Wehrmacht Priests: Catholicism and the Nazi War of Annihilation

349 Pages·2015·1.74 MB·English

by  Lauren Faulkner Rossi

WEHRMACHT PRIESTS

Wehrmacht
Priests
CATHOLICISM AND THE NAZI WAR
OF ANNIHILATION
Lauren Faulkner Rossi
Cambridge, Massachusetts . London, En gland
2015
Copyright © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-P ublication Data
Faulkner Rossi, Lauren.
Wehrmacht priests : Catholicism and the Nazi war of annihilation / Lauren
Faulkner Rossi.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0-6 74- 59848- 5 (alk. paper)
1. Catholic Church—Germany—History—1933–1 945. 2. Priests—G ermany.
3. Catholic Church— Germany—Clergy. 4. Germany—A rmed Forces—
History—World War, 1939– 1945. I. Title.
BX1536.F38 2015
282'.4309044—dc23
2014031312
For my parents

CONTENTS
Abbreviations Used in Text ix
Introduction 1
1. Catholic Bishops and Catholic Youth in Germany
after the Great War 13
2. Pastoral Care in the Wehrmacht 64
3. Priests and Seminarians in the Wehrmacht 112
4. Religion, Nationalism, and Why Priests
Went to War 154
5. The German Catholic Church and the Reality
of Defeated Germany 192
Conclusion 239
Appendixes
1. German Church Provinces, Dioceses, and Bishops
in the Third Reich 2 57
2. April 1944 Overview of Catholic Priests, Members of Religious
Orders, Seminarians, and Theologians in Military Ser vice for
Greater Germany (Including Austria and the Sudetenland) 259
3. Chaplain Rankings and Equivalents 2 63
Notes 265
Ac know ledgm ents 325
Index 329

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT
BVP Bavarian People’s Party (Bayerische Volkspartei)
DNVP German National People’s Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei)
HJ Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend)
NSFO National Socialist Leadership Officer (Nationalsozialistische
Führungsoffizier)
NSV National Socialist Social Ser vices (Nationalsozialistische
Volkswohlfahrt)
OKH Army High Command (Oberkommandes des Heeres)
OKW Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht)
OKW/AWA General Office of the Armed Forces
RSHA Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt)
SA Stormtroopers (Sturmabteilung)
SD Security Serv ice (Sicherheitsdienst)
SiPo Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei)
SPD Social Demo cratic Party of Germany (Sozialistisches Partei
Deutschland)
SS Protection Squad (Schutzstaffel)
ix