Nazi essay remember Flashcards
(30 cards)
(Prot) The Confessing Church was…
- Originally called the Pastors Emergency League and was founded in 1933 by Martin Niemoller in response to the Reich Church.
- It became the Confessing Church in 1934
- Put Jesus as the head of the church instead of Adolf Hitler, the Führer.
- Took the Barmen declaration as its theological statement
(Prot) Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- German theologian and Lutheran Pastor, was outraged at the Christian response to the Nazi regime and after fleeing to America towards at the start of the war 1939, regretted it and returned to Germany only two weeks later believing that he ought to share in the trials of the German people.
- In the Confessing Church, Bonhoeffer helped draft the Barmen Declaration.
- He led a seminary where he trained young pastors in discipleship, biblical faithfulness, and resistance.
- He wrote “The Cost of Discipleship”, - When the Nazis shut down the seminary in 1937, Bonhoeffer continued teaching in secret.
- In 1943 he was arrested and in 1945 he was executed after being found in 1944 to have been plotting the assassination of Hitler.
- “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”
- Was a student of Karl Barth
(Prot) Martin Niemoller
- Initially supported Hitler, but radically changed his mind after Hitler began taking control of the church through the Reich Church and through the German Christian Movement
- In 1933, Niemoller founded the Pastors Emergency League which became the Confessing Church in 1934.
- He opposed the Aryan paragraph in 1933, and is known as one of the most outspoken public leaders of the Confessing Church.
- In 1937 he was arrested and spent 8 years imprisoned because of his public opppostion to the Nazi Party.
(Prot) Karl Barth
- Was a Swiss reformed theologian was an outspoken critic of Hitler
- The primary author of the Barmen Declaration in 1934
- In 1935 he returned to Switzerland after refusing to take a loyalty oath to Hitler. However, he continued to write letters and support Bonhoeffer (who was his student).
- Had move to Germany in 1921 to teach theology
(Prot) German Christian Movement (GCM) (when, what, goals)
- Founded in 1932
- Made up of Christians who actively supported Nazi ideology and wanted to align Christianity with National Socialism.
- Goals like removing Jewish influence (e.g., denying the Old Testament)
- Promoting Aryan supremacy, seeing Hitler as a divine leader.
- Wanting a racially pure Christianity
- Had around half-a-million German Protestant members.
(Prot) Reich Church
- Hitler promoted it in 1933
- It would essentially unify all Prot Churches
- Many protestant churches initially supported this move. However, months later, backlash grew quickly at the idea that true Christianity was being distorted.
- The Church continued until the end of Hitler’s reign but had effectively ‘failed’ by 1937
(Prot) The Barmen declaration (1934) rejected three key ideas…
- The Nazi idea that the state could dictate church doctrine.
- The claim that Hitler or any earthly authority could be the “head” of the Church.
- The German Christians’ attempt to merge Christianity with Nazi ideology
(Prot) Two huge reasons why the Protestant Church SUCKED (not Reich or GCM)
- Protestant churches also provided the Nazi authorities with records that facilitated the differentiation of Jews and ‘Aryans’.
- The T-4 Euthanasia program which killed people the Nazi’s deemed handicapped. Many of the Germans killed between 1939-45 were killed in hospitals and institutions run by Churches
(Prot) Overall response…
Was really bad, most Protestants not only were silent in the persecution of the Jews but actively supported it, some even boasted that they were more German than the Catholics because of their antisemitism. Three men stood out however, ensuring that even in difficult times, the protestant church would exist.
(Prot) The Reich Church failed because of 4 key reasons….
- Many Christians (especially theologians like Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth) refused to accept Nazi ideology as compatible with Christianity.
- The Nazis wanted to “de-Judaize” the Bible, removing the Old Testament and rewriting Christian doctrines. A move that many church leaders condemned as heretical.
- Protestantism wasn’t unified to begin with so attempting to do so created deep tensions.
- Incompetent Nazi officials like Ludwig Müller in charge who had even pro-Nazi clergy against him.
(Prot) In ____ the Nazi Regime shifted its strategy from __________ to ___________
Late 1937, Co-option, Suppression
(Cath) Similarly to what happened in the Protestant church when the Nazi Party switched from Co-option, to Suppression, the Catholic Church in ____ faced the same problem
1938
There seemed to be less individualised ‘hereos’ in the Catholic response, but rather…
A unified approached that although being a bit up and down at times, was ultimately on the whole, more against Nazism than the Protestants were initially. The Concordat did not help the Catholic Church at all and actually damaged its reputation though.
The one of the key differences between the Catholic reaction and the Protestant reaction was that…
The Catholics sought to defend what was already established by defending existing institutions like (schools, youth groups) and pastoral loyalty to Rome. Whereas the Prots created the Confessing Church to combat Nazism.
(Cath) In _____, the Catholic version of the Prot Barmen declaration, called “With Burning Concern” (____________) was smuggled into Germany and read from pulpits on the same day, Palm Sunday. It included….
1937, Mit brennender Sorge
- Condemnation of the Violation of the Concordat
- Rejection of Racial Ideology and Neo-Paganism
- Defense of Religious Freedom and Education
- Critique of the “Führer Principle” in Religion
- Call to Steadfastness and Resistance
(Cath) The signing of the Caoncordat in 1933 was very important as… (3)
- It consolidated Nazi supremacy further by giving their regime legitimacy
- It temporarily appeased the Catholic Church
- Many viewed this as the Church’s approval of the Nazi party.
(Cath) However, the Nazi Party almost immediately began breaking the terms of their agreement, as…. (3)
- Catholic newspapers were censored and anti-Catholic propaganda was spread
- Priests and nuns were arrested or intimidated
- Catholic organisations like youth groups and schools were harassed, shut down, or forcibly merged with Nazi organisations
(Cath)- Prior to the signing of the Concordat in July 1933, German Bishops regularly…
refused the rites of the church to Nazi officials
(Cath) The Catholic response was very different to the protestants, mainly because…
their leadership was consciously international and universal.
(Cath) Cardinal ______ signed the Concordat in 1933 because….
Pacelli
it seemed to be a means to secure right and privileges of the church. Rights in schools, youth organisations, and clergy, in a time of rapidly consolidating Nazi power
The Mit Brennender Sorge infuriated the Nazi’s and led to affecting both Protestants and Catholics… (5)
- Goebbels (propaganda minister), launching a furious propaganda campaign against the Church
- Trials of morality, and currency smuggling (only Catholics)
- Closure of schools
- Constant Gestapo surveillance
- Mass confiscation of monasteries
(Cath) From 1938, and the many trials that followed, the main focus of the church became…
This is in contrast to the Protestant Church whose goal remained…
C- Preserving the faith within their congregations
C- Providing pastoral care
P- Placing Jesus Christ as the head of the Church rather than Adolf Hitler
The Confessing Church leaders sent a personal letter to Adolf Hitler in 1936 to ask whether……… This was significant because……..
- acts taken against the church represented his viewpoint or whether he would now openly repudiate such acts and expressions.
- it was a brave act by the Confessing Church as an institution, rather than just the brave act of a single individual.
Bishop _____ ________ _______ ____. delivered three sermons in I 94 I that have given him a reputation for heroic resistance against
the Nazi state and its policy of euthanasia. Calling euthanasia….
Count Clemens von Galen
- Condemned the T4 euthanasia program, calling it “plain murder”
- Criticized the Gestapo’s actions and suppression of rights
- Protested the confiscation of Catholic institutions and properties
