Fascism Vs. Church

1. Catholic Sub-culture as Opponent of Nazism

Ian Kershaw in his Popular and Political Dissent in the Third Reich points out that since late twenties the Nazi Party was quickly gaining popularity in Protestant districts of the North and North-East of Germany, but had difficulties in making its way in Catholic Bavaria. Prior to the July, 1932, elections the NSDAP lagged not only behind the leader, the Bavarian People’s Party, but also behind Leftist parties. The Nazi Party managed to secure its first election victory in this federal Land only in March, 1933, after Hitler had come to power. Why couldn’t the NSDAP win sympathies of Bavarian Catholics for such a long time?

To answer this question I will review the attitude of the Bavarian Catholic Church towards the NSDAP (1.1) and the reaction of Catholic population on growth of the Nazi movement (1.2)

1.1. Attitude of Bavarian Catholic Church towards National-Socialism before 1933

Before 1930 the Bavarian Catholic Church leadership didn’t pay attention to the Nazi movement. They noticed the NSDAP only after the September, 1930, elections, when Hitler’s supporters won 107 seats in the Reichstag, almost nine times more, than at the previous elections. In this relation, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, and the matter-of-fact head of the Bavarian Catholic Church, summoned the Conference of Bavarian bishops in Freising, which in February, 1931, adopted the declaration on how the clergy and laity should treat that political movement.

The prelates were presented an abstract made by theology professor A. Scharnagl on the ideology and political aims of the National-Socialism. Ð Ñ'РІС‚Ð Ñ*СЂ СЃСЂРoРІРÐ...Ð Ñ'Ð » 24 Ð Ñ--СÑ"Ð Ð...Ð Ñ"С‚ Ð Ð...Ð oС†Ð Ñ'стсРÑ"Ð Ñ*Ð â„- Ð Ñ--СЂРÑ*Ð Ñ-СЂРoРјРјС‹ Ð ' СЌС‚Ð Ñ*Рј Ð Ò'Ð Ñ*Ð Ñ"СÑ"РјРµÐ Ð...С‚Ð µ Weltanschauung Ð Ð...Ð oС†Ð Ñ'Ð *РјРo Ð ±Ð¡‹Ð » Ð Ñ--СЂРµÐ Ò'СЃС‚Ð oРІР»Ð µÐ Ð... Ð Ð...Ð o Ð Ñ*СЃРÐ...Ð Ñ*РІРµ РІР*Ð Ñ-Ð »Ð¡ÐÐ Ò'Ð Ñ*РІ Alfred Rosenberg, Ð Ñ"Ð Ñ*С‚Ð Ñ*.

The Bavarian bishops promulgated the National-Socialism being an ideology practically opposed to Christianity and the Catholic teaching. In the declaration of the Conference two main reasons of the opposition were stated: dogmatic contradictions and the Nazism’s claims for a total ideology: вЂ?Der Nationalsozialismus enthÐ"¤lt in seinem kulturpolitischen Programm Irrlehren, weiler darin wesentliche Lehrpunkte des katholischen Glaubens ablehnt oder doch schief auffasst und weil er nach der ErklÐ"¤lrung seiner FÐ"јhrer eine neue Weltanschauung an die Stelle des christlichen Glaubens setzen will’.

The leadership of the Bavarian Catholic Church let NSDAP’s political aims aside. They were focused on ideological contradictions with the party. The hierarchs saw the main danger of the Nazism in the desire of Hitler’s followers to replace the Christian world-view with their own ideology. The bishops were convinced theat the Nazional-Socialist party claimed total domination of its Weltanschauung in the German society. In its desire to drive out every other world-view the Nazism was similar to Bolshevism. The latter was the most hostile to the Church ideology.

The prelates also criticized the preached by the Nazists aggrandizement of the German race, the cult of the FÐ"јhrer, and their attempts of creation of a national German Church. The bishops were also discontent with Alfred Rosenberg, the NSDAP ideologist, rejected the Old Testament and suggested to remove from the New Testament all references to Jews. The primacy of force over law was also considered being wrong. Bavarian bishops supported the declaration of Cardinal Bertram that national-socialism practiced a wrong kind of nationalism: вЂ?Es handelt sich um IrrtÐ"јmer, die in einseitiger Verherrlichung der Rasse zur Verachtung der gÐ"¶ttlichen Offenbarung und der Gebote Gottes schreiten. Es handelt sich da nicht mehr um rein politische Fragen, sondern um ein religiÐ"¶ses Wahngebilde, das mit aller Festigkeit bekÐ"¤mpft werden muÐ"ÑŸ.’ In the list of accusations of the National-Socialism followed: usage of illicit methods of political struggle (militarized processions, threatening of political opponents) and desire to forcefully overthrow the existing state order.

The Resolution of the Freising Conference stated that clergy should take measures in order to prevent spread of Nazism in their parishes. Bavarian priests declared participation in the National-Socialist movement being a sin. Clergy had to explain to faithful in their sermons and press the essence of the contradictions between the Nazism and the Catholic Church. The members of the Conference urged other priests to explain to faithful that the National-Socialism was a political teaching that in its early days had used to be an enemy of the Bolshevism, but later, while developing, had skewed from that way and started persecuting the Church and its bishops.(Akten, 542) Catholic priests should persuade those, who voted for the Nazi Party due to their economic and nationalistic appeals, to change their decision.

According to the Declaration, priests had in each individual case to decide, whether to grant Catholics, who were Nazi, access to church mysteries. If a faithful was an active NSDAP member and was aware of the contradictions between the Nazi ideology and the Church, the access should be denied. (Akten, 543)

Finally, the Bavarian bishops prohibited Nazis to be in church, or take part in a church procession while wearing a Nazi uniform, or regalia.(Akten, 542) Using this measure they wished to ensure the people that the Catholic Church had nothing common with the NSDAP and its ideology.

During the Conference the Munich press published an article that the Nazi programme for family and schools contradicts Catholic dogmas. These matters were not mentioned in the Declaration, since the Bavarian bishops adopted the Declaration of the all-German bishopric Conference in Fulda on these matters without any comments.

According to the Kommission fÐ"јr Zeitgeschichte, most of Bavarian Catholic priests supported the Resolution of the Freising Conference. Very few Bavarian Catholic priests agreed to collaborate with Nazism.

The Declaration of Bavarian