Strategies for Survival: An Examination of the History of Five Christian Sects in Germany 1933-45

Abstract

When in January 1933 the National Socialist Party took power in Germany, it set out to put into practice its principles and political aims. On the question of religion, there was a certain amount of ambivalence. Hitler himself had been brought up as a Catholic and expressed some theoretical toleration for the Churches. A leading party theorist, Alfred Rosenberg, however, had in his The Myth of the Twentieth Century attacked Christianity, and inherent in a great deal of Nazi teaching and symbolism was a conscious use of pagan teutonic mythology. Moreover, the policy of Gleichschaltung implied Nazification of all institutions, including the Churches. Whilst toleration in the early years was based on the assumption that the concern of the Churches was with the afterlife rather than with this life, clashes over administration occurred at quite an early date. The Nazi ideal was of a 'German Church' which rejected the internationalism of Roman Catholicism and whose leaders were, at least administratively, tied to the Nazi Party. Even in the area of doctrine, the Churches were in danger of offending party teaching. Certain Church members were baptized Jews; the Old Testament and 'the Rabbi Paul' were read and expounded in pulpits and schools. Church organizations, for example, for mothers and the young presented the possibility of rival loyalty.