The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich

by Anonymous

Here are the writings and speeches of the Pope and the German hierarchy, the official decrees and instructions of the government, and the speeches and teachings of the [Nazi] Party. The cumulative weight of this testimony is sufficient to establish the German persecution as the worst, because it is the most efficient, of modern times." --The Commonweal (1941) "Complete and devastating . . . The facts are authentic and incontrovertible. The documents are likewise authentic and thoroughly substantiated. . . . To anyone who thinks there is no persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany, we recommend this volume." --America (1941) Originally published in 1941, this volume exists as a potent archive of the Catholic Church's early, vigorous resistance to the German National Socialist Party's brutal policies against religion. Included here is everything from brief speeches given even to small groups as early as 1933, expressing the church's grave concern over increasing governmental anti-Christian and anti-Catholic policies, to internal church documents. The book also includes Pope Pius XI's enycyclical denouncing Nazism, the full text of the concordat between the Third Reich and Holy See, and sixteen editorial "cartoons" capturing the virulence and vulgarity of the Nazi anti-Catholic campaign. The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich is an important documentation of this often-overlooked resistance movement.

Genres: Church History, History

592 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2003

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein]

This is a book of documents, taken from both Church and Nazi sources, that details the Nazi's unrelenting attack on the Catholic Church from 1933 up through 1940, when the book was compiled and published. The Nazis went after the Church in every aspect of its activities and organizations. Here's a sampling ...

... Sermons of the Cardinal of Munich were confiscated and destroyed by the police
... the Catholic press was muzzled
... Catholic schools were converted into community schools and nuns were fired
... feast days which had been celebrated for centuries were abolished
... Catholics were warned not to take part in the Corpus Christi procession
... Nazis broke windows of Faulhaber's archiepiscopal residence
... Hitler Youth activities were scheduled to prevent attendance at mass

But even with all that, and much much more, the Nazis did not fully suppress the spirit of Church leaders like Cardinal Faulhaber in Munich and others throughout Germany. Evidence of this is found in the successful 1941 resistance of the Church toward the Nazi euthanasia program, the only time a Nazi program was stopped because of active resistance to it.

What is left to be questioned, given Hitler's obvious concern for the potential power of the Church to resist him, is why the Church entered into the 1933 Concordat knowing it would be violated repeatedly, why the Vatican undermined the Catholic Centre Party to permit the Enabling Act which gave Hitler absolute power, and, most damning, why the Church never said a word about the persecution and ultimate murder of millions of Jews, of which the Vatican and German bishops were well aware.

These are questions I will try to evoke through my characters in my novel-in-progress, tentatively titled CHOOSING HITLER.

[Pulo Ds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not exactly Anonymous: it was published by Catholic Truth Society in London, 1940. From the original in german.