Volksgemeinshaft- Churches Flashcards
What were the statistics on religion in the 1930’s?
1/3 were Catholic
58% protestant
How do we know religion was ingrained in Weimar?
There was a political party specifically for Catholics, Z
What did Nazis want to do to religion?
Although brought up catholic, Hitler wanted to replace christianity with a new aryan faith- with religion people could not worship Hitler or be entirely faithful to the regime.
How did Hitler plan to take over the churches?
He could not remove the churches completely as there would be a outcry so tried to limit their power gradually until they had none.
What happened after WW2?
Catholic and protestant churches issued confessions of guilt ‘lack of decisiveness opposing nazism’
What did Wright believe about the churches?
The churches did oppose Nazi aggression, but only to protect their position
What was the concordant?
Signed between the Nazi party and the catholics. The church would stay out of politics and the Nazi party would not reorganise the church.
It was signed despite sterilisation law being passed.
It made the third Reich undemocratic, but did allow the churches to continue
Who was Pope Pius XII and what did he say?
He negotiated the concordant and them became Pope in 1939. During the negotiations he said there was a ‘pistol at their head’
He was seen as a Nazi sympathiser as he refused to excommunicate Catholics who were participating in genocide.
What terms of the concordant did Nazis break?
In NOLK catholic leaders were killed
Catholic youth groups were shut down in 1936
Catholic schools were shut down
Bishops arrested and put in concentration camps
What did Wilt believe about the churches?
Churches response to Nazism was timid and half-hearted
What did the Churches do when faith schools got shut down?
They did nothing
What did the Catholic Church do to oppose the regime?
Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical in 1937 called ‘with burning grief’, 250,000 copies were issued and the encyclical attacked the Nazis for breaking the concordant.
However the church took part in no tangible action against the state.
What did Housden believe about the churches?
Churches wanted to fit themselves into the path of the reich rather than change of the course of it completely
What Bishop spoke out against Nazi policy?
Galen spoke out in sermons against Nazi policy, including euthanasia. Was too popular to punished
What happened to the protestant churches?
Churches co-ordianted into the German Reich church, led by Ludwig Müller
What did Müller do to anger many people?
He tried to get rid of the old testament and create new aryan German religion- angered many, but no mass protests.
What did Noakes believe about the church?
They were allowed to keep their own ideologies
What was the German christian movement?
It was a section of the protestant church that broke off and aimed to remove un-German references from the bible.
What group was set up in September 1933?
The emergency league of pastors was set up to resist Nazis changing their religion. Had 7000 members
What was the confessing church?
Groups broke away from the protestant church in 1934, in protest of state interference. It was the general term for these groups.
Who were the leaders of the confessing church?
Martin Niemöller was outspoken against the Nazis and detained at Dachau
Bonhöeffer was also a leader, he taught trainee pastors to resist Nazism and tried to get the confessional church to condemn the Nuremberg laws, however didn’t work. Sent to Flossenburg
What did Barnett believe about the churches?
They had no room for self sacrifice or heroism
Which church was more successful at resisting Nazism?
Prodestant, in Catholic Church only individuals who spoke out not the organisation a whole, whoever there were organisations set up in the protestant churches who spoke out against Nazism.
What were the statistics on the emergency league of pastors?
In 1934 the Covenant counted 7,036 members, after 1935 the number sank to 4,952
7000-5000
What is my LOA for the churches?
Only individuals resisted, not entire groups and protestant more than catholic
