Image of a Churchman-Resister: Bishop von Galen, the Euthanasia Project and the Sermons of Summer 1941

Abstract

This article offers a re-evaluation of a high-ranking German Catholic clergyman, Bishop von Galen, and his position under the National Socialist regime. In particular, the article focuses on three critical sermons the Bishop gave in the summer of 1941 which instantly propelled him to national and international fame. These sermons have traditionally been pointed to as examples of anti-nazi resistance on the part of the Catholic Church in Germany. Although these sermons were forthright denunciations of certain nazi policies, this article argues that von Galen's three summer sermons were never calls for insurrection against the nazi state, nor were they pleas for German Catholics to rise up and protect all of their neighbours who were experiencing nazi persecution. By placing the summer sermons in their appropriate context, one can see how the example of von Galen complicates the picture of what constitutes resistance. His life represents a complex portrait of a high-ranking German Catholic clergyman who mixed some selective opposition with conformity, accommodation and surrender in order to achieve a sense of balance in his life.