How successfully did the Nazis control the churches in Germany?

In Nazi Germany many of the public were religious and the churches had significant power. In the north there was protestant and in the south catholic, of these churches there were many different branches. The Nazis needed to control or ban them and make a new church for the public. If the church opposed the Nazi’s actions they could use their power to turn the public against the Nazis. To stop this opposition it was vital that the church were controlled. The Nazis tried many approaches; they made new churches, they limited churches and they banned churches.



Hitler meeting with his cardinals



Firstly Hitler tried to create new churches so the German public would follow the Nazi-controlled religion. The Reichskirche was made, in 1933, to replace the protestant churches in the north of Germany. This was partially a success as many Protestants started to follow the new church. The new German protestant church did not use the bible and so some of the churches refused to follow the new church. The Protestants followed a man called Niemoller who formed a new church called it the Confessional Church which all the remaining Protestants joined. This was a failure for the Nazis as the formation of the new church resulted in more opposition. This policy was limited as the catholic population in the south did not follow the Reichskirche and the Nazis had to create a religion for them to follow.

The Catholics were then encouraged, by propaganda, to join the German faith movement. The swastika was used instead of the Christian cross, to try to make the religious public stronger followers of the Nazis. The new holy scripture was a combination of German literature and Hindu. This religion failed because only two hundred people followed it, less than 1% of the population. It was successful in moving the followers away from the Christian religion and to follow the Nazi policies than the religious views. This was limited as the Catholics refused to follow anyone other than the pope in Rome.

Hitler then tried to limit the power the churches had and did this by signing an agreement with the Catholic Church. This was called the Concordat and allowed the Catholics the control the schools but they had very little political power in Germany. This was a success for the Nazis as the Catholics could not stop the Nazis. However this made a problem when trying to introduce indoctrination into the schools. The Catholics taught them religious morals which clashed with the Nazi policies and actions. The Catholic Church had a lot of power, which limited any agreements with them. The Nazis could not ban it because then the pope in Rome would intervene. This agreement kept peace in Germany with the Catholic Church but by 1939 Germany was at war and the Nazis were stronger and took the control of the schools back. This effectively ended the Reichskonkordat.

Hitler had many of the religious leaders on his side but his actions and policies went against their religious morals. August Von Galen turned against Hitler when he announced the euthanasia programme. Galen protested and encouraged people to oppose the programme. The white rose group could have been started by Galen’s protests. This was a failure of the Nazi’s religious policies as religious leaders did not follow the Nazi beliefs and opposed their actions.

Then when the final solution started the Catholic Church did not even believe someone was capable of genocide. Some of their members protested and gathered more followers to oppose the Nazis policies outside of religion. The Confessional Church was also an example of opposition and a failure of the Nazi religious policies. The policies tried to persuade the churches to believe the Nazi goals and to appreciate their actions. However when the churches found out exactly what the Nazis were doing they protested. These protests also show a success for the religious policies. The Catholic Church had no political power and so could not stop the Nazis.

All churches who directly opposed the Nazis, like the Confessional Church, were banned to stop any strong opposition. Many of the anti-Nazi religious leaders were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Niemoller was arrested for actions against the state in 1937 with seven month prison sentence. When released he was arrested again by the Gestapo as he had many followers and could pose a threat to the Nazis. He was sent to the concentration camps. Many of the leaders were at concentration camps as they were a danger to Nazi rule. This was a success for the Nazis as they were able to stop the threat from opposing leaders, however it was limited as the religious followers could continue the work and protests.

Hitler tried to convert the religions to Nazism, but when this failed he began limiting the power of the churches and finally banning them all together. The religious public of Nazi Germany were forced to join the Nazi church or follow Nazi rules as all the religions in Germany were controlled. The failures of the policies were covered up by sending the culprit to a concentration camp. The policies were limited but the Nazis had just enough control to stop any sort of major religious uprising. The Nazis continued to have the support of the majority of the public in Germany.