The Churches And The Third Reich

This second volume of The Churches and the Third Reich, the last which the author lived to write, covers the year 1934. This year, which saw the birth of the Confessing Church and the great Synods of Barmen and Dahlem, was the year of disillusionment, in which all the hopes of 1933 were shattered one by one. The gripping narrative of the first volume is continued as in addition to the rise of a legitimate church opposition we see how the German Christians overreached themselves by seeking, without Hitler’s approval and against the law, to set up a Reich Church fully coordinated with the state. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church was running into increasing difficulties as it tried to cope with the problems left unresolved on the conclusion of the Concordat. Like the first, this volume has many illustrations.

This monumental, comprehensive, controversial study is the first volume of a definitive history of the churches in Germany between the wars. It is especially significant in that it is based on a great deal of original research into both religious and political sources, and is the first book to work on the presupposition that an accurate picture of the churches in the Third Reich demands that both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches are studied side by side, since it was the rivalry between the churches that in some ways contributed to their downfall. Contrary to what has often been asserted, Professor Scholder argues that Hitler did have a plan for the churches over a long period. Crucial to that plan on the Catholic side was his desire for a concordat parallel to that achieved by Mussolini, keeping the clergy out of politics, which the Vatican was over-hasty to meet; it was the attempt to treat the Protestant churches in a similar way to the Catholic church, which led to the difficulties that ended in the church struggle. There is also a realistic analysis of the Jewish question, documenting the churches’ failure in this area with severity and scholarly rigor. The first part covers developments up to Hitler’s seizure of power; the second is devoted to the year 1933, during which all the major issues were in fact decided.

A documentary account of Christian resistance and complicity during the Nazi era.--cover.

Conway presents a landmark text on the history of German churches during the Nazi era.

In one of the darker aspects of Nazi Germany, churches and universities - generally respected institutions - grew to accept and support Nazi ideology. Complicity in the Holocaust describes how the state's intellectual and spiritual leaders enthusiastically partnered with Hitler's regime, becoming active participants in the persecution of Jews, effectively giving Germans permission to participate in the Nazi regime. Ericksen also examines Germany's deeply flawed yet successful postwar policy of denazification in these institutions.

A documentary account of Christian resistance and complicity during the Nazi era.--cover.

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject History Europe - Germany - National Socialism, World War II, grade: 71 = A, Oxford Brookes University, course: The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933-1945, 11 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Free from any apologetic or debunking fuss, the essay depicts the complex relationship between the Nazi state and the Catholic and Protestant Churches during the Third Reich. Focussing on three major areas of conflict between the Churches and the Nazis(sychronization ('Gleichschaltung'), the Nazis' anti-church policies, the churches and euthanasia) the essay's argument is that a pragmatic approach by both Churches and the Nazis based on the preservation of mutual self-interest is the key to understand their dealing with each other in each individual case of conflict. In a second part, the essays seeks to explain why both protagonists preferred a pragmatic instead of a more radical and uncompromising approach to each other, stating that three factors are accountable for this: First, mutually shared political views based on anti-liberalism and anti-Marxism; second, a tremendous mispercerption of the regime's nature by both churches; third, the limits of anti-church policies among a population still being deeply Christianized.

"Under Hitler, Germany's state-linked provincial churches functioned as seedbeds of nationalism. A smaller and independent church form - the "free church" or denomination - offered greater promise of nonconformity. Linked by pacifist traditions, German Mennonites, Seventh-day Adventists, and Quakers promoted a range of liberal principles: empowerment of the individual conscience, respect for confessional diversity, and separation of church and state. Nonetheless, two of these denominations used these same principles to defend and even embrace the Nazi regime. This book examines what makes Christian communities - when meeting the harsh challenges of modernity - viable entities of faith or hollow forms."--BOOK JACKET.