Download or read book The Catholic Church And Nazi Germany written by Guenter Lewy and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2009-09-09 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ”The subject matter of this book is controversial,” Guenter Lewy states plainly in his preface. To show the German Catholic Church’s congeniality with some of the goals of National Socialism and its gradual entrapment in Nazi policies and programs, Lewy describes the episcopate’s support of Hitler’s expansionist policies and its failures to speak out on the persecution of the Jews. To this tragic history Lewy brings new focus and research, illuminating one of the darkest corners of our century with scholarship and intellectual honesty in a riveting, and often painful, narrative.
Download or read book Catholic Theologians in Nazi Germany written by Robert Krieg and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2004-02-27 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catholic and Protestant bishops during the period of the Third Reich are often accused of being either sympathetic to the Nazi regime or at least generally tolerant of its anti-Jewish stance so long as the latter did not infringe on the functions of the church. With some notable exceptions that accusation is extended to many lesser figures, including seminary professors and pastors. Most notably the exceptions include such martyred heros as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Max Metzger, religious activists and writers still of great influence.Among Catholic theologians the record is no less cloudy. Theology and Politics, while discussing a range of religious scholars, focuses on five major theologians who were born during the Kulturkampf, came to maturity and international recognition during the Hitler era, and had an influence on Catholicism in the English-speaking world. Three were in varying degrees and for varying lengths of time sympathetic to the professed goals of the Third Reich: Karl Adam, Karl Eschweiler, and Joseph Lortz. The other two, Romano Guardini and Engelbert Krebs, were publicly critical of the new regime.Interestingly, the two theologians who have had the greatest influence in the English-speaking world, Guardini and Adam, were initially on opposite sides of the Nazi divide.The interplay of theology and politics to which the title refers is evident in the fact that while all the theologians differed from the classic theology of the church as a "perfect society," and were "progressive" in their rejection of neo-scholastic methodology, they differed among themselves in envisaging the church either as the enemy of modernity or as its reli-gious dialogue partner. The first group, initially approving the Reich agenda, were Adam, Eschweiler (the most ardent supporter), and Lortz; the second included Guardini and Krebs (the most ardent opponent).
Download or read book The Polish Catholic Church under German Occupation written by Jonathan Huener and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it aimed to destroy Polish national consciousness. As a symbol of Polish national identity and the religious faith of approximately two-thirds of Poland's population, the Roman Catholic Church was an obvious target of the Nazi regime's policies of ethnic, racial, and cultural Germanization. Jonathan Huener reveals in The Polish Catholic Church under German Occupation that the persecution of the church was most severe in the Reichsgau Wartheland, a region of Poland annexed to Nazi Germany. Here Catholics witnessed the execution of priests, the incarceration of hundreds of clergymen and nuns in prisons and concentration camps, the closure of churches, the destruction and confiscation of church property, and countless restrictions on public expression of the Catholic faith. Huener also illustrates how some among the Nazi elite viewed this area as a testing ground for anti-church policies to be launched in the Reich after the successful completion of the war. Based on largely untapped sources from state and church archives, punctuated by vivid archival photographs, and marked by nuance and balance, The Polish Catholic Church under German Occupation exposes both the brutalities and the limitations of Nazi church policy. The first English-language investigation of German policy toward the Catholic Church in occupied Poland, this compelling story also offers insight into the varied ways in which Catholics—from Pope Pius XII, to members of the Polish episcopate, to the Polish laity at the parish level—responded to the Nazi regime's repressive measures.
Download or read book Catholics Confronting Hitler written by Peter Bartley and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2016-09-21 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written with economy and in chronological order, this book offers a comprehensive account of the response to the Nazi tyranny by Pope Pius XII, his envoys, and various representatives of the Catholic Church in every country where Nazism existed before and during WWII. Peter Bartley makes extensive use of primary sources letters, diaries, memoirs, official government reports, German and British. He manifestly quotes the works of several prominent Nazis, of churchmen, diplomats, members of the Resistance, and ordinary Jews and gentiles who left eye-witness accounts of life under the Nazis, in addition to the wartime correspondence between Pius XII and President Roosevelt. This book reveals how resistance to Hitler and rescue work engaged many churchmen and laypeople at all levels, and was often undertaken in collaboration with Protestants and Jews. The Church paid a high price in many countries for its resistance, with hundreds of churches closed down, bishops exiled or martyred, and many priests shot or sent to Nazi death camps. Bartley also explores the supposed inaction of the German bishops over Hitler's oppression of the Jews, showing that the Reich Concordat did not deter the hierarchy and clergy from protesting the regime's iniquities or from rescuing its victims. While giving clear evidence for Papal condemnation of the Jewish persecution, he also explains why Pius XII could not completely set aside the language of diplomacy and be more openly vocal in his rebuke of the Nazis.
Download or read book German Catholics and Hitler s Wars written by Gordon C. Zahn and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 1988-09-30 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior to the outbreak of World War II, nearly forty thousand German Catholics were involved in the German Catholic Peace League, a movement that caused many people in various countries to seriously reconsider the dimension of pacifism in their faith. During the course of the War, however, many of these same German Catholics raised no serious objection to serving in Germany's armies or swearing allegiance to Adolph Hitler. First published in 1962, German Catholics and Hitler's Wars created a furor, ultimately causing a serious reevaluation of church-state relationships and, in particular, of the morality of war. This work began as an attempt to understand the demise of the German Catholic Peace League. But because of various factors, including the destruction of vital records, Gordon C. Zahn began to consider the behavior of German Catholics in general and the evidence of their almost total conformity to the war demands of the Nazi regime. Using sociological analysis, he argues convincingly for the existence of a super-effective system of social controls, and of a selection between the competing values of Catholicism and nationalism. Although Zahn never speculates, conclusions are inescapable, chief among them that the traditional Catholic doctrine of the "just war" has ceased to be operative for Catholics in the modern world.
Download or read book The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany written by and published by . This book was released on 1954 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Complicity in the Holocaust written by Robert P. Ericksen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In one of the darker aspects of Nazi Germany, churches and universities - generally respected institutions - grew to accept and support Nazi ideology. Complicity in the Holocaust describes how the state's intellectual and spiritual leaders enthusiastically partnered with Hitler's regime, becoming active participants in the persecution of Jews, effectively giving Germans permission to participate in the Nazi regime. Ericksen also examines Germany's deeply flawed yet successful postwar policy of denazification in these institutions.
Download or read book Catholic Theologians in Nazi Germany written by Robert Krieg and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2004-02-27 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses a range of religious scholars, but focuses on five major theologians who were born during the Kulturkampf, came to maturity and international recognition during the Hitler era, and had an influence on Catholicism in the English-speaking world. While three were sympathetic to the Third Reich in varying degrees and the other two were publicly critical of the new regime, the book takes a look of each of their stances regarding the Third Reich's anti-Jewish propaganda.
Download or read book Hitler s Pope written by John Cornwell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-10-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “explosive” (The New York Times) bestseller that “redefined the history of the twentieth century” (The Washington Post ) This shocking book was the first account to tell the whole truth about Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II, and it remains the definitive account of that era. It sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Award-winning journalist John Cornwell has also included in this seminal work of history an introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII fatally weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.
Download or read book Catholicism and the Roots of Nazism written by Derek Hastings and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Derek Hastings illuminates an important and largely overlooked aspect of Nazi history, revealing National Socialism's close, early ties with Catholicism in the years immediately after World War I, when the movement first emerged."--Jacket.
Download or read book The Catholic Church and the Jews written by Graciela Ben-Dror and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The impact of events in Nazi Germany and Europe during World War II was keenly felt in neutral Argentina among its predominantly Catholic population and its significant Jewish minority. The Catholic Church and the Jews, Argentina, 1933-1945 considers the images of Jews presented in standard Catholic teaching of that era, the attitudes of the lower clergy and faithful toward the country s Jewish citizens, and the response of the politically influential Church hierarchy to the national debate on accepting Jewish refugees from Europe. The issue was complicated by such factors as the position taken by the Vatican, Argentina s unstable political situation, and the sizeable number of citizens of German origin who were Nazi sympathizers eager to promote German interests. Argentina s self-perception was as a Catholic country. Though there were few overtly anti-Jewish acts, traditional stereotypes and prejudice were widespread and only a few voices in the Catholic community confronted the established attitudes.
Download or read book Hitler and the Vatican written by Peter Godman and published by Free Press. This book was released on 2007-07-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, the policies of the Catholic Church during the rise and terribly destructive rule of the Nazis have been controversial. Pope Pius XII has been attacked as "Hitler's Pope," an anti-Semitic enabler who refused to condemn Nazism, much less urge Catholics to resist the German regime. The Church has been accused of standing by while the Nazis steadily revealed their evil designs. Yet all such arguments have been based only on sketchy evidence. The Vatican has kept its internal workings secret and locked away from scrutiny. Until now. In February 2003, the Vatican opened its archives for the crucial years of the Nazi consolidation of power, up until 1939. Peter Godman, thanks to his long experience in Vatican sources and his reputation as an impartial, non-Catholic historian of the Church, was one of the first scholars to explore the new documents. The story they tell is revelatory and surprising and forces a major revision of the history of the 1930s. It is a story that reveals the innermost workings of the Vatican, an institution far more fractured than monolithic, one that allowed legalism to trump moral outrage. Godman's narrative is doubly shocking: At first, the Church planned to condemn Nazism as heretical, and drafted several variations of its charges in the mid-1930s. However, as Mussolini drew close to Hitler, and Pope Pius XI grew more concerned about communism than fascism, the charge was reduced to a denunciation only of bolshevism. The Church abandoned its moral attack on the Nazis and retreated to diplomacy, complaining about treaty violations and delivering weak protests while the horrors of religious persecution mounted. As Godman demonstrates, the policies of Pius XII were all determined by his predecessor, Pius XI. The Church was misled not so much by "Hitler's Pope" as by a tragic miscalculation and a special relationship with the Italian government. Mussolini toyed with the Church, even proposing that Hitler be excommunicated. Yet in the end, when presented with further evidence of Nazi depredations, Pius XI could only comment, "Kindly God, who has allowed all this to happen at present, undoubtedly has His purpose." Reproducing the key Church documents in full and quoting verbatim conversations between Pius XI and his bishops, Hitler and the Vatican is the most extraordinary look inside the secretive Vatican ever written.
Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich written by William L. Shirer and published by . This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 1272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of Nazi Germany.
Download or read book The Catholic Church and the Holocaust 1930 1965 written by Michael Phayer and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phayer explores the actions of the Catholic Church and the actions of individual Catholics during the crucial period from the emergence of Hitler until the Church's official rejection of antisemitism in 1965. 20 photos.
Download or read book Wehrmacht Priests written by Lauren Faulkner Rossi and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lauren Faulkner Rossi plumbs the moral justifications of Catholic priests who served willingly and faithfully in the German army in World War II. She probes the Church’s accommodations with Hitler’s regime, its fierce but often futile attempts to preserve independence, and the shortcomings of Church doctrine in the face of total war and genocide.
Download or read book The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933 1945 written by John S. Conway and published by Regent College Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conway presents a landmark text on the history of German churches during the Nazi era.
Download or read book History vs Apologetics written by David Cymet and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012-07-10 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set within the context of the political and ideological developments of the time, History vs. Apologetics examines the role played by the Catholic Church in the rise and consolidation of the Third Reich and in particular with regard to the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Distanced in the beginning, the Catholic Church and the Nazi party drew closer as Hitler's popularity increased. At the ratification of the Concordat in Rome, a commitment not to interfere with the Nazis' 'Final Solution' to the 'Jewish Question' was traded for a verbal promise from Berlin to exclude the baptized converts. While the Nazi government violated the Concordat at every turn, the Church kept zealously its promise. Pope Pius XII never mentioned the persecuted Jews by name and denied any knowledge of the annihilation of the Jews. Even after the war, Pius XII refused to condemn anti-Semitism and Germany's role in the Holocaust. Instead, the Vatican engaged in the protection of genocide perpetrators and assisted in their mass escape. David Cymet's comprehensive critical analysis of the polemical literature on the topic makes it possible to separate legitimate history from apologetic allegations and misrepresentations, bringing to light key elements of Church policy that is intentionally misinterpreted by apologists. By surveying the Church's policy from just before the rise of Nazism to the present, Cymet demonstrates how the Nazis were able to turn the Catholic Church into their ally in their war against the Jews.
