Religion in Nazi Germany Part 2 Terror and

Religion in Nazi Germany Part 2 Terror and Force: Nazis in Power

What will I learn? • The ways in which Hitler controlled the Church • The ways that the Nazi Government controlled the Jewish population

I can… • Summarise the KU and analysis on religion into my essay plan

Why was Hitler worried about religion?

Religion • Hitler believed that control of the churches was important to the maintenance of Nazi authority. • Religion posed a real threat to Nazism in that it offered the people an alternative set of beliefs.

Hitler and Religion - Background • Born a Catholic. • Ended up rejecting religion – thought ideas like forgiveness, resurrection and salvation were weak nonsense. • Detested Christianity as it championed the weak, ill and racially inferior.

Catholic Church • In 1933, a Concordat or agreement was reached with the Pope of the Catholic Church. • This meant that if the Church did not upset the regime – the Church and its members would not be harmed.

Protestant Churches • Decided to amalgamate them into a new German church – National Reich Church. • Put under the control of the Reich bishop. • Taught that Hitler was the new Messiah sent to save the world from the Jews. • Only church ministers who supported the Nazis were allowed to continue working.

Protestant Church continued • The bible was removed from the altars – in their place appeared a copy of Mein Kampf and a sword to symbolise the new order. • Ministers or priests who protested were dealt with severely such as Pastor Neimoller who help to set up the anti. Nazi ‘Confessional Church’ and was sent to a concentration camp.

Religion - Analysis • Not even the churches were safe from the Nazi control of German society • Pastors, priests, clergy arrested and sent to camps – their alternative views too dangerous to Nazi officials

Nazis in Power Terror/ Force Religion KU: A:

Anti-Semitism Nazis in Power

Anti Semitism – 3 stages 1. Harassment 2. Nuremberg Laws 1935 3. Kristallnacht Nov 9 th 1938

Anti-Semitism • It was not just Jews who were persecuted in Nazi Germany but many races, religions and ways of life. • For example: gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals etc. • Jews perhaps worst affected though

The Nazis gloried in their racism: Aryan, Nordic, Anglo. Saxon Latins, Celts (Scots) etc Asian, South American African, Slavs etc Jews and Gypsies

Petty Harassment • Low level intimidation and violence. • Brown shirts forcing Germans to boycott Jewish shops. • Painting or smashing the windows of Jewish shops. • Yellow park benches for Jews. • Not being allowed to sit down on a bus or tram. • “Jews not welcome” signs on shops, beaches or the outskirts of towns.

Yellow park bench marked 'Only for Jews'

The Nuremburg Laws 1935 • These were the Nazi racial laws. • Institutionalised racism. • Jews no longer German citizens so could not vote or be elected. • Marriages between Jews and non-Jews were banned and existing marriages dissolved. • No German women under 45 allowed to work for a Jew.

Kristallnacht November 1938 • In retaliation for the murder of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew – the Nazi leader Goebbels organised nationwide violence against Jews. • 10, 000 Jewish shops destroyed. • Synagogues burned down. • At least 90 Jews murdered and many arrested and beaten. • Jewish community fined 1 billion marks for the destruction they had caused!

Analysis • There was anti-Semitism in Germany and so some Germans approved of Nazi actions against undesirable minorities like the Jews or Gypsies. • However many Germans were appalled at Nazi violence during boycotts, Kristallnacht etc, however they were too frightened to speak out due to the Gestapo, camps etc.

Nazis in Power Terror/ Force Anti- Semitism KU: A:

Video Clips • Kristallnacht