How Did Evangelical Christians Believed Nazism is a Gift from God?
In the early 1930s, a significant faction of German Protestantism—often referred to as the “German Christians” (Deutsche Christen)—enthusiastically embraced Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, viewing Nazism as a divine gift or “miracle of God” for Germany. This support was driven by a fusion of intense nationalism with evangelical Christian faith, which led to a “nazified” version of Christianity that aimed to remove all Jewish influence from the church.
Holocaust Encyclopedia
Here is how this ideology was justified and implemented:
Hitler as a Divine Savior:Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, economic depression, and political instability, many Protestants saw Hitler as a messianic figure sent by God to save the nation from collapse and communism.
The 1933 “Miracle”: Many “German Christian” leaders viewed January 30, 1933—the day Hitler was appointed chancellor—as a holy day. Lutheran theologian Paul Althaus called the Nazi rise to power “a gift and miracle of God”.
“Positive Christianity”: The Nazis and their supporting church faction promoted “Positive Christianity,” a theology that rejected traditional Christian doctrines of sin and redemption, replacing them with a focus on national “Volk” (race/people) ideology.
Antisemitism and the “Aryan” Jesus: The German Christian movement sought to completely eliminate Jewish influence from the church, which included removing the Old Testament from the Bible, arguing that Jesus was not a Jew but an “Aryan fighter”.
Fusing the Cross and Swastika:The movement blurred the lines between church and state, with members often using the swastika in church symbols and viewing their service to the National Socialist state as a religious duty.
Wikipedia
While many German Evangelicals supported Hitler, it is important to note that this was not universal. The Confessing Church(Bekennende Kirche) arose in opposition to this “nazified” faith, arguing that the church’s allegiance was to God and Scripture, not to a secular leader.
Holocaust Encyclopedia
Protestant Churches in Nazi Germany
The largest Protestant church in Germany in the 1930s was the German Evangelical Church, comprised of 28 regional churches or Landeskirchen that included the three major theological traditions that had emerged from the Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed, and United. Most of Germany’s 40 million Protestants were members of this church, although there were smaller so-called “free” Protestant churches, such as Methodist and Baptist churches.
Historically the German Evangelical Church viewed itself as one of the pillars of German culture and society, with a theologically grounded tradition of loyalty to the state. During the 1920s, a movement emerged within the German Evangelical Church called the Deutsche Christen, or “German Christians.” The “German Christians” embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology. Once the Nazis came to power, this group sought the creation of a national “Reich Church” and supported a “nazified” version of Christianity.
The Bekennende Kirche—the “Confessing Church”—emerged in opposition to the “German Christians.” Its founding document, the Barmen Confession of Faith, declared that the church’s allegiance was to God and scripture, not a worldly Führer. Both the Confessing Church and the “German Christians” remained part of the German Evangelical Church, and the result was a Kirchenkampf, or “church struggle” within German Protestantism—an ongoing debate and struggle for control between those who sought a “nazified” church, those who opposed it, and the so-called “neutral” church leaders whose priority was the avoidance both of church schism and any kind of conflict with the Nazi state.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Protestant theologian who was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 9, 1945. Germany, date uncertain.
Credits:
DIZ Muenchen GMBH, Sueddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst
The most famous members of the Confessing Church were the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed for his role in the conspiracy to overthrow the regime, and Pastor Martin Niemöller, who spent seven years in concentration camps for his criticisms of Hitler. Yet these clergymen were not typical of the Confessing Church; despite their examples, the Protestant Kirchenkampfwas mostly an internal church matter, not a fight against National Socialism. Even in the Confessing Church, most church leaders were primarily concerned with blocking state and ideological interference in church affairs. Yet there were certainly members of the clergy and laity who opposed and resisted the regime, including some who aided and hid Jews.
The Roman Catholic Church in Nazi Germany
The Catholic Church was not as sharply divided by different ideological factions as the Protestant church, and it never underwent an internal Kirchenkampfbetween these different factions. Catholic leaders were initially more suspicious of National Socialism than their Protestant counterparts. Nationalism was not as deeply embedded in the German Catholic Church, and the rabid anti-Catholicism of figures such as Alfred Rosenberg, a leading Nazi ideologue during the Nazi rise to power, raised early concerns among Catholic leaders in Germany and at the Vatican. In addition, the Catholic Centre Party had been a key coalition governmental partner in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s and was aligned with both the Social Democrats and leftist German Democratic Party, pitting it politically against right-wing parties like the Nazis.
Before 1933, in fact, some bishops prohibited Catholics in their dioceses from joining the Nazi Party. This ban was dropped after Hitler’s March 23, 1933, speech to the Reichstag in which he described Christianity as the “foundation” for German values. The Centre Party was dissolved as part of the signing of a 1933 Concordat between the Vatican and Nazi governmental representatives, and several of its leaders were murdered in the Röhm purge in July 1934.
Catholic clergy and Nazi officials, including Joseph Goebbels (far right) and Wilhelm Frick (second from right), give the Nazi salute. Germany, date uncertain.
Credits:
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
In both German churches there were members, including clergy and leading theologians, who openly supported the Nazi regime. With time, anti-Nazi sentiment grew in both Protestant and Catholic church circles, as the Nazi regime exerted greater pressure on them. In turn, the Nazi regime saw a potential for dissent in church criticism of state measures. When a protest statement was read from the pulpits of Confessing churches in March 1935, for example, Nazi authorities reacted forcefully by briefly arresting over 700 pastors. After the 1937 papal encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (“With burning concern”) was read from Catholic pulpits, the Gestapo confiscated copies from diocesan offices throughout the country.
The general tactic by the leadership of both Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany was caution with respect to protest and compromise with the Nazi state leadership where possible. There was criticism within both churches of Nazi racialized ideology and notions of “Aryanism,” and movements emerged in both churches to defend church members who were considered “non-Aryan” under Nazi racial laws (e.g., Jews who had converted). Yet throughout this period there was virtually no public opposition to antisemitism or any readiness by church leaders to publicly oppose the regime on the issues of antisemitism and state-sanctioned violence against the Jews. There were individual Catholics and Protestants who spoke out on behalf of Jews, and small groups within both churches that became involved in rescue and resistance activities (for example, the White Rose and Herman Maas).
After 1945, the silence of the church leadership and the widespread complicity of “ordinary Christians” compelled leaders of both churches to address issues of guilt and complicity during the Holocaust—a process that continues internationally to this day.
Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
