2.16 - religious policy - protestants

the protestants were …

a national church which made up 2/3 of the german population

how many different denominations were there?

28

what did that mean?

that they were easier to weaken and control

who were the two major sects within the protestant church?

the german christians and the confessional church

what did the german christians want?

a fully nazified church

what would this church be known as?

the national reich church

what did the confessional church want?

an independent protestant church

what happened at the end of july 1933?

the 28 protestant denominations had been organised into one single reich church

what did the nazis do to this singular church in 1936?

they made it into the german national church

who led the german national church?

bishop muller

the end aim of religious policy against protestants was …

the same as it was against catholics

this was…

to replace christianity with the german faith movement which stemmed from pagan beliefs

who formed the confessional church?

those opposed to the nazi organisation of protetsants

who led it?

pastor niemoller

when did the nazis ban the confessional church?

1937

in spite of this…

the church was able to survive due to failed attempts to fill it with spies

much like the catholic church, the confessional church were…

more concerned with their own self preservation than vocally opposing nazi policy in general

however, the very existence of a breakaway church is indicative of…

opposition on the side of the protestants

whilst the official confessional church did not criticise the nazi regime…

a considerable number of protestant ministers did

how many ministers ended up in concentration camps as a result of this?

over 400

what happened to pastor niemoller?

he was arrested and spent 7 years in a concentration camp after preaching an anti-nazi sermon

who else was a vocal critic of the nazis?

bonhoffer

what did bonhoffer do?

he frequently criticised hitler on the radio until his execution in 1945

why was protestant opposition limited?

because the various different protestant sects were difficult to organise