2.15 - religious policy - catholics

the catholic were …

an international church which made up 1/3 of the german population

who were the two popes during the nazi regime?

pius XI (11) and pius XII (12)

which political party did the catholics endorse?

the centre party

what was the deal between the nazis and the catholic church called?

the concordat

when was it signed?

july 20th 1933

the concordat allowed the church to…

keep their schools and youth groups as long as they did not interfere with or publicly criticise the nazis

this act came soon after…

the ban on political parties which may have been what led to the catholics agreeing since they wanted to retain what little influence they had left

whilst the church did have concerns regarding the nazis…

they believed hitler would stay true to his word

what was their relationship like in the early years of the regime?

relatively good

when did this end?

once hitler began undermining his promises to the church

what happened in 1936?

church run youth groups were disbanded, replaced instead with mandatory hitler youth meetings

the nazis also undermined the role of religion in education by…

encouraging parents to send their children to state schools

by 1939 there were…

virtually no religious schools left

what else did the nazis do to weaken the power of the church?

they accused over 200 priests of financial or sexual abused

these accusations/trials encouraged the…

church secession campaign

starting in the mids 30s, this campaign encouraged people to…

abandon their church, often in favour of the nazi neo-pagan movement

how many people had left the catholic church by 1937?

100,000

how many people had joined the nazi neo-pagan movement by 1939?

3.5 million

the ultimate aim of nazi policy against catholics was to…

replace christianity with the german faith movement

the german faith movement was…

the nazi religion and was supported by the german christians who wanted a nazified protestant church

what did pope pius XI (11) do in 1937?

he wrote ‘with burning anxiety’ as a result of his concern over the nazis anti-catholic actions

what did ‘with burning anxiety’ do?

it criticised the nazi governments persecution of the catholic church as well as the fuhrer worship and racism encouraged by the regime

when was the text read out to congreagations?

from march 21st

priests in germany were…

encouraged not to criticise the nazi regime although some did make a stand against government activity

between 1939 and 1943, how many catholic priests were tried and arrested for oppositional activity?

693

who was the most outspoken critic of the nazi regime?

bishop galen

what did galen do?

he gave a sermon against euthanasia in 1941

what happened to galen?

he was not arrested due to his public profile but 3 priests who circulated his texts were executed

what did pope pius XII (12) do?

he kept silent about the nazis

why was there a lack of catholic opposition towards the nazis?

because the catholic church were not trying to overthrow the nazis - they actually shared many ideals such as a desire to return to traditional family values

opposition towards the regime was…

issue based

why?

because the ultimate goal of the catholic church was ensuring its own self preservation