Discuss Source work h/w What evidence do sources and provide of how the regime viewed peasants? Referring to the provenance and content of sources 12.30, and 12.33, assess their value as sources of evidence on the effects of Nazi economic policies on the Mittelstand ‘For all its rhetoric favouring the petty bourgeoisie, the Nazi regime betrayed its greatest original supporters.’ How far would you agree with this statement in light of these sources?

National Socialism and the Church You need to be able to explain the ways in which the Church responded to the regime - conformity and opposition. Consider both Catholic and Protestant Churches This extraordinary photo taken in the 1930s shows Catholic bishops in Germany giving the Nazi salute. List as many reasons as you can, why you might expect the Catholic Church to support the Nazis and why you might expect them to oppose them.

The catholic church Reasons for support Nazis were in government Nazis projected themselves as guardians of moral values Fear & intimidation July 1933 Concordat Tradition of anti- Semitism? Reasons for opposition Nazi ideology contradicted Christian values Zentrum (Central) Party natural choice for Catholic supporters Threat to religious authority & influence of Catholic Church

Could Hitler and the Church work together? 16.1 – 16.2 – 16.3 – 16.4 – 16.5 – 16.6 – 16.7 – 16.8 – 16.9 – Read your source and decide if it suggests Hitler and the Church could work together or if Hitler saw it as a threat – be ready to feedback to the group and explain your reason why

Nazism and Christianity Catholic Church 22 million members (esp. in South & West) Well-organised – youth organisations, schools, welfare provision Greater obstacle to Gleichschaltung – Catholics took their lead in religious matters from the Pope – less susceptible to Nazi ideology than the German Evangelical Church On the other hand, Catholics keen to be seen and accepted as part of the German nation Some points of convergence – Catholic Church saw communism as a greater evil than Nazism and many also shared anti- Semitic views July 1933, Catholic Church & Nazi govt. sign ‘Concordat’ (agreement). The Nazis started breaking this soon after but the Catholic Church continued to declare their support for the regime, hoping this would protect them from the Nazis 1936, Bishop Galen asks God to bless Hitler’s govt. From 1935 onwards, some open opposition to the regime from those who decided the Church could no longer remain silent in the face of Nazi repression Protestant Church 40 million members (esp. North and East) Hope that their respect for the state and shared values of anti-Semitism and anti- communism would result in co-operation Main Protestant Church was the German Evangelical Church – Nazis thought they could use this to unite all Germans into a single national Church German Christians (Deutche Christen) – ‘the SA of the Church’, ‘Nazified’ Protestants, ‘the swastika on our breasts and the cross in our hearts’. Nazis hoped they would use this group to influence the ‘co-ordination’ of the Protestant Churches Reich Church – umbrella organisation of Protestant Churches set up by Nazi govt; Reich Bishop (Ludwig Muller, 1933). Aim was to Nazify the Church Such policies alienated many Protestant pastors and led to an opposition group, the Confessional Church, developing (shows that attempts to ‘coordinate’ the Protestant Church failed

Churches (AQA – p and Layton – p.66-70) How did the Nazis regard religion? Nazism was based on a fundamentally anti-Christian philosophy but Hitler was cautious when dealing with religion – he realised he couldn’t win support of the people if he trampled over their religious convictions. He planned to proceed cautiously, gain control of the Churches by incorporating them into the Volksgemeinschaft and then later weaken their influence What was the German Faith Movement? Some leading Nazis thought they could undermine the influence of the Churches by creating an alternative religion which replaced Christianity with pagan rituals. Robert Darre was a chief advocate of this – however it was never more than a fringe cult within the Third Reich and had only 40,000 members at its height Why did the Churches fail to overtly oppose the Nazi regime (consider conciliation and compromise e.g. the Concordat)? They were prepared to compromise with the Nazis to preserve their religious institutions and also had some sympathy for Nazism because of their traditional values and hostility to communism and Jews. The Concordat was agreed in July 1933 between the regime and the Vatican. The Vatican recognised the regime and promised not to interfere in politics, whilst the regime promised not to interfere with the Catholic Church and that it could keep control of its schools, youth organisations and lay groups. It was never formally repudiated but the Nazis later ceased to honour the agreement

churches How did the Nazis try to destabilise the Churches? Closure of schools, undermining Catholic youth groups, personal campaigns to discredit and harass the clergy e.g. accusations of sexual abuse, confiscation of Church funds, campaign to remove crucifixes from school, arrest of pastors and priests. This weakened the Churches but also stimulated individual opposition Discuss individual examples of opposition to the Nazis Feedback on figures such as Galen, Niemoller and Gerlich, and we will be looking in more detail at opposition this lesson

Support for Nazis within the Church Ludwig Muller, Reich Bishop Alfred Rosenberg, German Faith Movement Pope Pius XII, negotiated Concordat, refused to excommunicate Catholics participating in genocide

Resistance to Nazis from within the Church 1934, Confessional Church – broke away from Reich Church due to resistance to state interference; Martin Niemöller & Dietrich Bonhöffer Bishop Galen, Catholic Bp. Munster, aka ‘Lion of Munster’ for outspoken sermons

Religious figures Read the biographies of 7 key religious figures within German society on p Match the sound bites (on p.311) with an individual and explain your reasons why

Religious figures Answers: Ludwig Muller (ii) Alfred Rosenberg (iv) Pope Pius XI (iii) Pope Pius XII (i) Bishop Clemens von Galen (vi) Martin Niemöller (vii) Dietrich Bonhöffer (v)

Control, weaken, replace Hitler’s policy towards the Church can best be summarised as control, weaken and replace. From your reading and notes, which events/agreements/changes would you put in each category?

Control Reich Church Concordat (1933) Law against Formation of New Parties (1933) ended Zentrum party German Christians But … Confessional Church, outcry over oath of loyalty, challenges to Reich Church

Weaken Church groups disbanded & Hitler Youth compulsory from 1936 Education secularised, e.g. less emphasis on RE, crucifixes removed from classes; denominational schools closed (65% of children went to Ch schools in 1933, 5% by 1937) Show trials of priests who were possibly falsely accused of abuses Ch. Secession Campaign, ,000 Christians left Ch. at encouragement of the Nazis

Replace million Germans were members of Gottglaubig (God-believing) neo-pagan movement After WWII Hitler intended to replace Christianity with new German Faith Movement

How successful was Nazi religious policy? How successful was Nazi religious policy? Write a score out of 10 on your MWB and be ready to explain why (1 – not very successful, 10 – extremely successful)

homework Read the historians’ views (p.314) about collaboration/resistance within the Churches. You may want to record your answers in a table similar to this Support (Author & examples) Resistance (Author & examples) Overlap? Write a judgement paragraph in answer to the question “Did Churches collaborate with or resist the Nazi regime?”