Hitler's Religious Policies

Hitler’s Stance on Religion

• Originally, Hitler seemed to support religion
• religious observance permitted, wanted party to be built on base of Christianity
• feared the political power the church had, did not want to jeopardize his newly secured control over the country
• viewed the relationship between church and state purely in political terms
• did not practice Christianity but felt the need to mask his views on religion and the fact he was skeptical of religion in order to maintain the power he just obtained
• Hitler personally thought that Christianity was made up of false ideas that would cause religion to decline on its own.
• thought that scientific revelation would destroy religious myth
• believed all truths came from natural science
• believed science to be more reliable than religion
• truths of racial biology (natural selection, racial struggle)
• How did Hitler’s opinions on religion impact his policies?
• To bring the church under the control of the state, Hitler created the Ministry of Church Affairs in 1935. This ensured that the Catholics and Protestants fulfilled their obligations to the regime.
• Hitler led “immorality trials” for nuns and priests to eliminate the role of clergy in politics
• By 1935, Nazis were persecuting the churches through terror and intimidation. Clergymen were arrested and many sent to work camps
• Hitler’s appearance of supporting religious values made Protestants and Catholics willing to support the regime. Their early support made it hard for them to form resistance movements against Hitler later in his rule, which allowed him to more easily diminish the Church.
• Would Hitler be considered a Christian, an atheist, or neither?
• Hitler grew up and was confirmed Catholic but did not associate himself with Catholicism when he was in control of Germany. Also had a strong beliefs that associated with science

German Faith Movement

• Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
• studied at Tübingen University and went on to become a theology teacher at the school
• founder and leader of the German Faith Movement in 1932
• Anti-Semitic as well as anti- Christianity
• wanted a national regeneration that would give birth to a community of one Volk
• Völkisch worldview would put priority on a group and personality above the individual and individualism (emphasis on Hinduism when creating the Faith Movement)
• Introduced anti-Semitic views by stating that Jews belonged to another Volk
• revolved around four main themes
• he propagation of the ‘Blood and Soil’ ideology
• celebrating the relationship of people to the land they occupy and cultivate, and it places a high value on the virtues of rural living
• the replacement of Christian ceremonies and ideas/symbols by pagan equivalents
• searched for traditional Germanic forms of religious expressions
• provided equivalents of marriage ceremonies and baptisms
• the most favored pagan deity being the sun, as can be seen from the flag of the faith movement
• the wholesale rejection of Christian ethics
• Christianity was seen as tainted by Judaism because it was the product of a Jewish culture, rejected the ‘Jewish’ Old Testament
• Went along with creating one Volk for Germany that did not include the Jews
• the cult of Hitler’s personality
• come leader/fuhrer
• Had a following of less than half a million in 1933 and unsuccessfully petitioned for full recognition as the official religion of Germany.
• Hitler then lost interest in making room for church in the state (1935) and removed Hauer from power
• How successful was the German Faith Movement?
• Not very successful
• less than half a million people joined creating very little influence
• did not achieve the goal of converting people to this new religion, the majority of the population still associated with Christianity
• What are similarities and differences between the German faith and Christian faith?
• German faith emphasised the importance of purity within a Volk and it was focused on race

1933 Concordat

• Agreement between The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) and Germany’s vice chancellor, Franz von Papen,
• July 20, 1933.
• Nazis guaranteed Catholic Church religious freedom
• Nazis would not interfere with the Church’s property and legal rights
• Nazis would accept the Church’s control over its own education
• Catholic Church would in return give diplomatic recognition to the Nazi government.  
• The Catholic Church concessions:
• clergy could not engage in political activities and not hold political offices.
• Bishops were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the Reich and its legally constituted government.
• No religious publications were explicitly protected under the concordat, so they were left vulnerable to the state’s suppression.

• Why did the Catholic Church agree to sign the concordat?
• Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII) hoped that the agreement would allow the German Catholic Church to operate freely of any interference from the Nazi Party.
• He suspected that the Church would be eliminated if they did not support the rising Third Reich and thought the concordat was his only way of preventing the removal of the Catholic Church.
• The Nazis agreed to ensure the Church’s religious freedom, not interfere with their property or legal rights, and allow the Church to have control over its own education system.
• It was a threat to the Church to refuse the agreement- if they did not negotiate with the legally appointed government, Hitler would have claimed that the Vatican was anti-Nazi and obstructionist.
• As the Nazis were rapidly gaining in power, it seemed as if any written agreement protecting religious rights was better than no legal agreement at all.
• What were Hitler’s goals in establishing the concordat?
• In the past elections many German Christians had not voted for Hitler, so he wanted to neutralize any political threat from organized religion.
• Hitler wanted the church’s approval, as it would give him international legitimacy and recognition.
• Hitler considered the Catholic Church a real threat to the Nazi regime and thought that the institution needed to be controlled and uprooted from the German life. This concordat was a way to control the Church and force them to support the regime.
• How successful was the concordat in achieving these goals?
• Hitler was successful in temporarily controlling the Church under a false sense of agreement, which he used to take advantage of the situation and slowly undermine the Catholic Church.
• The concordat was successful in forcing the Church, which had been a formidable force, to support the Nazi regime and in asserting the international influence of the party.
• By the end of 1933, the Nazis were already dispersing anti-Catholic ideas- the concordat was successful in taming the Church’s influence so that Hitler could take control.

Relationship Between Church and State

• Nazi leaders have limited success in controlling the Churches
• Total suppression
• Alienation of large number of Germans
• Limited persecution
• Too much independence for Churches
• Slow Destabilization of Churches
• Establishment of the Ministry of Church Affairs and Hanns Kerrl appointed leader
• Anti-religious measures
• Closing Church schools
• Discouragement of Catholic youth groups
• Reduction in Church funds
• Arrest of Church figures (priests, pastors, eg.)
• Overall state of Churches weakened
• Allowed for certain figures to stand against Nazi Regime
• Pastor Niemoller stands for Protestants and states “we must obey God rather than man”
• The Pope attacks Nazi system in 1937

• Did Hitler’s tactics to weaken the church eventually work?
• Nazi Regime didn’t last long enough for the effects of their plans to be noticed
• Too much overall commitment to Christianity among the citizens made it difficult for churches to become weak over night
• Launching fundamental assault on Churches difficult because of individuals standing up to regime
• Loyalty to Church survived longer than Nazism

• How did the relationship between the Church and State evolve?
• Although it seemed as if relationship was positive for both sides, Nazi regime slowly wanted to diminish all of the Church’s influence over the German people