German Christians

German Christians came in a variety of guises. The Nazi accession to power in January 1933 stirred nationalistic sentiments among many Protestants in Germany. Pastor Joachim Hossen felder, leader of the pro-Nazi Faith Movement of German Christians, revealed that his supporters had ‘the swastika on our breasts and the cross in our hearts’. More sophisticated theologians developed elaborate reconciliations of ‘German faith’ and ‘Christian faith’, in some cases making the Old Testament virtually redundant. Beyond their specific ranks, however, there was a widespread wish that Protestants should not stand outside the apparently new-found unity of the German nation. It was time to form a national Lutheran Reich Church. In July 1933 a new constitution was forced through. The Reichsbishop, elected in September, was Ludwig Müller, an army chaplain and fervent admirer of Hitler. The victory looked complete. There was an ‘Emergency League’ formed by pastors opposed to these developments, but its opposition was hampered by differences in its ranks. However, the Barmen Declaration of 1934, inspired by the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, declared false the view that the church was ‘an organ of state’. Even so, in many parts of the country, ‘German Christians’ were in control: indeed, the ‘German Christian’ synthesis remained a factor in German church life until 1945. Its influence, however, was weakened latterly not only by opposition from other church circles but also from those Nazis who preferred straightforward paganism to any kind of Christianity. See also religion.

Keith Robbins