Twisted cross: the German Christian movement in the Third Reich

375 Pages·1996·0.68 MB·English

by  Doris L. Bergen

cover
cover next page >

title: Twisted Cross : The German Christian Movement in the
Third Reich
author: Bergen, Doris L.
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
isbn10 | asin: 0807822531
print isbn13: 9780807822531
ebook isbn13: 9780807860342
language: English
subject German-Christian movement--History, Germany--Church
history--1933-1945.
publication date: 1996
lcc: BR856.B398 1996eb
ddc: 261.7/0943/09043
subject: German-Christian movement--History, Germany--Church
history--1933-1945.
cover next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...uments%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/cover.html[31/03/2011 16.26.10]
page_ii
< previous page page_ii next page >
Page ii
Twisted Cross
The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich
DORIS L. BERGEN
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London

< previous page page_ii next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ments%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_ii.html[31/03/2011 16.26.12]
page_iv
< previous page page_iv next page >
Page iv
Frontispiece: Photomontage by John Heartfield, Berlin, June 1933. From the Arbeiter-Illustrierten Zeitung,no. 23.
Heartfield, a communist, attacked the fusion of Nazism and Christianity. The caption above the image reads: "On
the Founding of the German State Church: The Catholic Adolf Hitler organizes the Protestant German state church
and names a Reich bishop." In heavy print below: "The Cross Was Not Yet Heavy Enough." Facing the cross is
Ludwig Müller. (Copyright Gertrud Heartfield, Berlin)
© 1996
The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bergen, Doris L.
Twisted cross: the German Christian movement in the
Third Reich /
by Doris L. Bergen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8078-2253-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8078-4560-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. German Christian movementHistory.
2. GermanyChurch history1933-1945. I. Title.
BR856.B398 1996
261.7'0943'09043dc20 95-17954
CIP
00 99 98 97 96 5 4 3 2 1

< previous page page_iv next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_iv.html[31/03/2011 16.26.13]
page_v
< previous page page_v next page >
Page v
TO MY FAMILY

< previous page page_v next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ments%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_v.html[31/03/2011 16.26.13]
page_vii
< previous page page_vii next page >
Page vii
Contents
Preface xi
1 One Reich, One People, One Church!: The German Christians 1
2 The Anti-Jewish Church 21
3 The Antidoctrinal Church 44
4 The Manly Church 61
5 Non-Aryans in the People's Church 82
6 Catholics, Protestants, and Dreams of Confessional Union 101
7 Women in the Manly Movement 119
8 The Ecclesiastical Final Solution 42
9 The Church without Rules 72
10 The Bride of Christ at War 92
11 Postwar Echoes 206
Notes 231
Bibliography 301
Index 331

< previous page page_vii next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_vii.html[31/03/2011 16.26.14]
page_viii
< previous page page_viii next page >
Page viii
Illustrations
Photomontage by John Heartfield, "On the Founding of the German State
Church" frontispiece
Campaigning for the church elections, July 1933, in Berlin 6
Branch office of the German Christian movement in Dortmund 16
Poster announcing a joint rally of German Christians and the Confessing
Church 36
German Christian flags, November 1933 46
Reich Minister of Church Affairs Hanns Kerrl and his wife 56
Procession of clergy with German Christian flags 64
Friedrich Wieneke, German Christian pastor in Soldin, July 1933 67
First Reich Conference of German Christians, Berlin, April 1933 73
Ludwig Miiller, Germany's Reich bishop, 1933 76
Reich Bishop Müller on tour, 1935 78
German Christian rally in Berlin, February 1934 80

< previous page page_viii next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_viii.html[31/03/2011 16.26.14]
page_ix
< previous page page_ix next page >
Page ix
Joachim Hossenfelder, German Christian Reich leader, 1933 84
Mass wedding of National Socialist men and women, 1933 123
Wedding with groom in SS uniform, 1934 124
Women greet Reich Bishop Müller 127
Wedding procession, Berlin, 1933 131
Regional treasurers of the German Christian movement, 1939 135
Reinhold Krause, leader of Berlin German Christians, 1933 146
Correspondence from the Institute for Research into and Elimination of Jewish
Influence in German Church Life, 1942 151
Sports Palace rally, November 1933 166
German Christian barricade in Holzwickede 190
Guida Diehl, founder of the New Land League 220

< previous page page_ix next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_ix.html[31/03/2011 16.26.15]
page_xi
< previous page page_xi next page >
Page xi
Preface
Why write a book about the "German Christians" (Deutsche Christen), a group of pro-Nazi Protestants in the Third
Reich? While working in the Community Archive in Minden, I came across some correspondence that led me to
contemplate my motives. In 1960, two former adherents of the German Christian cause exchanged letters. How,
they asked each other, could they promote new approaches to the history of the church under National Socialism?
Despite the neutral language, their intentions were clear: they wanted someone to write a positive account that
would help rehabilitate their movement. A doctoral student might assume the task, one of the men suggested. His
friend was dubious. A student might be found, he responded, but who would supervise such a work? Those letters
were written the year I was born, and both men have since died. In a sense, the line of inquiry that brought me to
this study was the opposite of theirs. To me, the German Christian movement embodies a moral and spiritual
dilemma I associate with my own religious questions: What is the value of religion, and in particular of
Christianity, if it provides no defense against brutality and can even become a willing participant in genocide?
Perhaps my background in a family of ethnic German Mennonites from Ukraine has made me sensitive to and
wary of certain connections between religious and ethnic identities. In my initial reading about Protestants in Nazi
Germany, I was struck by what seemed contorted efforts to fuse Christianity with Germanness and purge it of
Jewish influence. I wanted to explore how members of the German Christian movement synthesized Christianity
and National Socialism, two systems of belief most people would regard as fundamentally irreconcilable. This
book is the result.

< previous page page_xi next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_xi.html[31/03/2011 16.26.15]
page_xii
< previous page page_xii next page >
Page xii
Many people shared in this project at every stage. It is a great pleasure to thank at least some of those whose
financial backing, guidance, and encouragement made its completion possible. A fellowship from the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a Sir James Lougheed Award from the Alberta Heritage
Foundation allowed me to conduct extensive research in Germany in 1988-89. Additional funding from the
German Academic Exchange Service and the University of Vermont's Committee on Research and Scholarship
enabled subsequent shorter research trips.
Staff at the many archives I visited in Germany were consistently helpful and accommodating. Encounters with
archivists Bernd Hey in Bielefeld, Dietrich Meyer in Düsseldorf, Helmut Baier in Nuremberg, and Walter
Fleischmann-Bisten in Bensheim helped keep my work on track. Professor Kurt Meier of Leipzig met with me and
offered useful suggestions. Head archivist Hans-Eberhard Brandhorst in Minden kindly allowed access to the
uncataloged collection of the Kirchengeschichtliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft (Working Group for Church History)
there. Eberhard Bethge encouraged me and granted permission to use the Bonhoeffer papers; Herta Staedel and
Annie Hauer allowed me to consult the papers of their late husbands. Retired pastor Herward Reiser in Augsburg
put me in touch with Mrs. Staedel and offered his own insights. Professor Rudolf Fischer of the University of
Bielefeld generously shared his collection of pamphlets and clippings from the National Socialist period, and
Marlies Ostendorf and Dietrich Becker provided hospitality, ideas, and contacts. Conversations with Victoria
Barnett and Anja Baumhofin Bielefeld and Nina Lübbren in Berlin helped clarify some key ideas.
Mentors, colleagues, and friends in Canada, the United States, and Germany have been enormously helpful.
Annelise Thimme has inspired me since she supervised my master's thesis at the University of Alberta. Gerhard L.
Weinberg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill remains an unparalleled source of frank, insightful
guidance. Daniel S. Mattern, Michaela Hönicke, and Cindy Hahamovitch read drafts and offered incisive
suggestions. Boris Ruge sent me a copy of the John Heartfield photomontage. John S. Conway of the University of
British Columbia and Rainer Hering at the Staatsarchiv in Hamburg provided stimulating and thoughtful criticisms
of earlier versions of the work. Colleagues at the University of Vermont, in particular Patrick Hutton, James
Overfield, and David Scrase, have given me advice, encouragement, and much more than simply a place to do my
work. Lewis Bateman at the University of North Carolina Press has been unfailingly supportive. Two readers for
the press

< previous page page_xii next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_xii.html[31/03/2011 16.26.15]
page_xiii
< previous page page_xiii next page >
Page xiii
made detailed, helpful comments that improved the work significantly. As managing editor and copyeditor, Ron
Maner and Trudie Calvert have been wonderful. My friends Glenn Sharfman and Susannah Heschel listened to my
ideas and generously shared their views and expertise; Linda H. Pardo helped me motivate and organize myself.
And Arthur Kuflik brought his unerring judgment and ethical sense to the project at some critical junctures. I am
deeply grateful to all these and many other people. Of course, any shortcomings and mistakes remain my own
responsibility.

< previous page page_xiii next page >
If you like this book, buy it!
file:///C|/...ents%20and%20Settings/loop/Desktop/1588__9780807822531__9780807860342__0807822531/files/page_xiii.html[31/03/2011 16.26.16]