The Church

• This revision video covers Weimar and Nazi Germany from the GCSE Edexcel 9 to 1 course
• Hitler was acutely aware that Christianity posed a threat to his authority as it taught peace and tolerance, which contradicted the Nazis' beliefs about strength and violence
• In the early part of Hitler's Reich, the Nazis tried to work with the churches, but soon the contradiction of their aims became a problem and Hitler turned on them
• Challenges faced by the Nazis with the churches

  • Contradiction of aims
  • Threat to Hitler's authority
  • Opposition to Nazi beliefs
• One-third of German Christians were Catholic, posing a challenge to Hitler as Catholics had an allegiance to the Pope rather than to him
• Hitler drew up a Concordat with the Pope in July 1933, promising to allow Catholics to worship freely and Catholic schools to teach their own curriculum, but he did not keep these promises
• Actions taken against Catholics by the Nazis included arresting priests, closing Catholic schools, and banning Catholic youth clubs
• In 1937, the Pope criticized the Nazi government for not keeping their promises in the Concordat
• Some Protestants initially supported the Nazis out of fear of a communist uprising and believed the Nazis would protect them
• In 1937, churches that had supported the Nazis or thought it was better to work with them joined together to become the Reich Church, led by Ludwig Muller
• The Reich Church was not allowed to let Jews convert or be baptized into the church, and Jewish teachings in the Old Testament were deleted from the Bibles
• Hitler put the Nazi stamp on the Christian Church, using the police state to control the actions and teachings of the church
• Some members of the Christian faith resisted the changes by speaking out or refusing to participate in Nazi rules, while a few actively opposed the Nazis
• Despite the risks, some religious leaders stood against the Nazis, with groups like the Pastors' Emergency League opposing the joining of Protestant churches into the Reich Church and the removal of Jewish texts in the Old Testament
• Around 6,000 Protestant pastors joined the Confessing Church in 1934, which opposed the Nazis' actions
• Formation of the confessing Church in 1934

  1. Around 6,000 Protestant pastors joined the new church

  2. Some pastors spoke out against the Nazis
• In 1936, the Nazis arrested 800 pastors, including the leaders of the church, and sent them to concentration camps
• Actions of the confessing Church during the Nazi regime

  Moved charitable acts underground and helped people in secret
• Some Catholic priests also spoke out against the Nazis
• In 1935 and 1936, the Nazis arrested 400 priests and imprisoned them in the Dachau Concentration Camp
• The terror of the attacks prevented others from speaking out against the Nazis
• Focus of the church members during the Nazi regime

  Preventing the Nazis from interfering with the work of the church rather than opposing the Nazis themselves
• There were few members of either of the churches willing to openly oppose the Nazis
• Protestant Pastor Martin Niemöller's actions against the Nazis
• Martin Niemöller's realization of the Nazis' intentions in 1934
• Martin Niemöller's arrest by the Gestapo in 1937 for speaking out against Hitler and the Nazis
• Martin Niemöller's offer to fight for the Nazis in World War II if released from the concentration camp
• Martin Niemöller's admission of his anti-semitic views in an interview in 1959