Craig Gaunt
5/5/09
Church History II
Church in War
The church in Europe during the Second World War was very diverse in its relations to the Third Reich in Germany under Adolf Hitler. There were those living in Germany who wanted a pure faith and renewal in the church. They saw this opportunity coming in the form of a partnership with the newly elected National Socialist government, or Nazi party. There were others nobler who saw this union spelling disaster for Christ’s church so they set themselves apart from the Nazi regime, claiming Christ is the only Lord over the church. Still, there were those groups and individuals who, while not openly supporting the atrocities occurring under Hitler’s tyranny, did nothing to stop it. These and other groups are the focus of the following paper as well as to attempt to answer the question, “What did the Christian Church do or no do during the years of the war in Germany and other Nazi-occupied lands?” Additionally, how did the see their relation to the state (even when the stat was committing such evils as the Holocaust) and justifications of their acts?
German Christians
The first group is the one who had closely aligned with Hitler, but this later came back to haunt them in more ways than one: the “German Christian” group. This assembly had different classes of people of every age group and gender, and contained pastors, politicians, and Nazi party members, which did not help substantiate their claim that they did not want political power.[1] They were all Protestants and mostly of the Lutheran denomination. Post-WWI Germans wanted a strengthening of the relationship between church and state to add a moral fiber to the nation.[2] In this culture, the church was losing ground in being influential thanks to a separation in the New German Republic and proclaiming no monarchy.[3] With this arrangement, the old idea of a close relation between the church and the government (“throne and altar”) was quickly diminishing in people’s minds.[4] In this time of moral delusion, political ambiguity, and economic bankruptcy, it is not surprising that church leaders and laypeople would want a strong, morally-guided government that may even encourage a people’s church. Having this desire, the church adopted National Socialism, a political synthesis of socialist economics blanketed with nationalist overtones that would oppose anything the state deemed “un-German”, including capitalism, communism, interracial living, Jewry, etc.[5] The “German Christian” movement was founded by a laymen named Wilhelm Kube, and it called for a strong, unified Protestant church under a Reich bishop.[6]
The German Christians wanted the state to help bring the church back into “purity” from other races. They attacked Jewish influences on Christianity, drew from Luther’s works that contained anti-Semitism, and even used biological justification to promote their racist and religious attitudes, such as Darwinism.[7] Because Europe as a whole saw Judaism and Marxism as very closely intertwined (because both were so different from the norm), the German Christians justified heinous acts as saying they were only fighting against communism.[8] After all, communism was built upon the idea that God did not exist, the church only provided a drug for the people to deal with their lots in life, and a person was only worth as much as they could produce. The German Christians said they only had a desire to stop this godless system from sinking its teeth into Germany, and they fought hard because they had accused the church of taking a soft stance toward this ideology until the present time.[9] Under this guise, they set about on a campaign to demonize Jews and mold the mindset of Christians in Germany so that purity of race equaled purity of faith.
They turned to the Scriptures to build their case for this new mentality. Because over four-fifths of the Christian Bible is a part of the Jewish canon, the German Christians had to start with this section. The first attack came in 1933 when, in front of a crowd in the Berlin Sports Palace, Dr. Reinhold Krause, a German Christian leader called for all ministers to rid their churches of Old Testament and Jewish ethical laws and beliefs.[10] Being the extremist, Krause even said that the Old Testament contained “cheap Jewish morality” and “stories of cattle traders and pimps”.[11] Similar to Marcion in the 2nd century who had disregarded all the Old Testament, the German Christians followed suit. By the time their editorial scissors had gone through the Old Testament, only a few Psalms remained, which also had to be “sterilized” of their Jewish influences.[12] All narrative, historical, legal codes, prophecies, and literature were deemed illegal and discarded.
Krause also called for the ministers to complete Luther’s Reformation, to stop preaching the suffering Jewish Jesus, and start to even worship the pure German race that has divinity within its persons.[13] Krause slandered Paul and the cross, resulting in many leaving the movement never to return.[14] Next, the German Christians turned their attention to the New Testament, employing many of the tools that modernist thinkers had used on these Scriptures by ridding them of anything that contained miracles, including the Resurrection. They tried using and twisting such verses like Matt. 27:25; 1 Cor. 12:13; and Gal. 3:28 to justify race segregation and anti-Semitism.[15] They argued that, even though all are one in Christ, this must only be referring to believers in a spiritual sense. Indeed, although male and female are one, there still are physical differences separating the two meaning that they are not equal and this must also apply to the “Jew and Greek” of Gal. 3:28. The Jesus of this new movement is also starkly different from the one portrayed in the New Testament. The German Jesus is not Jewish for how could he be if it was the Jews themselves persecuting Him and His followers?[16] This must also mean that the gospel is inherently anti-Jewish. After all the editing was finished, the Scriptures had no Old Testament and very little of the New Testament; whatever remained did not portray Jesus as a suffering servant but as the “Strong Man” figure who conquered in the name of the Aryan race.[17]
They not only cut portions from the Bible, but the German Christians also supplemented “scriptures” of their own. They wrote anti-Jewish biblical books based on the gospel of John, which they considered to be most anti-Semitic of the four gospels.[18] Other copies of so-called “bibles” were circulated which interpreted Mark and Matthew as saying that Jesus was neither Jewish nor was He God.[19] Hatred and racial purity took such a priority in the German Christian church that they were not even required to think through their theology or keep it straight. If Jesus is not God and has not been raised from the dead, then what did they see Him as? And on what authority do His followers have to say that the Jews who opposed them are wrong which the Germans took one step further by persecuting them? Hatred and disgust blinds people and destroys their sense of logic and reason, and this certainly happened to the “German Christians”. Their theology was so flawed that they even began to worship Hitler himself and said that God has used Him to bring back the glory of Germany.[20]
It helps to examine the attempts that this group made, especially those in Thuringia who were the most fanatical, to champion Martin Luther as giving them justification for their atrocities. Early in Luther’s life, He had actually stood against the mistreatment of the Jews, attacking the Roman Catholic Church for their constant anti-Semitic attitudes and actions.[21] However, his attitude toward Jews changed over time, and he became very hostile to them toward the end of his life. One of his works that was not very well circulated until Nazi Germany was an booklet entitled Against the Jews and their Lies in which Luther promotes persecution, burning books, confiscating property, and downright expulsion of the Jews.[22] His differences with the Jews were mainly for religious reasons. For Luther, mankind was so depraved that only justification by faith and faith alone could save them. Any system that challenged that line of thinking, including the obedience to Torah to earn righteousness in the Jewish faith, was abhorrent to Luther who had a short fuse. The German people as a whole also looked to Luther as a folk hero who had stood up to the tyrannical Catholic Church and had freed Christianity from its shackles.[23] Both Hitler and Luther saw the world in apocalyptic viewpoints and very black and white terms.[24] To them, one was either in the right or the wrong, but Luther was also called upon to defend the Confessional Church‘s work against the German Christians which will be viewed later.
The German Christians, having their new, skewed bibles in one hand, Luther’s works in the other, and the state covering their back, turned their attacks on certain believers within the church. Jewish coverts to Christianity were targets for persecution because the Germans claimed that baptism does not make a Jew into a Christian or a German.[25] For them, it soon became more important to be a German than to be a Christian. They also attempted to eradicate any feminine qualities form the church because they saw compassion, forgiveness, and other “weak” qualities as having no place in the new state church.[26] By 1939, they had expelled any non-Aryans from their congregations and forced all non-Aryan pastors to resign their parishes.[27] Furthermore, they drafted their youth into the Hitler Youth program so that their children would have a chance to gain Christian values and community while also being taught the Nazi political ideas.[28]
However, this close ties with the state would backfire on the German Christian group. Although Hitler initially supported the organization’s efforts, he was only using them to advance his own power interests. He had never intended to renew the church. After war was officially declared in Europe, the Nazis started to turn on the German Christians.[29] The Nazis saw Judaism as both a religion and a race and despite its efforts to purge Jewish elements from the churches, the German Christians could not persuade the Nazis that Christianity was anything more than “diluted Judaism”.[30] In addition, this group was competing with another one: the German Faith Movement.
Starkly contrast to its Christian contemporary, this agency was neo-pagan in its beliefs and was the largest and most active of such groups.[31] Started and headed by Professor Jakob Hauer, this faction emphasized Eastern religious mysticism and existential living.[32] By 1935, this coalition made itself known in the same arena where the German Christians had been years before. It combined naturalistic and national socialist principles and was against church dogmatism, but its followers soon wanted to break all ties with the church as they saw it had failed them.[33] Hitler and his cohorts were more closely affiliated with this organization because it used mysticism apocalyptic themes that placed Hitler as a deity and Germany as a god that must be obeyed at all costs.[34] By 1941, the church became totally suppressed while the German Faith Movement and its anti-clerical propaganda spread like wildfire.[35] Surely this was not the union the German Christians wanted. It worsened when the Nazis forced state schools, hospitals, welfare agencies, etc. to become secularized even in their interiors as no more crucifixions or religious paintings were permitted.[36] The German Christians had failed in their attempts to build a stronger Protestant state church that would lead the world in the Christian faith. The German neo-pagan movement cannot be overstressed here as the worship of Germany and Hitler took precedence over the worship of any god, as Hitler was an opportunist who would use any means to gain power so long as it did not oppose him, including the arts, science, and religion. He even promoted the idea that the Nazi religion would one day become the church’s successor.[37] This attitude is summarized in the thoughts of Martin Bormann, who stared plainly that Nazism and the church are incompatible and therefore on is either a Christian or a true German but cannot be both.[38] Hitler went on to break the agreement in 1937 when his power was solidified.[39]
Roman Catholicism
Because of the size and influence of the Roman Catholic Church, attempting to make a black-and-white judgment about whether it supported, condemned, or was neutral to Nazi Germany’s policies is difficult. Critics argue that it was antiemetic attitudes that helped hold back the Catholic Church from becoming involved and interceding on Jewish behalf.[40] However, Catholic priests were mistreated as soon as Hitler rose to power, and churches were raided and parish schools threatened.[41] In 1932, the bishops had said that no bishop was permitted to join the Nazi party because it contained false teachings, violently opposed the church, was gathering too much state power, and deceived its followers with empty promises.[42] Sadly, it made small exceptions to that rule by allowing individual pastors in extreme circumstances to be members of the Nazi party.[43]
The church not only had antiemetic strains throughout it but also feared the “godless” communists coming from the Soviet Union, which the Nazis also opposed.[44] Out of a growing fear of Nazi persecution and attempting to build useful relationships, the Catholic Church and Germany signed the Concordat in 1933. It was a truce between the two groups, and the church thought it was a legal guarantee for its safety.[45] Hitler merely viewed it as being able to subdue the political influence over the Catholic Church over its German believers.[46] Hitler only allowed religious institutions in his country so long as they did not oppose his government. This agreement ensured that this denomination would not interfere in the brainwashing of German citizens into absolutely loyalty for the Furer. In fact, one of its stipulations in article 31 was that the church would not get involved in the state’s affairs.[47] By 1936, relations between the Reich and Roman Catholic Church soured. The Catholic’s institutions were brought down by government-sponsored terrorism and their writings were censored.[48]
There were those of the Catholic faith who opposed the Third Reich. One was Clemens August von Galen, appointed bishop of Munster in 1933. A year later, he went on to attack the main text of Nazi racism, Alfred Rosenberg’s The Myth of the Twentieth Century.[49] The next year, von Galen addressed a religious procession of believers in which he stated that he would never obey the Nazi demands out of fear or for praise, even condemning the Gestapo publicly and the Nazi euthanasia program.[50]
One may wonder what stance the Vatican took on the issues in Nazi Germany. Pope Pius XII never officially denounced Hitler of the Nazi policies.[51] Furthermore, he never challenged the anti-Jewish attitudes that were present in the church.[52] There are several possible reasons for this. His predecessor Pope Pius XI was staunchly anti-communist and believed that many of the high ranking officials in the Bolshevik regiments were Jews.[53] This led Pius XI to view the communist upheaval and dechristianization of Russia as a Jewish attack against Christianity.[54]
Hence, Pius XII did not want to “rock the boat” as far as prevailing theology in the church. He also could have done more but, because this would have led to worse results, including an all-out invasion of the Vatican by Hitler and many more civilians being killed.[55] As horrendous as German policies were, the Pope did not want that blood on his head. Not wanting to undo his predecessor’s feelings toward atheistic communism either, Pius XII may have viewed Germany as the vehicle to put a stop to its advancement from Russia into Europe. After all, Nazism may have been a cruel ideology and oppressive to members of the Catholic faith, but at least at a distance, it had some religious overtones did it not?
Confessional Church
Out of the Christian groups, only one can claim they constantly stood against Hitler, the Reich, and all other elements of the Nazi party. They came from the Lutheran, Reformed, and United denominations and from over 2,000 churches all over Germany.[56] This was no doubt a revival when one looks at the movement’s roots. Church leaders knew that Germany‘s troubling times called for a fresh approach to Scripture and a new commitment to living out what the Bible commanded. They would do exhaustive Bible studies with one another, look at their current societal issues, and then discuss on the Word commented on the world.[57] The studies then grew to include laypeople because it was then that people actually spent time reading the Bible and even when Hitler took their youth away, the remaining youth were still left with their Bibles and it empowered them.[58] The people who belonged to this movement were influence by the piety movement and knew the dangers of trying to combine church and state in the same way they had seen it happen under the Roman Empire.[59] Like the “German Christians” they too wanted reformation of the church but by calling themselves the “Confessing Church”, it implied that all they wanted to do was confess the crucified Lord and preach the Word of God without any pressure from the state.[60]
By 1933, the Confessing Church had over 6,000 pastors who, while not protesting Hitler’s role as head of the state, they wanted freedom for the church.[61] They would also have cited Luther (and Reformed) to back their cause because the gospel cannot be ideologized or used for political gains.[62] This group started as the Young Reformation Movement in 1933 who “sought to renew the church through the laity”.[63] From this group came leaders like Fritz Muller of Dahlem who spoke out against the German Christian movement and even led a drafting of liturgy in 1939 that called the German people to repentance because of the annexation of Poland.[64] With having Psalm 51 as its theme, it is not hard to see that this soon became banned German literature as it was both Jewish and questioned the nature of the German state.
In 1934, the church declared its purpose: it was built on the Word of God and the Reformation confessions that were in opposition to those who were trying to pollute the faith by making deals with the state.[65] It protested the practices of having secret police, concentration camps, etc. One of its most influential theologians who then spearheaded the Confessional Church was Karl Barth. Barth knew of the paganism that was behind National Socialism and how it wanted to eradicate Christianity.[66] He also publicly protested the mistreatment of the Jews, wrote that “anti-Semitism is a sin against the Holy Spirit”, said that “an enemy of the Jews is an enemy of Jesus”, and begged for Jewish safety and protection from Germans to both German and non-German officials.[67] Other leaders included Heinrich Gruber, who helped between 1,700 and 2,000 Jews escape Germany, and Friedrich Weissler who actually became the organization’s first martyr.[68] Other forms of persecution to that church included the confiscation of passports in June 1937 from those members who were to go to Oxford for an ecumenical conference.[69] These leaders were later arrested in Berlin by the Gestapo, but this only rallied the church’s strength.[70]
One of the movement’s most well-known figures was Dietrich Bonheoffer, a German Lutheran pastor who proclaimed that Hitler was no less than the Antichrist.[71] He went against the Lutheran tradition of loyalty to the state but also used Luther to show that the German Christians’ policy of excluding converted Jews from fellowship had no support from Scripture or from the famous reformer.[72] He went on to say that the church can criticize the state properly and even stand against it if the state was no creating order, thus not fulfilling its God-given role.[73] Furthermore, no nation has the right to punish the Jews for Christ’s death at Calvary and having faith in Christ meant one absolutely could not support the Nazis.[74]
With the constant downward spiral of the church in Germany, these Christians knew they had to clarify what it meant to be a true Christian rather than one that the state had to define. Because of its mostly Protestant membership, a document of the movement’s official stance had to be crafted from the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. In 1934, the First Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church at Barmen was held, where it crafted the Barmen Declaration. Its six main points can be summarized as follows: 1) Christ is the Head of the Church as is the only authority, 2) Jesus calls for His followers to lead a holy life in all areas of life, 3) The church as a community will not turn its message and ordinance to another power other than Christ, 4) The church is called to serve not to lord power over anyone or set up special leaders for the state, 5) Government is an institution ordained by God but should not interfere with the church or be the sole judge over human life, and 6) The church serves Christ by serving others and will stay true to that goal rather than trying to advance anyone’s political interests.[75] True to form, they did support every point with numerous Scriptures.
In addition to clarifying its position and showing the false errors of other groups, Barmen was meant to show that the Confessionals wanted the church to be built on hope in Christ and love for neighbor as these were the cornerstones of the obedient church.[76] Barmen then led to the Dahlem Synod later that same year when the Confessionals proclaimed that the state has nullified the church’s Christian convictions and has silenced its teachings, so breaking ties with the state is required.[77] The lessons of Barmen are stated by J.D. Bettis, “The state did not have the right to define what it meant to be a Christian, the importance of religious pluralism, the dangers inherent in natural theology that is so much a part of liberal humanism, and Christians must not be identified with any cultural tradition.”[78] Barmen was a slap in the face to dictators like Hitler and Stalin who were able to join religious devotion with the cold mechanism of government.[79]
Not only in Germany did the actions of Christians lead to the saving of lives, but also in other Nazi-occupied countries were people willing to take a stand for their faith. In Holland, both Protestant and Catholic Christians drew up a manifesto demanding that Germany stop and save Dutch Jews from deportation.[80] In 1942, there were many Dutch women and families who rescued Jewish children in Holland including the Ten Boom family who smuggled Jews in their homes to avoid Nazi patrols.[81] Still others smuggled Jews to Spain where they would have an easier time reaching Palestine, a safe haven at the time.[82] In Denmark, similar attitudes could be found as the Danish people saved almost 99% of their 7,000 Jews and refused to fall under Nazi’s repugnant ideologies.[83] The Danish Christians offered resistance and compassion to their Jewish citizens as can be seen in the words of Danish Lutheran Ivar Lange, “I would rather die with the Jews than live with the Nazis”.[84] Turning to France, the French Huguenot village of La Chambon took the example of their Pastor Andre Trocme and saved 3,000 Jewish children and adults. These figures may seem small compared to the millions upon millions of Jews and others who died in the concentration camps, but judging from these groups’ actions, had they had the chance to save all Jews, they would have done it without even thinking. All these groups had one thing in common; they embodied Christian resistance that stemmed from ethical Christian living.[85] To any of them, doing what was godly was not something one thought about or rationalized, but simply did without question.
In May of 1936, the Confessing Church in Germany issued a statement publicly condemning the Nazi hatred of the Jews, although all of them later wished they had taken a stronger stance against anti-Semitism as a whole.[86] The closest the Confessors were to condemning the Final Solution was in the Synod of 1943, where it acknowledged its guilt about being silent about the injustices done to the Jews.[87] By 1937, many Christians in this group were taken to concentration camps, and the Barmen project had tried to be squashed by Hitler; it did not have as great an impact as many had hoped, but it did give its first martyrs whose deaths continued to fire the flames of the Christian fervor in Germany.[88] When 1941 came, Hitler’s dogma and policies were forcing the Confessional Church into more political rather than just religious resistance, and some of them became “prophets of doom” in the ways similar to that of the Old Testament.[89] Despite all of this, the Confessional Church never wavered in its commitment to revival in the church, protection of the innocent, and taking back the faith when the state had robbed it.
Conclusion
There are many lessons that can be learned from Christians in Germany that can be applied to today’s world. The first is that, as history has shown, when a state government takes over a faith, that faith becomes tainted at best and oppressive at worst. “State Christians” often care nothing or little about the church and only want to pacify the leader that is in charge. They are the ones whom Jesus talked about when he said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father.” (Matt. 7:21). It is not simply enough to pay lip service to God, because the true Christian loves Christ and follows His example. To these Christians, Christ was their only King and God, not Hitler.
Another lesson that can be learned is that any Christian, if they spend time deeply reading their Bibles with an open mind, will be changed by God’s Word. The Confessional Christians emphasized spending time with the Scriptures. Through that practice, people found the courage to stand up for God’s truth and give protection to people. They were wielding the sword of the Spirit which is infinitely stronger than that of metal. Christians armed with the simple Word of God were and are mightier than the strongest tyrant without it. It also gave the Christians in Germany the discernment to see through the lies of the “German Christians”. Although Luther was used to justify hate crimes against Jews, he certainly would have rather had Christians reading their Bibles for themselves (being true to the spirit of the Reformation) rather than to take his words and turn them into dogma.
Finally, one very relevant lesson is that people still have not learned from history. Germany was facing economic collapse, job loss, and other problems until they saw in Hitler a messianic figure who promised to save them. In the United States today, we are also facing a harsh economy and looked to our current President to solve all of our dilemmas. It is an easy trap to fall into when one puts their hopes in man’s ability rather than God. Sadly, it can also lead to disastrous consequences when nothing keeps the fervor in check. Suddenly the leader can do no wrong. When the people know that there is a God who is higher than everything, ideally they remember to keep their governments under a close eye and hold them accountable for their actions. Hitler’s Germany, if nothing else, should be a lesson to Christians to keep their Bibles at the center of their lives and obey it, to watch their government’s actions and stand against them if they are against God, and to defend the innocent. To do these actions in the name of Christ brings honor to God and love to one’s neighbor, the two greatest commands.
[1]Ericksen, Robert P. & Susannah Heschel. Betrayal: German Christians and the Holocaust. Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1999. 45
[2]Robertson, E.H. Christians against Hitler. London, SCM Press LTD., 1962. 16
[3]Ibid., 17
[4]Ibid.
[5]Ibid., 21
[6]Ibid.
[7]Ericksen, 41
[8]Matheson, Peter. ed. The Third Reich and the German Christians. Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981. 5
[9]Ibid.
[10]Robertson, 24
[11]Ericksen, 53
[12]Ibid., 54
[13]Robertson, 24
[14]Ericksen, 53
[15]Ibid. pg. 49
[16]Ibid. pg. 55
[17]Ibid, pg. 56
[18]Ibid.
[19]Ibid.
[20]Robertson, 26-27
[21]Rubenstein & Roth. Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy. Louisville, John Knox Press, 2003. 56
[22]Ibid., 57
[23]Ibid., 56
[24]Matheson, “Luther & Hitler” 449
[25]Ericksen, 42
[26]Ibid., 48
[27]Ibid., 51
[28]Rausch, David A. A Legacy of Hatred: Why Christians must not forget the Holocaust. Chicago, Moody Press, 1984, 164
[29]Ericksen, 43
[30]Ibid., 42
[31]Ibid., 46
[32]Conway, J.S. The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933-1945. New York, Basic Books, 1968. 106
[33]Ibid., 107
[34]Ibid., 143
[35]Ibid., 258
[36]Ibid.
[37]Rausch, 166
[38]Conway, 188-189
[39]Robertson, 11
[40]Berenbaum, Michael & Abraham J. Peck. The Holocaust and History: the Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined. Blooming, Indiana University Press. 1998. 426
[41]Rausch, 167
[42]Matheson, 6-7
[43] Ibid.
[44]Ibid., 11, 19
[45]Ibid., 30-31
[46]Ibid.
[47]Ibid.
[48]Matheson, 57
[49]Lawler, Justus, G. “Hitler’s Hammer, the Church’s Anvil” First Things. 157 N 2005: 31
[50]Ibid.
[51]Rausch, 167
[52]Coppa, “Between Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism, Pius XI’s Response to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews: Precursor to Pius XII’s ‘Silence’”? Journal of Church and State. 47.1 Winter 2005: 65
[53]Ibid.
[54]Ibid.
[55]Berenbaum, 452
[56]Robertson, 10
[57]Ibid., 14
[58]Ibid., 15
[59]Ibid., 20
[60]Ibid., 29
[61]Rubenstein & Roth, 259
[62]Matheson, “Luther & Hitler”, 447
[63]Robertson, 28
[64]Ibid., 34
[65]Ibid., 38
[66]Rubenstein, & Roth, 260
[67]Ibid., 260
[68]Ibid., 261
[69]Robertson, 69
[70]Ibid.
[71]Rubenstein & Roth, pg. 262
[72]Ibid., 262
[73]Ibid.
[74]Ibid., 263
[75]Caulley, Scott, “Remembering the Barmen Declaration: Seventy-One Years Later.” Encounter, 66.3, 2005: 256-258
[76]Robertson, 44
[77]Matheson, pg. 49-50
[78]Pierard, Richard V. “review of The Church Confronts the Nazis: Barmen then and Now.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 29.3, 1986: 332
[79]Ibid.
[80]Rausch, 149
[81]Ibid., 149
[82]Ibid., 150
[83]Ibid., 151
[84]Ibid.
[85]Ibid., 153
[86]Ibid., 166
[87]Matheson, 98
[88]Robertson, 78
[89]Ibid., 88
Bibliography
1. Berenbaum, Michael, & Abraham J. Peck. ed. The Holocaust and History : the Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998
2. Caulley, Scott. “Remembering the Barmen Declaration: Seventy-One Years Later.” Encounter, 66 no 3 (2005): 255-262.
3. Conway, J.S. The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933-1945. New York, Basic Books, 1968.
4. Coppa, Frank J. “Between Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism, Pius XI’s Response to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews: Precursor to Pius XII’s ‘Silence’”? Journal of Church and State. 47 no. 1 (Winter 2005): 63-89.
5. Ericksen, Robert P. & Susannah Heschel. Betrayal: German Christians and the Holocaust. Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1999.
6. Lawler, Justus G. “Hitler’s Hammer, the Church’s Anvil.” First Things. 157 (N 2005): 31-36.
7. Matheson, Peter. ed. The Third Reich and the German Christians. Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981.
8. Matheson, Peter Clarkson. “Luther & Hitler: A Controversy Reviewed” Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 17 no. 3 (Sum 1980): 445-453.
9. Pierard, Richard V. “review of The Church Confronts the Nazis: Barmen then and Now.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 29 no 3 (1986): 331-332.
10. Rausch, David A. A Legacy of Hatred: Why Christians must not forget the Holocaust. Chicago, Moody Press, 1984.
11. Robertson, E.H. Christians against Hitler. London, SCM Press LTD., 1962.
12. Rubenstein & Roth. Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy. Louisville, John Knox Press, 2003.
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