Resistance from

the Churches

The churches presented the Nazis with a serious dilemma.

The Nazis wanted to build a Germany with their ideologyat the heart of it, and they did

not want organised groups that could oppose them. However they were wary of provoking public anger and resentment

by attacking the churches.

The Nazis tried to undermine the role and influence of

different churches.

Protestant churches were subsumed into the Reich

Church, and the German Faith Movement sought to further

weaken Protestantism.

A Concordat aimed to take the Catholic Church out of politics.

However in spite of the Nazis’ best attempts, various churches still had a key role in opposing

Hitler’s plans and ideology.

The Catholic Church initially stuck to its Concordat and did not oppose Nazism. However

this began to change as the Nazis undermined the

agreement.

One of the most prominent public opponents of Nazism was

Bishop Clemens von Galen.

Von Galen supported Hitler’s nationalism but opposed

racism. He publicly criticised Hitler’s euthanasia plans and gave other sermons against

Nazi plans. He was seen as too popular to be punished.

Other Catholic priests opposed Nazism too, including giving sermons against their plans. This resulted in one-third to

one-half of Catholic clergy being harassed by the police.

Catholic parents publicly protested against Nazi plans to

remove crucifixes from all classrooms.

In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical titled MitBrennender Sorge (With

Burning Grief) which was a public attack on Nazism.

However the Catholic Church’s opposition was generally in

response to specific Nazi actions, rather than in support

of wider anti-Nazi actions.

The Catholic Church was hard to influence as it was an

international organisation; the Protestant Churches were

different, and the Nazis sought to control them.

Many Protestants fought against Nazi plans, although only 800

out of 17,000 Protestant pastors were arrested.

The Confessional Church was set up to stop efforts to Nazify the Protestant Church. One of

its founders, Martin Niemoller, had initially

supported Hitler but later opposed his actions.

Niemoller and others were later sent to concentration

camps such as Dachau.

As well as keeping the Nazism away from all parts of the

Protestant Church, the Confessional Church also

publicly opposed Nazism.

This included letters sent directly to Hitler, criticising

actions such as anti-Semitism. The Nazis in turn confiscated

church funds.

Another Nazi opponent was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

A member of the Confessional Church, he trained pastors

and encouraged them to criticise Nazism. He was

banned from preaching and publishing materials. He died

in Flossenburgconcentration camp.

Jehovah's Witnesses were also targeted by the regime, after failing to perform the

Hitler salute, or let their children join the Hitler Youth. From 1935, they refused to be

conscripted into the army.

As a result, many Witnesses were arrested (up to 10,000)

or fired from their jobs.

The Churches’ opposition to Nazism was mixed. There were

some notable examples of dissent, from church

hierarchies on specific issues and individual rebellion too.

However many felt that churches were more concerned

with protecting their own positions than opposing

Nazism in general.

The Nazis still found their dealings with the Churches to

be fraught with difficulty.

Widespread opposition to Nazi actions was rare, but when it

took place it was often inspired by negative actions towards the

Churches. The Nazis did not want to alienate the public by

attacking their Faiths.

Historians’ views

• Richard Geary: The Churches showed the same attitude to Nazism as the rest of German society: some members supported it, some were opposed to its actions.

• J.R.C. Wright: Both Christian Churches did oppose Nazism, however this was usually based on self-defence, not as part of a wider political opposition to Hitler’s rule.

• Martyn Housden: The churches’ opposition was ‘issue driven’ – involving reactions to individual Nazi policies – rather than general opposition to Nazism.