The German Church Under Nazism

After my last post concerning the movie Valkyrie, I looked for some information about Christianity under Adolph Hitler's rule. Here is a quote from Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity (pages 576-578):

"Conservative churchmen felt that if Nazism were treated with understanding, it would grow out of its faults (such as racialism) and bring about national regeneration. Many Protestants welcomed Hitler's overthrow of democracy in 1933 as a first step toward replacing the 'Marxist' republic with 'Christian' rulers. Although some of the Catholic hierarchy were uneasy about National Socialism, most of them shared the same outlook as the Protestants...

"A movement swept the Protestant church in 1933 calling for the unification and 'nationalization' of the twenty-eight provincial churches (Landeskirchen) with a single 'Reich-bishop' at its head. This seemed in line with Hitler's policy of bringing all groups under the control of the Fuhrer and the state. The 'German Christians' secured the election of Ludwig Muller, a fervent Nazi. They also restructured the church along Nazi lines, by introducing the Fuhrer principle into church government and adopting the 'Aryan paragraph' which provided for dismissal of all people of Jewish origin from church staffs...

"The increasing encroachment of the Nazi state on religious matters alarmed many Protestants and Catholics...In September 1933 Dr. Martin Niemoller formed a Pastor's Emergency League to combat 'German Christian' ideas...Its theological basis was spelled out in the Barmen Declaration of May 1934. Largely written by Karl Barth, the Declaration called the German church back to the central truths of Christianity and rejected the totalitarian claims of the state in religious and political matters.

"The Barmen Declaration was not intended as a political protest and the Confessing Church did not plan to spearhead resistance to Nazism. It was mainly directed against the heretical distortions of the 'German Christians,' and in fact the leaders repeatedly affirmed their loyalty to the state and congratulated Hitler on his political moves. Because Lutherans traditionally supported the ruling power, the Confessing Church decided not to set itself up as a rival free church, but simply as a body to defend the orthodox Christian faith against innovations.

"Harassed by the Gestapo and repudiated by most Protestant leaders, the Confessing Church led a perilous existence. Its very presence was an embarrassment to the Nazis and its witness to Christ's Lordship over the world implicitly challenged Hitler's totalitarianism. A few of its members, such as Bonhoeffer, were conscious of their political responsibility and reluctantly became involved in the anti-Hitler resistance. But the conservatism and nationalism of most people deterred them from standing up publicly for democracy and individual rights.

"After the war, in October 1945, Niemoller and the surviving leaders of the Confessing Church poignantly declared their guilt for failing to speak out against the Nazi regime, especially in its early stages."

Valkyrie

Often I have wondered how an entire society could become as corrupt as Nazi Germany. Were the citizens so financially desperate that they would overlook the murder of millions of Jewish people in order to maintain a government that promised prosperity? Had the church become impotent because its leaders had rejected the inerrancy of the Bible and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Had racial hatred blinded the people to the magnitude of the sins they were tolerating? What part did cowardice play? Did so few people speak out against the Nazis because of peer pressure? Did they want to fit in with everyone else so badly that they were willing to be silent about horrible injustices being committed before their eyes?

Such questions came to my mind last weekend when Janet and I rented the DVD Valkyrie. The movie tells the story of German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the leader of an attempted coup and failed assassination of Adolph Hitler in the summer of 1944.

Amazingly, the coup nearly succeeded. At key points in the attempted coup, several important governmental and military leaders needed to make a choice: Would they join the coup and save the lives of millions of innocent people, or would they remain loyal to Hitler and save their positions in the government? Most of them struggled with the decision-making process. Some came to the conclusion that saving their jobs was the "right" decision. Some chose to try to save the lives of other people. However, even many of the people who chose to oppose Hitler hesitated at important junctures when quick decisions were needed. As a result of wrong decisions and hesitation when the time came for decisive action, the coup eventually failed. The war would last for several more months with hundreds of thousands of innocent people continuing to be slaughtered.

Based on a true story, Valkyrie unveils the life of a German hero who knew what was right and acted without hesitation when the time came to make a decision to save people's lives. If only more people had possessed his moral clarity and courage at the beginning of Hitler's rise to power, the Holocaust and World War II could have been avoided.

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love" (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).