again during the Nazi regime. Although Nazi policy at first seemed to tolerate church autonomy, it soon became clear that official tolerance of Christian religious groups would last only as long as the churches accepted synchronization--the alignment of the church, along with other areas of society, with Nazi goals. The Roman Catholic and Protestant churches met the Nazi rise to power with attempts to retain control of their respective institutions and the rights of their brethren to worship freely and openly.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Catholic Center party was a pillar of the Weimar Republic. It had in general resisted the Nazi rise to power, although the right wing of the party was led by politicians at least willing to tolerate a Hitler government. Once Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the Center party supported measures giving him dictatorial power. On July 5, 1933, the Center party--under intense Nazi pressure--dissolved itself (the other remaining political parties had been banned earlier that spring and summer).

The Catholic church in Germany was controlled by the Vatican, under the leadership of Pope Pius XI, and signed a Concordat (Treaty) with the German Reich 15 days later. The Concordat confirmed the dissolution of German Catholicism's trade unions and political organizations, but guaranteed the church traditional rights to cultivate and promote the practice of the Catholic rite, to maintain Catholic schools, and to appoint Catholic clergy. Many provisions of the agreement were promptly violated, however, as the Nazis persecuted Jesuits, Catholic Action (a religious and social movement), and various other Catholic organizations.

After enduring anti-church actions for several years, in 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern). In the encyclical, Pius XI criticized Nazi philosophy and warned the German government to fulfill the terms of the Concordat. The Nazis responded with a wave of priest trials--prosecutions of clergy for various alleged infractions.

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH

In a further attempt to synchronize religious thought with state policy, the Nazis sought, unsuccessfully, to establish a unified national church. Hitler appointed a Reich Bishop, Ludwig Mueller, who led a "German Christian" movement within the church. Mueller sought to synthesize Nazi ideology and Protestant tradition and to agitate for a "people's church" based on "good Aryan blood." This movement had gained 600,000 adherents by the mid-1930s. The Nazi government also attempted to supplant Christian worship with secular Nazi party celebrations which adopted many symbols of religious ritual but instead glorified the party and the Fuehrer. Efforts were also made to dilute clerical influence on religious instruction in the public schools, as well as to curb the activities and influence the curricula of religious schools.

In 1933, a small group of Protestant clergy formed the Pastors' Emergency League. Founded by Martin Niemöller, the league took a stand against Nazi domination of the church. In 1934, the League's leaders founded the Confessing Church, representing a minority of all Protestant pastors in Germany. Its ideology was to resist Nazi coercion and to expose the moral hollowness of the pro-Nazi "German Christian" movement. The Confessing Church did not, however, protest Nazi racial or social policies. Although a very small number of individual German theologians--such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer--opposed the regime, throughout the Nazi era the vast majority of the Protestant church leadership did not challenge the state's discriminatory legislation and actions.

Both the Catholic and Protestant churches did speak up on behalf of Jews who had converted to Christianity or for Jews married to members of their churches, and thereby saved some lives. In addition, the churches protested strongly against the Nazi Euthanasia Program and succeeded in limiting its scope. While the Nazi regime subsequently halted the visible element of this program, it continued in secret. Nevertheless, the action of the churches on this issue proved that protest could make an impact on Nazi policy. Nonetheless, neither the Catholic leadership nor the Protestant clerical hierarchy officially protested the persecution of Jews or the horrors of the "Final Solution."

OTHER CHRISTIAN SECTS

Sectarian groups were considered politically dangerous because of their adventist, millennial, and international tendencies. Some were banned by the Nazi government and most were subject to constant surveillance by the secret police. The sects were an easier target for the government than the major churches. Nazi policy varied by sect. Some, such as Jehovah's Witnesses (banned in Prussia in 1933) were persecuted and many adherents were incarcerated in concentration camps. Others, such as New Apostolics, Christian Scientists (banned in 1941), and Seventh Day Adventists, experienced intermittent harassment. Finally, some groups, such as the Mormons, were ignored or even viewed with some favor. Virtually all Christian sects were at some point accused of harboring Marxists or other "enemies of Germany."