The Persecution and Resistance of the German Evangelical Church 1933-1945
Abstract
In the history of the Third Reich and the National Socialist regime
under Hitler between 1933 and 1945, the resistance offered by the Christian
churches has been a neglected subject. A few reasons may be suggested
for this oversight. First, there are those who blindly seek to
condemn the whole of the German people for allowing the atrocities
and tragedies of the Third Reich to
have happened. They would burden
the German people with the responsibility of a "collective guilt for the
Nazi activities. Such an attitude, of course, would be closed to the revelation
that a significant resistance did exist within the churches. Secondly,
there are those who would assert that the Church itself did not
remain untainted by National Socialism. It is not difficult to find instances
in which churchmen did bend under the influence of National
Socialism and, indeed, did give their support. However, this does not
obviate the fact that there were those Christians who did speak out
against Nazism and did recognize its dangers. Finally, there are those
who claim that the Church's resistance was, in fact, not directed against
National Socialism itself, but was rather a selfish struggle for the survival
of the Church between radical forces seeking its control. All
these reasons, I would suggest, stem from a basic lack of recognition
and understanding of the Church Struggle. It is this understanding which
I hope to achieve in this paper.