HITLER WORKING THE CHRISTIAN CROWD
Hugh Fogelman
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in the 1930’s Protestants constituted 49
percent of the German Christians; Catholics about 45 percent. The Protestants
followed Martin Luther’s teachings. Martin Luther who at first liked the Jews
(saying they were better than Catholics), but that “like” turned to hatred,
when the Jews refused to convert to Christianity. Luther then wrote literature
urging that Jews must be driven out of all Christian countries (see The Jews and their Lies, by Martin
Luther).
In
the early stages of Hitler's career, he rarely failed to appear as the champion
of that picture of Jesus that can be found in most textbooks. In Mein Kampf (p. 336) Hitler exalted,
"the great founder of the new teaching," who "drove the enemies
of every form of humanity out of the
In
a speech on 12th April 1922, Hitler
went on to say:
"In boundless love, as a Christian
and a human being, I read the passage (in the New Testament) which tells us how the lord at last rose in
his might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple broods of vipers
and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. I realize
more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that he had to
shed his blood upon the cross."
That the "Jewish hucksters" killed "the great Nazarene" was
commonplace in Hitler's speeches and nothing impressed him so much as the
violence ascribed to Jesus, the "scourge,” the "fist and the sword
A quote from Hitler in Mein Kampf; "By destroying the Jews, I am fighting Christ's
battles." Mein Kampf
― climbed to
Turkey's Best Seller List in March 2005 ― turned out to be the best
source for finding anti-Jewish statements made by Hitler. After WWII at the
On the night of Martin Luther’s birthday,
191 Synagogues
throughout
815
Jewish-owned shops were demolished;
29 Warehouses and 171 Jewish homes were
set on fire or destroyed;
36
Jews were murdered and
30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps
That night has become infamously known as Kristallnacht or the “Night of the Broken Glass.”
Paul Althaus, a Lutheran theologian of renown in
In
one respect at least, Hitler differed from the traditional church doctrine. He
claimed Jesus as "our greatest Aryan
leader." Was Hitler's Jesus blond, with blue eyes? Hitler spoke of "the tragedy of the
Germanic world, that... Jesus was judaized, distorted, falsified and an alien
Asiatic spirit was forced upon us. That is a crime we must repair." (Kurt
Georg Wilhelm Ludecke, I Knew Hitler, The
Story of a Nazi Who Escaped the Blood Purge, London: Jarrolds, 1938, p.
465-466)
All these references to Jesus date from the early part of Hitler's career. They
served the purpose of gathering respectable Christian support and no doubt, many
churchgoers fell for the trick. This was, after all, long before the
"German Christians" themselves were paraded into the political arena
(in 1933). Later, the "great Nazarene" disappeared and was replaced
by either the "Word God" or non-descript "
Hitler addressing the world at the passion
plays of
In a document signed by many Christian theologians it was stated, "We as believing Christians thank God
our Father that he has given to our people in its time of need the Fuhrer as a
pious and faithful sovereign, and that he wants to prepare for us in the
National Socialist system of government, good rule, a government with
discipline and honor. Accordingly, we know that we are responsible before God
to assist the work of the Fuhrer in our calling and in our station in
life." (Ansbacher Ratschlag,
p. 145)
Another high ranking Christian theologian,
Leutheuser, believed that the Holy Spirit moves where it chooses, and stated
that, "more spirit of religion has
come to Germans through Hitler, than through many of the churches."
(Julius Leutheuser, Die deutsche Christusgemeinde, p. 18, 19). This
same Christian leader asserted that "
The
At a Church conference, Hitler affirmed that the
Catholic Church has always regarded Jews as evildoers and had banished them
into ghettos. He (Hitler) is only doing what the Church had been doing for
fifteen hundred years (ibid, p. 79). In a speech to Polish Catholics, Hitler
declared: "I as a German Catholic, ask only what is permitted to
Polish Catholics. To be anti-Semitic is not to be un-Catholic. The
Church used every weapon against the Jews, even the Inquisition. Christ himself
was a pioneer in the fight against Judaism." (ibid, p. 146)
An interesting quotation appears in the Encyclopedia
Britannica under “German Christians:”
"Protestants attempted to
subordinate church policy to the political exigencies of Nazi
Christians
have asked; “Where do you come up with the idea that Hitler was a Christian?
Everyone knows that he was Jewish, at least part Jewish.” As usual Christians
try again to put the blame on the Jews. Then they soften their approach by
saying; “Hitler had no love for either Christians or Jews, but thought that the
Jews were the worse of the two "evils." Wrong! There was no Jewish blood in Hitler at all. As a boy, Hitler
sang in a church choir and thought one day he would become a priest. But as an adult he said Christianity was a
religion for weaklings. Hitler went to church (the Roman Catholic Church), and
he even told the world that he was doing what the New Testament asked of him.
But,
Christians say; “However, many Roman Catholic priests were put to death in the
gas chambers as well.” The truth is anyone caught in open defiance of
Hitler was sent to the gas chambers. The key word here is “anyone.” Sadly,
Once
presented with the facts, I have heard Christians say over and over that
"he (Hitler) wasn't REALLY a Christian or he wouldn't have done those
things." and I've heard "the church didn't REALLY understand
Christianity or there would not have been the Crusades."
CONCLUSION
QUESTION:
What did those Protestants and Catholics have in
common?
From where did Hitler get his quotes?
ANSWER:
THE COMMON DENOMINATOR―THE NEW TESTAMENT―the fictitious anti-Jewish
hate book!
Jews call it “The book of lies!”