User:Ozhistory/sandbox

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incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When those not in agreement organised their opposition and, calling themselves the Confessing Church, publicly proclaimed articles of faith that denied the position of the German Christians, they eventually came under severe persecution by the State. About the end of March 1935 six hundred of the principal leaders of the Confessing Church were arrested and many others received visits from the Gestapo to emphasize the government's point of view concerning these matters. Later, there were new arrests, and it began to be known that those who had been taken away were ending up in concentration camps. Given the totalitarian atmosphere of Nazi Germany at that time, it would be ingenuous to believe that these measures against the Confessing Church and in support of the policies of the German Christians might have been taken without Adolf Hitler's consent. The Confessing Church seminary was banned. Its leaders, like

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total elimination of Catholicism and of the Christian religion. Since the overwhelming majority of Germans were either Catholic or Protestant this goal had to be a long-term rather than a short-term Nazi objective." According to Shirer, "under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann and Himmler—backed by Hitler—the Nazi regime intended to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists". Gill wrote that the Nazi plan was to "de-Christianise Germany after the final victory". Dill states, "It seems no exaggeration to insist that the greatest challenge the Nazis had to face was their effort to eradicate Christianity in Germany or at least to subjugate it to their general world outlook." According to Bendersky, it was Hitler's long range goal to eliminate the churches once he had consolidated control over his European empire.

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inflammatory comments gave his immediate underlings all the license they needed to turn up the heat in the 'Church Struggle', confident that they were 'working towards the Führer'". As with the "Jewish question", the radicals pushed the Church struggle forward, especially in Catholic areas, so that by the winter of 1935–1936 there was growing dissatisfaction with the Nazis in those areas. Kershaw wrote that in early 1937, Hitler again told his inner circle that though he "did not want a 'Church struggle' at this juncture", he expected "the great world struggle in a few years' time". Nevertheless, wrote Kershaw, Hitler's impatience with the churches "prompted frequent outbursts of hostility. In early 1937 he was declaring that 'Christianity was ripe for destruction', and that the Churches must yield to the "primacy of the state", railing against any compromise with "the most horrible institution imaginable".

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Rosenberg as his official Nazi Ideologist. These men he then permitted or encouraged to undertake the regime’s persecutions of the churches. Hitler’s early ambition to combine German Protestants into one Nazified “Reich Church” was met with resistance. His regime’s constant breaches of a Concordat signed with the Catholic Church earned the protest of the Pope. 6000 clergy were imprisoned or killed by the Reich, Christian schools and press were closed and Christian youth and political associations were outlawed. Prosecutors at Nuremberg, along with various historians hold that Hitler ultimately intended the destruction of Christianity in Germany. For people belonging to certain other religious minorities, repression was far harsher and immediate - Jews and Jehovahs Witnesses were targeted for extermination.

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only ones of degree and timing. Steigmann-Gall agrees that from 1937 onwards, Nazi policy toward the churches became much more hostile... argues persuasively that the Nazi Party's 1924 program and Hitler's policy-making speeches of the early years were not just politically motivated or deceptive in intent... Steigmann-Gall considers these speeches to be a sincere appreciation of Christianity... Yet he is not ready to admit that this Nazi Christianity was eviscerated of all the most essential orthodox dogmas. What remained was the vaguest impression combined with anti-Jewish prejudice. Only a few radicals on the extreme wing of liberal Protestantism would recognize such a mish-mash as true Christianity."

419: 979: 126: 512:. Kerhsaw wrote that, in Hitler's scheme for the Germanization of the East, "There would, he made clear, be no place in this utopia for the Christian Churches". Hitler instigated a policy of murdering or suppressing the ethnic Polish elites: including religious leaders. He proclaimed: "Poles may have only one master – a German. Two masters cannot exist side by side, and this is why all members of the Polish intelligentsia must be killed." Between 1939 and 1945, an estimated 3,000 members (18%) of the Polish clergy, were murdered; of these, 1,992 died in concentration camps. 811:

Communism, but perceived a threat from organised religion and his regime ultimately responded to the ideological challenge of Christian morality in much the same way as atheist Communism: "On the one hand a policy of political repression and direct persecution, tempered by occasional political prudence in the face of widespread belief; on the other hand a direct contest in the field of education and propaganda", wrote Overy. In all, Over 6,000 clergymen were killed or imprisoned in Nazi Germany.

303:, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline". This was coupled with a strong antipathy to Christianity among SS officers 'that far exceeded traditional anti-clericalism,' with priests portrayed as 'befrocked homosexuals', and deliberate elision between Christianity, Judaism and Communism. Instead, they were encouraged to see Hitler as a Messianic figure and to adopt the religious aura that surrounded him for themselves as well. 3482:; Penguin Press; New York 2009, p. 547: wrote that Hitler believed that in the long run National Socialism and religion would not be able to co-exist, and stressed repeatedly that Nazism was a secular ideology, founded on modern science: "Science, he declared, would easily destroy the last remaining vestiges of superstition". Germany could not tolerate the intervention of foreign influences such as the Pope and "Priests, he said, were 'black bugs', 'abortions in black cassocks'". 734:

incompatible. He objected to Christian morality. But his National Socialist movement was not formally atheist and it courted public support as a bulwark against “godless” Bolshevism. He peppered his writings and speeches with the language of "divine providence”. He loathed Judaism, which he saw as the source of both Christianity and Bolshevism. He spoke of Jesus as an "Aryan" fighter. He also disdained the mysticism of other leading Nazis like Himmler and Rosenberg.

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synthesis which would include the churches. Delp wrote: "It is time the 20th Century revolution was given a definitive theme, and the opportunity to create new and lasting horizons for humanity", by which he meant, social security and the basics for individual intellectual and religious development. So long as people lacked dignity, they would be incapable of prayer or thought. In

4008:'s analysis differed from earlier interpretations only by "degree and timing", but that if Hitler's early speeches evidenced a sincere appreciation of Christianity, "this Nazi Christianity was eviscerated of all the most essential orthodox dogmas" leaving only "the vaguest impression combined with anti-Jewish prejudice..." which few would recognize as "true Christianity". 741:

education and propaganda. Article 24 of his 1924 Nazi Party Platform endorsed "Positive Christianity", but set it below Nazi ideology with the caveat that it not offend "the sense of morality of the German people”. In a 1928 speech, he said: "We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity ... in fact our movement is Christian." Hitler's

895:, Hitler used the words "God", "the Creator", "Providence" and "the Lord". He outlines a nihilistic vision, describing human history as a constant racial struggle for supremacy. He criticized the churches for not knowing the "racial problem" and declares himself in favour of separation of church and state. Officially, the Nazi party endorsed what it termed " 3441:, p. p 240, Simon and Schuster, 1990: “And even fewer paused to reflect that under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann and Himmler, who were backed by Hitler, the Nazi regime intended eventually to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists.” 3182:; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004, p. 278 & 281: "Hitler was politically prudent enough not to trumpet his scientific views publicly, not least because he had to maintain the distinction between his own movement and the godlessness of Soviet Communism. Nor was he a thorough atheist. His public utterances were peppered with references to 'God' and 'spirit'." 997:(Jesuits) had some 1700 members in the German Reich, divided into three provinces: Eastern, Lower and Upper Germany. Nazi leaders had some admiration for the discipline of the Jesuit Order, but opposed its principles. Of the 152 Jesuits murdered by the Nazis across Europe, 27 died in captivity or its results, and 43 in the concentration camps. 31: 3353:

in faith in Christ as the son of God. That makes me laugh ... No, Christianity is not dependent upon the Apostle's Creed ... True Christianity is represented by the party, and the German people are now called by the party and especially the Fuehrer to a real Christianity ... the Fuehrer is the herald of a new revelation".

157:", but placed religion below party ideology by adding the caveat that it must not offend "the moral sense of the German race". Hitler's regime responded to the ideological challenge of Christian morality using political repression and persecution and by challenging Christian teachings through education and propaganda. 167:) for a group within Evangelical Protestantism that wanted to see Christianity and National Socialism advance together. "Hitler saw the relationship in political terms. He was not a praticising Christian, but had somehow succeeded in masking his own religious skepticism from millions of German voters", wrote 825:

His atheist Deputy Martin Bormann and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels drove the regime's anti-church campaigns. He appointed the vehement anti-Christians Himmler and Heydrich as his security chiefs, and appointed the neo-Pagan Alfred Rosenberg as official Nazi Ideologist. Hitler in turn disdained

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investigators argued that the Nazi regime had a plan to reduce the influence of Christian churches through a campaign of systematic persecutions. "Important leaders of the National Socialist party would have liked to meet this situation by complete extirpation of Christianity and the substitution of

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conflicted with traditional Christianity in various respects. Nazis criticized Christian ideals of "meekness and guilt" on the basis that they "repressed the violent instincts necessary to prevent inferior races from dominating Aryans". The Nazi-backed "positivist" or "German Christian" church sought

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in 1935: "The Party stands on the basis of Positive Christianity, and positive Christianity is National Socialism ... National Socialism is the doing of God's will ... God's will reveals itself in German blood ... Dr Zoellner and Count Galen have tried to make clear to me that Christianity consists

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In Hitler's scheme for the Germanization of Eastern Europe, there was to be no place for Christian churches. For the time being, he ordered slow progress on the 'Church Question'. 'But is clear', noted Goebells, himself among the most aggressive anti-church radicals, 'that after the war it has to be

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The pretension of the Hitler regime that all Protestant churches in Germany should be subsumed under the leadership of the German Christians served as an impulse to action for other Christian leaders who saw the racist, ultra-nationalistic, and totalitarian emphases of the German Christian church as

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Marshall Dill noted that the list of Nazi affronts to and attacks on the Catholic Church is long. The attacks tended not to be overt, but were still dangerous; believers were made to feel that they were not good Germans and their leaders were painted as treasonous and contemptible. The state removed

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began to violate the sanctity of the confessional. Goebbels noted heightened verbal attacks on the clergy from Hitler in his diary and wrote that Hitler had approved the start of trumped up "immorality trials" against clergy and anti-Church propaganda campaign. Goebbels' orchestrated attack included

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noted in his diary that the Germans knew the Belgian envoy to the Vatican had been tipped off, and the Fuehrer was greatly agitated by the danger of treachery. The German invasion of the Low Countries followed on 10 May, and Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were quickly overwhelmed. In 1943,

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was the only organisation in Germany with the capacity to overthrow the government, and from within it a small number of officers came to present the most serious threat posed to the Nazi regime. With Poland overrun in 1939, but France and the Low Countries yet to be attacked, the German Resistance

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defined "Positive Christianity" as not depending on Christ and the Apostle's Creed, but on the party, and Hitler as "herald of a new revelation". In 1939, Goebbels wrote that the Fuhrer knew that he would "have to get around to a conflict between church and state" but that in the meantime "The best

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and other Nazis would have liked him to do. But he promised himself that, when the time came, he would settle his account with the priests of both creeds. When he did, he would not be restrained by any judicial scruples". German conservative elements, such as the officer corps, opposed Nazi efforts

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For political reasons, Hitler himself was hesitant to openly attack the churches. Article 24 of his 1924 Nazi Party Platform endorsed "Positive Christianity", but set it below Nazi ideology by including the caveat that it must not offend "the sense of morality of the German people". Before taking

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to the position of Minister for Church Affairs. A relative moderate, Kerrl initially had some success in this regard, but amid continuing protests by the Confessing Church against Nazi policies, he accused dissident churchmen of failing to appreciate the Nazi doctrine of "Race, blood and soil". He

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wrote that Steigmann-Gall made an "almost convincing case" and was "right to point out that there never was a consensus among the leading Nazis about the relationship between the Party and Christianity," but that "The differences between this interpretation and those put forward earlier are really

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in October 1928 Hitler said publicly: "We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity . . . in fact our movement is Christian": Speech in Passau 27 October 1928 Bundesarchiv Berlin-Zehlendorf; from Richard Steigmann-Gall (2003). Holy Reich: Nazi conceptions of Christianity,

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The Kreisau group combined conservative notions of reform with socialist strains of thought - a symbiosis expressed by Delp's notion of "personal socialism". The group rejected Western models, but wanted to "associate conservative and socialist values, aristocracy and workers, in a new democratic

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The Vatican agreed to offer the machinery for mediation. On 3 May, Müller told Fr Leiber that invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium was imminent. The Vatican advised the Netherlands envoy to the Vatican that the Germans planned to invade France through the Netherlands and Belgium on May 10. The

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permitted religious observance (other than for Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses), but Hitler perceived a threat from organised religion and his regime responded to the ideological challenge of Christian morality using political repression and persecution and by challenging Christian teachings through

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Bullock wrote that, "once the war was over, Hitler promised himself, he would root out and destroy the influence of the Christian Churches". Phayer wrote that "By the latter part of the decade of the thirties church officials were well aware that the ultimate aim of Hitler and other Nazis was the

359:, and because some of its liberal branches had held similar views. According to Steigmann-Gall, Hitler regretted that "the churches had failed to back him and his movement as he had hoped." Hitler stated to Albert Speer, "Through me the Protestant Church could become the established church, as in 3200:

Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives, Fontana Press 1993, p. 412: "Hitler's own myth had to be protected, and this led him, like Napoleon, to speak frequently of Providence, as a necessary if unconscious projection of his sense of destiny which provided him with both justification and

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Hitler possessed radical instincts in relation to the Nazi conflict with the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany, and though he occasionally spoke of wanting to delay a struggle against the Church and was prepared to restrain his anti-clericalism out of political considerations, his "own

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himself. Though anti-Christians later fought to "expunge Christian influence from Nazism" and the movement became "increasingly hostile to the churches", Steigmann-Gall wrote that even in the end, it was not "uniformly anti-Christian". However, he admits that by holding this position he "argues

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considered that Hitler's central objection to Christianity was that its teaching was "a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle and the survival of the fittest". Bullock considered Hitler to be a rationalist and a materialist who did not believe in God, but who often used the

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Hitler issued a statement saying that he wished to avoid factional disputes in Germany's churches. He feared the political power that the churches had, and did not want to openly antagonize that political base until he had securely gained control of the country. Once in power Hitler showed his

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According to Gill, "Delp's role was to sound out for Moltke the possibilities in the Catholic Community of support for a new, post-war Germany". Rösch and Delp also explored the possibilities for common ground between Christian and socialist trade unions. Lothar König SJ became an important

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Hitler's National Socialist movement was not formally atheist. Religious observance was permitted in Nazi Germany (other than for Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses) and Hitler referred to "God", "Providence" in public speeches and writings. Hitler courted support from Christians against "godless"

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In practice, Hitler's regime oppressed the churches, and worked to reduce the impact of Christianity on society. Hitler appointed the anti-Christians Himmler, Goebbels and Heydrich to key positions in his government, chose the atheist Martin Bormann as his deputy and the the neo-Pagan Alfred

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In his personal life, Hitler showed skepticism towards religion from an early age. In his public life he was opportunistic and shrewdly aware of its impact on politics. Raised Catholic, he grew to be hostile to Catholicism. Hitler took the view that religious and scientific explanations were

145:, Hitler's government impaired the religious liberties of its citizens. However, and despite Hitler's personal skepticism towards religion, the National Socialist movement was not formally atheist, and, other than for Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses, religious observance was permitted. However, 3912:", nor in "faith in Christ as the son of God", upon which Christianity relied, but rather, as being represented by the Nazi Party, saying "The Fuehrer is the herald of a new revelation": William L. Shirer (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. London: Secker & Warburg. pp. 238–39 3602:", nor in "faith in Christ as the son of God", upon which Christianity relied, but rather, as being represented by the Nazi Party, saying "The Fuehrer is the herald of a new revelation": William L. Shirer (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. London: Secker & Warburg. pp. 238–39 702:

wrote that if the regime could not eradicate Christianity, it hoped at least to subjugate or distort it to a Nazi world view. Dill noted that a major obstacle for the Nazis was that they could not justifiably connect German faith communities to the corruption of the old regime, because the

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office in 1933, Hitler promised not to interfere with the churches, and called Christianity the "foundation of German morality". His early coalition government signed a Concordat with the Vatican guaranteeing Church rights. An attempt by the regime to control Protestantism under a unified

886:, indicate stridently anti-Christian beliefs. Speer's memoir says that Hitler had not left his church, but had no connection to it and planned a reckoning with it after the war. There is a consensus among historians that he became hostile to religion, mainly Christianity, at some point. 1144:

wrote that, though Hitler was raised as a Catholic, and retained some regard for the organisational power of Catholicism, he had utter contempt for its central teachings, which he said, if taken to their conclusion, "would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure".

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Around two thirds of Germans were Protestant - mostly Lutheran - and most of the rest were Catholic. German Protestantism had lost its privileged status as a state religion at the end of World War One, and church attendance had been in decline, amid widening secularization.

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ultimately failed, and Hitler became disinterested in seeking supporting the so-called "German Christians" Nazi aligned movement. The Church Federation proposed the well qualified Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh to be the new Reich Bishop, but Hitler endorsed his friend

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and the Nazis terrorized supporters of Bodelschwingh. Muller's heretical views against St Paul and the Semitic origins of Christ and the Bible quickly alienated sections of the Protestant church. Not all the Protestant churches submitted to the state, which Hitler said in

3421:, p. 10, ABC-CLIO, 2006: “There is no doubt that in the long run Nazi leaders such as Hitler and Himmler intended to eradicate Christianity just as ruthlessly as any other rival ideology, even if in the short term they had to be content to make compromises with it.” 1309: 454:

meanwhile negotiated a Reich Concordat with the Vatican, which prohibited clergy from participating in politics. "The agreement", wrote Shirer, "was hardly put to paper before it was being broken by the Nazi Government". Almost immediately Hitler promulgated the

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had declared itself the legitimate Protestant Church of Germany, but Muller had failed to form a united Protestant movement behind the National Socialist Party. To instigate a new effort at coordinating the Protestant churches, Hitler appointed another friend,

1152:. In 1937, Himmler wrote: "We live in an era of the ultimate conflict with Christianity. It is part of the mission of the SS to give the German people in the next half century the non-Christian ideological foundations on which to lead and shape their lives." 3125:; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p 281: "Hitler, like Stalin took the very modern view of the incompatibility of religious and scientific explanation. 'The dogma of Christianity,' he told Himmler in October 1941, 'gets worn away before the advances of science'. 966:, and the regime banned most of the atheistic and freethinking groups in Germany in 1933. Many historians believe that Hitler eventually hoped to remove Christian churches in Germany, although he was prepared to delay conflicts for political reasons. 899:" which removed the religion of its Jewish origins, set up Hitler as a messiah, and did not require the belief in the divinity of Christ. In practice, Hitler's regime oppressed the churches, and worked to reduce the impact of Christianity on society. 459:, and began work to dissolve the Catholic Youth League. Clergy, nuns and lay leaders began to be targeted, leading to thousands of arrests over the ensuing years, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or "immorality". In Hitler's bloody 3585:; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p 281: "Forty years afterwards he could still recall facing up to clergyman-teacher at his school when told how unhappy he would be in the afterlife: 'I've heard of a scientists who doubts whether there is a next world'" 3044:; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p 281: "Forty years afterwards he could still recall facing up to clergyman-teacher at his school when told how unhappy he would be in the afterlife: 'I've heard of a scientists who doubts whether there is a next world'" 2951:, p. 365, University of Michigan Press, 1970: "It seems no exaggeration to insist that the greatest challenge the Nazis had to face was their effort to eradicate Christianity in Germany, or at least to subjugate it to their general world outlook." 3458:, p. 365, University of Michigan Press, 1970: “It seems no exaggeration to insist that the greatest challenge the Nazis had to face was their effort to eradicate Christianity in Germany or at least to subjugate it to their general world outlook.” 315:

Hitler thought Christianity was finished but wanted no direct confrontation for strategic reasons. For political reasons, Hitler restrained his anti-clericalism and refused "to let himself be drawn into attacking the Church publicly, as

3969:; pp. 304 305: Goebbels wrote in 1941 that Hitler "hates Christianity" because it had made humans abject and weak, and also because the faith exalted the dignity of human life, while disregarding the rights and well-being of animals. 225:, Hitler promised the German Parliament that he would not interfere with the rights of the churches. However, with power secured in Germany, Hitler quickly broke this promise. He divided the Protestant Church and instigated a brutal 3431:, p. 240, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2003: "Had the Nazis won the war their ecclesiastical policies would have gone beyond those of the German Christians, to the utter destruction of both the Protestant and the Catholic Church." 2445: 270:) and 1.5% atheist. Most in these latter categories were "convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid 1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society". 3140:

Fontana Press 1993, p. 412: " the same materialist outlook, based on the nineteenth century rationalists' certainty that the progress of science would destroy all myths and had already proved Christian doctrine to be an

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way to deal with the churches is to claim to be a 'positive Christian'." Speer's memoir says that Hitler had not left his church before his suicide, but had no connection to it and planned a clash after the war.

1389:, a Bavarian Jesuit and World War One army chaplain, had clashed with the National Socialists as early as 1923. Continuing his critique following Hitler's rise to power, Mayer was imprisoned in 1939 and sent to 1265:

of the Resistance. Formed in 1937, though multi-denominational, it had a strongly Christian orientation. Its outlook was rooted both in German romantic and idealist tradition and in the Catholic doctrine of

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In effort to counter the strength and influence of spiritual resistance, Nazi security services monitored clergy very closely. Priests were frequently denounced, arrested and sent to concentration camps. At

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Speech in Passau 27 October 1928 Bundesarchiv Berlin-Zehlendorf; from Richard Steigmann-Gall (2003). Holy Reich: Nazi conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–61

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were numbering around 30,000 at the start of Hitler's rule in Germany. For refusing to declare loyalty to the Reich, and refusing conscription into the army, they were declared to be enemies of Germany and

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had no close connection to the churches. Because of the long history of Christianity in Germany, Hitler could not attack Christianity as openly as he did Judaism, communism, or other political opponents.

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Even after the rupture with institutional Christianity (which he dated to around 1937), Steigmann-Gall saw evidence that Hitler continued to hold Jesus in high esteem, and never directed his attacks on

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encyclical—accusing the Hitler regime of violations of the Concordat and of sowing the tares of "open fundamental hostility to Christ and His Church", and denounced the pagan myth of "blood and soil".

1140:, Himmler was vehemently opposed to Christian sexual morality and the "principle of Christian mercy", both of which he saw as a dangerous obstacle to his plans battle with "subhumans". Biographer 547:

Kershaw wrote that the subjugation of the Protestant churches proved more difficult than Hitler had envisaged. With 28 separate regional churches, his bid to create a unified Reich Church through

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and Himmler. Hitler's appointment of the neo-pagan Rosenberg as official Nazi ideologist angered Christians. The regime began an effort toward coordination of German Protestants under a unified

3499:; HarperPerennial Edition 1991; p 219: "Once the war was over, promised himself, he would root out and destroy the influence of the Christian churches, but until then he would be circumspect." 914:

to carry out Nazi oppression of the churches. Goebbels wrote in 1939 that Hitler is "deeply religious, but completely anti-Christian", and in 1941 he wrote that Hitler "hates Christianity".

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Hitler often used religious speech and symbolism to promote Nazism to those that he feared would be disposed to act against him. He also called upon religion as a pretext in diplomacies. The

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Nevertheless, efforts by the regime to impose a "positive Christianity" on a state controlled Protestant Reich Church essentially failed, and resulted in the formation of the dissident

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had been a student of Jesuits, and the Heinrich Himmler was impressed by the Order's organisational structure. Hitler wrote favourably of their influence on architecture and on him in

2449: 851:, indicate stridently anti-Christian beliefs. Speer's memoir says that Hitler had not left his church, but had no connection to it and planned a reckoning with it after the war. 676:

wrote that "once the war was over, promised himself, he would root out and destroy the influence of the Christian churches, but until then he would be circumspect": Writing for

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In his public rhetoric, Hitler the politician said he supported Christianity. He sometimes made the claim in private statements, His remarks to confidants, as described in the

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as Minister for Church Affairs in 1935. Kerrl called Hitler the "herald of a new revelation" and said that the Nazi conception of "Positive Christianity" did not depend on the

3506:, p. 147, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007: "Consequently, it was Hitler's long range goal to eliminate the churches once he had consolidated control over his European empire." 695:

that he had consulted with Protestant and Catholic authorities over the locations for churches: "Bormann curtly informed me that churches were not to receive building sites."

3472:, p. 147, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007: “Consequently, it was Hitler’s long range goal to eliminate the churches once he had consolidated control over his European empire.” 2839: 149:

could not accept an autonomous establishment whose legitimacy did not spring from the government, and desired the subordination of the church to the state. Article 24 of the

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has read Hitler's language to mean that he may have continued to believe in an active god and held Jesus in high esteem as an "Aryan fighter" who struggled against Jewry.

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responded with the Pastors' Emergency League, which resisted Muller's efforts in making the Protestant churches an instrument of Nazi policy. The movement grew into the

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Cameron, Norman; Stevens, R. H. Stevens; Weinberg, Gerhard L.; Trevor-Roper, H. R. (2007). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944: Secret Conversations. New York: Enigma Books.

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brought the Jesuit Provincial of Southern Germany Augustin Rösch into the Kreisau Circle, along with Alfred Delp. For figures like Rösch, the Catholic trade unionists

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Hitler was hesitant to make public attacks on the Church for political reasons, but generally permitted or encouraged his inner-circle of anti-church radicals such as

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was particularly severe. Vincent Lapomarda wrote that Polish nationality helped "stiffen the general attitude of the Jesuits against the Nazis" and that he permitted

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was sent in place of Müller to advise of the developments and met with Fr. Leiber. The Pope's Jesuit Private Secretary was under the surveilance of the Gestapo.

1337:(The Third Idea), Delp expounded on the notion of a third way, which, as opposed to Communism and Capitalism, might restore the unity of the person and society. 684:

wrote that by the latter 1930s, church officials knew that the long term aim of Hitler was the "total elimination of Catholicism and of the Christian religion".

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to mean conformity and subservience to the National Socialist German Workers' Party line: "there was to be no law but Hitler, and ultimately no god but Hitler".

3544:; New York Times; 5 Feb 2004: "Alan Bullock, one of Britain's foremost historians, whose early biography of Hitler became a scholarly yardstick on the subject" 1115:

could not accept an autonomous establishment whose legitimacy did not spring from the government and it desired the subordination of the church to the state.

171:, who considered that Hitler found the arrangement useful for a time, but ultimately expected Christianity to wilt and die before "the advances of science". 1478: 412: 393: 3451:, p. 123, Scarecrow Press, 2010: “The objective was to either destroy Christianity and restore the German gods of antiquity or to turn Jesus into an Aryan.” 1286: 289:" (lit. "believers in god") position. This was non-denominational and nazified, often described as predominantly based on creationist and deistic views. 4000:

John S. Conway. Review of Steigmann-Gall, Richard, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945. H-German, H-Net Reviews. June, 2003:

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John S. Conway. Review of Steigmann-Gall, Richard, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945. H-German, H-Net Reviews. June, 2003.

1230: 3541: 3408:, Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, Winter 2001, publishing evidence compiled by the O.S.S. for the Nuremberg war-crimes trials of 1945 and 1946 537:, Hitler considered the Protestant clergy to be "insignificant little people, submissive as dogs" and lacking in a religion to be taken seriously. 1009: 951: 279: 529:, "Hitler's Personal Prisoner", was a leading Protestant voice against Nazism. He was incarcerated at Dachau from 1941 until liberation in 1945. 571:, from which some clergymen opposed the Nazi regime. By 1940 it was public knowledge that Hitler had abandoned advocating for Germans even the 348:

feared that if they commenced a programme of persecution against religion in the western regions, Hitler would use that as a pretext for war.

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By early 1937, the church hierarchy in Germany, which had initially attempted to co-operate with Hitler, had become highly disillusioned and

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Peter Hoffmann; The History of the German Resistance 1933–1945; 3rd Edn (First English Edition); McDonald & Jane's; London; 1977; p. 32

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a purely racial religion," said the report. The most persuasive evidence came from "the systematic nature of the persecution itself."

76:

Finished writing a draft article? Are you ready to request review of it by an experienced editor for possible inclusion in Knowledge?

4287: 4201: 4196:

Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997;

3966: 3569:; Harper Press; 2012, p. 71.: "In Austria, religious instruction was given by the priests. I was the eternal asker of questions..." 3276: 3237: 3215: 3136: 3072: 3028:; Harper Press; 2012, p. 71.: "In Austria, religious instruction was given by the priests. I was the eternal asker of questions..." 2504: 2369: 2266: 2232: 2215: 2186: 2101: 1814: 1539: 1534:

Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997;

1370: 978: 1488: 1390: 1378: 1213: 617: 105: 1353:. The purpose of the Solf Circle was to seek out humanitarian ways of countering the Nazi regime. It met at either Frau Solf or 2667: 1871: 1624: 1393:. As his health declined, the Nazis feared the creation of a martyr and sent him to the Abbey of Ettal, but Myer died in 1945. 1270:. The Circle pressed for a coup against Hitler, but being unarmed was dependent on persuading military figures to take action. 1017: 163:

Within Protestantism, nationalist movements had emerged in the 1920s. In 1932, Hitler came up with the name German Christians (

3921:

from Norman H. Baynes, ed. (1969). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939. 1. New York: Howard Fertig. p. 402.

4325: 274:

notes that the majority of the three million Nazi Party members continued to pay their church taxes and register as either

1483: 125: 2885: 795:, Hitler was skeptical of religion, but opportunistic and shrewdly aware of its impact on politics. Raised Catholic (his 355:

over Catholicism, as Protestantism was more liable to reinterpretation and a non-traditional readings, more receptive to

664: 150: 4616:

Graml, Mommsen, Reichhardt & Wolf; The German Resistance to Hitler; B. T. Batsford Ltd; London; 1970; pp 86–87

3864:. Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, pp. 65, 119, 152, 161, 214, 375, 383, 403, 436, 562, 565, 622, 632–633. 3532:; BBC News; 14 June 2002 In 2002: " widely regarded as the world's leading expert on Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich". 962:

were fiercely oppressed for refusing both military service and loyalty to Hitler's movement. Hitler spoke out against

3486: 3399: 2031: 4001: 3496: 3289: 2905: 2727: 2708: 2487: 1853: 1835: 443: 376: 271: 266:

By 1939, Evans noted, some 95% of Germans still called themselves Protestant or Catholic, while only 3.5% 'Deist' (

1654:

Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; pp. 14–15

1176:, and spoke out against Nazi oppression - particularly with regard to Poland, and to Vichy-French anti-Semitism. 1246: 659:. Donovan was a senior member of the U.S. prosecution team and had compiled large amounts of evidence that Nazis 640:

In the long run, Hitler intended to destroy the influence of both the Catholic church and the Protestant church:

408: 134: 70: 325:, when the Nazis became the main opponent of Communism in Germany, Hitler saw Christianity as a temporary ally. 221:

under which Hitler gained the "temporary" dictatorial powers with which he went on to permanently dismantle the

4652:

Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p. 160

4634:

Graml, Mommsen, Reichhardt & Wolf; The German Resistance to Hitler; B. T. Batsford Ltd; London; 1970; p.142

4558:

Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p. 161

2815: 954:. Smaller religious minorities faced worse repression, with the Jews of Germany facing death on the grounds of 460: 120: 4625:

Graml, Mommsen, Reichhardt & Wolf; The German Resistance to Hitler; B. T. Batsford Ltd; London; 1970; p.67

807:

was devout), Hitler showed skepticism during school days and became hostile to Catholicism during adulthood.

372:

against the consensus that Nazism as a whole was either unrelated to Christianity or actively opposed to it."

4592:

Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p164

4580:

Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p264

3166:

Alan Bullock; Hitler: a Study in Tyranny; HarperPerennial Edition 1991; p219 & Cameron et al. 2007, p. 51

1721:

Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945

672:

solved... There is, namely, an insoluble opposition between the Christian and a Germanic-heroic world-view".

4680: 1196: 1161: 1021: 935: 2816:"The Nazi's persecution of religion as a war crime: The OSS's response within the Nuremberg Trials Process" 4643:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; p 1025–6

4005: 3729: 3613: 3304: 2924: 1302: 1084: 959: 924: 882: 869: 847: 834: 652: 624: 520: 2516:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; pp. 234–238.

691:

recalled that when drafting his plans for Hitler's "new Berlin", when he told Hitler's private secretary

3424: 2567:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; pp. 238–239

2036: 1941:

Overy, R. J. 2004. The dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

1354: 1088: 943: 896: 447: 439: 356: 329:

contempt for "non-Aryan" religion and sought to eliminate it from areas under his rule. Within Hitler's

154: 3465:, p. 290, 363, Doubleday 1968: The Nazis sought "to eradicate Christianity in Germany root and branch." 2355:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; pp 234-235

819:

then met with resistance, and by 1937 a Papal encyclical was denouncing Nazi persecution of Catholics.

4661:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; p 1025–26

3405: 2879: 2840:"Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity" 2651: 1173: 1076: 1029: 4704: 3908:, the Nazi Minister for Church Affairs, explained "Positive Christianity" as not "dependent upon the 3598:, the Nazi Minister for Church Affairs, explained "Positive Christianity" as not "dependent upon the 2474: 501: 49: 3487:

Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity

3400:

Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity

1708:

The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933–1945, by John S. Conway p. 232; Regent College Publishing

1578:

Richard Overy; ‘’The Dictators Hitler's Germany Stalin's Russia’’; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p278-285

1510: 1216:

to go on a clandestine trip to Rome to seek Papal assistance in the developing plot to oust Hitler.

479:, the national director of the Catholic Youth Sports Association, and Catholic anti-Nazi journalist 4601: 4362: 3785:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; p. 240

1294: 1250: 597: 579: 564: 168: 3462: 2526: 2364:

John S. Conway; The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933–1945; Regent College Publishing; 2001;

1645:

William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; p240"

2823: 1560:

Richard Overy; ‘’The Dictators Hitler's Germany Stalin's Russia’’; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p.285

1551:

Richard Overy; ‘’The Dictators Hitler's Germany Stalin's Russia’’; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p.285

1350: 1305:, "religious motives and the determination to resist would seem to have developed hand in hand". 1092: 1080: 1064: 312: 3909: 3599: 1569:

Richard Overy; ‘’The Dictators Hitler's Germany Stalin's Russia’’; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p281

1525:

Richard Overy; ‘’The Dictators Hitler's Germany Stalin's Russia’’; Allen Lane/Penguin; 2004.p278

589: 427: 4021:; Translation by Richard & Clara Winston; McMillan Publishing Company; New York; 1970; p.49 4684: 4409: 4378: 4341: 4283: 4197: 3962: 3463:

The Nazi revolution, 1933–1935: prelude to calamity:with a background survey of the Weimar era

3434: 3272: 3233: 3211: 3010: 2771: 2747: 2627: 2621: 2500: 2421: 2405: 2365: 2262: 2228: 2211: 2182: 2097: 1942: 1784: 1778: 1757: 1751: 1725: 1663:

Encyclopedia Britannica Online - Fascism - Identification with Christianity; web 24 April 2013

1535: 1321: 1274: 1036: 982: 939: 920: 568: 541: 360: 109: 3734: 3618: 2929: 2080: 1719: 492:

crucifixes from the walls of Catholic classrooms and replaced it with a photo of the Führer.

3475: 1866: 1692: 1620: 994: 985:(centre) was the wartime Jesuit Provincial of Bavaria and one of three Jesuits in the inner 931: 903: 865: 830: 800: 648: 612: 526: 509: 322: 290: 246: 238: 197: 1245:

Müller was arrested. Müller spent the rest of the war in concentration camps, ending up at

1172:

to carry on its campaign against the Nazis in Poland. Vatican radion was run by the Jesuit

249:, backed by Hitler, the Nazis intended to destroy Christianity in Germany, if they could." 3961:

Fred Taylor Translation; The Goebbels Diaries 1939–41; Hamish Hamilton Ltd; London; 1982;

3271:

Fred Taylor Translation; The Goebbels Diaries 1939–41; Hamish Hamilton Ltd; London; 1982;

2531: 1137: 1122:

after 1933 came to include many Catholics, aggressive anti-Church radicals like Goebbels,

1104: 1068: 955: 947: 907: 779:'s views on religion have been a matter of debate. According to Hitler historians such as 704: 656: 549: 476: 472: 464: 451: 254: 230: 222: 189: 40: 2986:

The named reference "Bundle3" was defined multiple times with different content (see the

1599:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; W.W. Norton & Company; London; pp. 281–283

1282: 1136:

sentiments were strong among grassroots party activists. According to Himmler biographer

3511:

The named reference "Bundle" was defined multiple times with different content (see the

3503: 3469: 3455: 3448: 3438: 3428: 3418: 2948: 2801: 2788: 2751: 2553: 2723: 2303:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; WW Norton & Company; London; pp. 381–382

1329:

intermediary between the Circle and bishops Grober of Freiberg and Presying of Berlin.

1317: 1262: 1123: 1044: 1001: 986: 911: 877: 842: 692: 681: 388: 338: 317: 295: 275: 242: 234: 233:

signed with the Vatican and permitted a persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany.

193: 44: 17: 2312:

Kershaw, Ian, Hitler, 1889–1936: hubris, pp. 575–576, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000

1405: 4230:; Translated by Jeremy Noakes and Lesley Sharpe; Oxford University Press; 2012; p.270 4217:; Translated by Jeremy Noakes and Lesley Sharpe; Oxford University Press; 2012; p.265 3578: 3411: 3323: 3175: 3150: 3118: 3088: 3037: 1636:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; W.W. Norton & Company; London; p. 295.

1169: 1112: 1048: 1025: 792: 788: 699: 555: 480: 352: 259: 146: 130: 101: 66: 4604:; German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013 1308: 392:

Polish prisoners in Dachau toast their liberation from the camp. Dachau had its own

3562: 3492: 3444: 3308: 3067: 3021: 2863: 2704: 2435:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; WW Norton & Company; London p. 661."

1848: 1830: 1809: 1590:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; W.W. Norton & Co; London; pp. 381–82

1386: 1374: 1290: 1238:

Vatican also sent a coded radio message to its nuncios in Brussels and The Hague.

1141: 1133: 1128: 1056: 915: 873: 838: 816: 804: 796: 784: 776: 737: 688: 673: 534: 496: 345: 218: 207: 202: 160:

In its brief of evidence for the Nuremberg Trials, the American OSS described the

97: 2499:

Paul Berben; Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945; Norfolk Press; London; 1975;

2227:

Paul Berben; Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945; Norfolk Press; London; 1975;

2210:

Paul Berben; Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945; Norfolk Press; London; 1975;

1608:

Alan Bullock; Hitler, a Study in Tyranny; HarperPerennial Edition 1991; pp 146–149

3529: 1200:

wanted the Pope's assistance in preparations for a coup to oust Hitler. Colonel

188:

after 1933 came to include many Christians, aggressive anti-Church radicals like

3767:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; WW Norton & Company; London p.661

3348:

William Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; pp. 238–39: Shirer quotes

2896:

Ian Kershaw; Hitler a Biography; 2008 Edn; WW Norton & Company; London p.661

1357:'s home. Von Thadden was a Christian educational reformer and Red Cross worker. 1346: 1313: 1278: 1267: 1241: 1209: 1072: 1040: 780: 423: 142: 3930:

Richard J. Evans; The Third Reich at War; Penguin Press; New York 2009, p. 546

3905: 3595: 3384:

Richard J. Evans; The Third Reich at War; Penguin Press; New York 2009, p. 546

3349: 2911: 2763: 2733: 1201: 1160:

The Superior General of the worldwide Jesuit Order at the outbreak of war was

1119: 1060: 891: 742: 677: 584: 572: 468: 330: 185: 3776:

Alan Bullock; Hitler: a Study in Tyranny; HarperPerennial Edition 1991; p218"

1285:. Bishop von Preysing had contact with the group. The Catholic conservative 52:. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is 1358: 1298: 1005: 601: 4431:; 3rd Edn (First English Edn); McDonald & Jane's; London; 1977; p.292-5 519: 508:

Hitler's invasion of the predominantly Catholic Poland in 1939 ignited the

3542:

Obituary: Alan Bullock, 89, a British Historian Who Wrote a Life of Hitler

3191:

Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; pp. 495–6

3109:

Laurence Rees; The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler; Ebury Press; 2012; p135.

1059:, has been beatified. Among the Jesuit "Righteous Gentiles" recognised by 1000:

Hitler had particular disdain for the Jesuits, and the Jesuit Provincial,

263:

to make the evangelical churches of Germany an instrument of Nazi policy.

137:, which sought to subordinate German Protestantism to the Nazi Government. 4332:; 3rd Edn (First English Edn); McDonald & Jane's; London; 1977; p.160 3873:

Laurence Rees; The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler; Ebury Press; 2012; p135

1132:

campaign against the Churches as a priority concern, and anti-church and

206:

campaign against the Churches as a priority concern, and anti-church and

4549:; 3rd Edn (First English Edn); McDonald & Jane's; London; 1977; p33. 1369: 3429:

Nazi culture: intellectual, cultural and social life in the Third Reich

1324:

groups operating inside Nazi Germany. He was executed in February 1945.

963: 484: 334: 2032:"The Nazis' 'Positive Christianity': a Variety of 'Clerical Fascism'?" 1205: 1780:

Laboratory for World Destruction: Germans and Jews in Central Europe

1273:

Among the central membership of the Circle were the Jesuit Fathers

647:

In 1999 Julie Seltzer Mandel, while researching documents for the "

4267:

An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler

4254:

An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler

2768:

An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler

1368: 1307: 930:

According to Speer, Hitler had disdain for the neo-pagan views of

611: 417: 387: 368: 124: 2864:"The Nazi Master Plan: The Persecution of the Christian Churches" 2096:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 118–20, 155–6. 1028:, which spoke out against Axis atrocities, was run by the Jesuit 3630:

1919-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 60-61, 298

3257: