Catholic Plight in the Kaiserreich: A Reappraisal

Abstract

Statistical data concerning the alleged backwardness had been brought to the attention of the Catholic leadership as early as 1892, when the issue was first openly discussed at a general meeting of Germany's Catholics in the ancient episcopal city of Mainz. The protracted and often bitter debate encouraged most Catholics to attribute their social and economic situation to past injustice and present prejudice. Statistics gathered from German banking houses suggested that Catholics tended to save a smaller portion of their earnings than did members of other religious faiths. The economic considerations contributed to a sizable educational deficit among the Catholic population of Imperial Germany. The outstanding example of an explicit attempt to meet Catholic demands for parity was the so-called Spahn case which became a cause celebre in turn-of-the-century Germany. Roman Catholics greeted statements with incredulity—indeed with derision—and dismissed them as specious argument to deny them their religious and social equality in Wilhelmian Germany.