Religion in Nazi GermanyPart 2 Terror and Force: Nazis in

Power

What will I learn?

• The ways in which Hitler controlled the Church

• The ways that the Nazi Government controlled the Jewish population

I can…

• Summarise the KU and analysis on religion into my essay plan

Why was Hitler worried about religion?

Religion

• Hitler believed that control of the churches was important to the maintenance of Nazi authority.

• Religion posed a real threat to Nazism in that it offered the people an alternative set of beliefs.

Hitler and Religion - Background

• Born a Catholic.• Ended up rejecting

religion – thought ideas like forgiveness, resurrection and salvation were weak nonsense.

• Detested Christianity as it championed the weak, ill and racially inferior.

Catholic Church

• In 1933, a Concordat or agreement was reached with the Pope of the Catholic Church.

• This meant that if the Church did not upset the regime – the Church and its members would not be harmed.

Protestant Churches

• Decided to amalgamate them into a new German church – National Reich Church.

• Put under the control of the Reich bishop.

• Taught that Hitler was the new Messiah sent to save the world from the Jews.

• Only church ministers who supported the Nazis were allowed to continue working.

Protestant Church continued

• The bible was removed from the altars – in their place appeared a copy of Mein Kampf and a sword to symbolise the new order.

Religion - AnalysisReligion - Analysis

• Not even the churches were safe from the Nazi control of German society

• Pastors, priests, clergy arrested and sent to camps – their alternative views too dangerous to Nazi officials

Anti-Semitism

Nazis in Power

Anti Semitism – 3 stages

1.1.HarassmentHarassment

2.2.Nuremberg Laws Nuremberg Laws 19351935

3.3.Kristallnacht Nov Kristallnacht Nov 19381938

Anti-Semitism

• It was not just Jews who were persecuted in Nazi Germany but many races, religions and ways of life.

• For example: gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals etc.

The Nazis gloried in their racism:

Jews and Gypsies

African, Slavs etc

Asian, South American

Latins, Celts etc

Aryan, Nordic, Anglo-Saxon

Petty Harassment

• Low level intimidation and violence.• Brown shirts forcing Germans to boycott

Jewish shops.• Painting or smashing the windows of

Jewish shops.• Yellow park benches for Jews.• Not being allowed to sit down on a bus or

tram.• “Jews not welcome” signs on shops,

beaches or the outskirts of towns.

Yellow park bench marked 'Only for Jews'

The Nuremburg Laws 1935

• These were the Nazi racial laws.• Institutionalised racism.• Jews no longer German citizens so

could not vote or be elected.• Marriages between Jews and non-

Jews were banned and existing marriages dissolved.

• No German women under 45 allowed to work for a Jew.

Kristallnacht November 1938

• In retaliation for the murder of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew – the Nazi leader Goebbels organised nationwide violence against Jews.

• 10,000 Jewish shops destroyed.• Synagogues burned down.• At least 90 Jews murdered and many

arrested and beaten.• Jewish community fined 1 billion marks for

the destruction they had caused!

Analysis

• There was anti-Semitism in Germany and so some Germans approved of Nazi actions against undesirable minorities like the Jews or Gypsies.

• However many Germans were appalled at Nazi violence during boycotts, Kristallnacht etc, however they were too frightened to speak out due to the Gestapo, camps etc.

Nazis in PowerTerror/ Force

ReligionKU:

A:

Nazis in PowerTerror/ Force

Anti- SemitismKU: Persecution of Jews and other groups1. Petty harassment – eg yellow park

benches2. Nuremberg Laws 1935 eg removal of

German citizenship3. Kristallnacht – synagogues burned etcA: There was anti Semitism in Germany so

some approved of harrassment of ‘undesirables’

Most Germans were shocked at Kristallnacht but by that point too scared to do anything due to Gestapo, camps etc

Video Clips

• Kristallnacht