Policies towards the Churches

• Hitler worried that Catholics would not support him as they usually supported the Catholics Centre Party and were loyal to the pope.
• Catholics often sent their children to Catholic schools and the Catholic Youth Organisation, which taught different values from Nazi schools
• In July 1933 the concordat was agreed with Hitler and the Pope, which proposed that Catholics could run their own schools as long as they did not get involved in politics
• Hitler broke the promise of the Concordat, as:

  • Catholic priests were harassed and sent to concentration camps
  • Catholic schools were closed
  • Catholic youth organisations were banned
• The Reich church was set up in 1933 by muller and combined all protestant churches which supported the Nazis
• Hitler's goal was to slowly replaces Christianity with a Nazi-based religion
• The confessing church was found in 1934 and were protestant churches (around 6000) which opposed Nazi churches. It was lead by Niemoller and was restrained by the Nazis
• The nazis believed that war and violence were important, while the christian belief encouraged peace.
• 6000 protestant priests joined the confessing church, only 2000 remaining in the German Christian Church.
• 800 pastors were sent to concentration camps for opposing the Nazi Church. 400 Catholic priests spoke out but were imprisoned in the Priests Block in Dachau
• The Nazis tried to erase the old testament, as it included Jewish teachings
• Niemoller initially opposed the Weimar Republic and voted for Hitler as he wanted a strong leader in 1933
• In 1937, Niemoller was charged for ' treasonable statements ', and was put into solitary confinement in Sachsenhausen
• In 1939 Niemoller requested to be released and fight for Hitler ' in any capacity '. He was later transferred to Dachau and released in 1945