Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T16:59:16.900Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The 1933 German Protestant Church Elections: Machtpolitik or Accommodation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Shelley Baranowski
Shelley Baranowski
Affiliation:
Received her Ph.D. in History of Christianity from Princeton University in June 1980.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

On 23 July 1933, the pro-Nazi German Christian movement won a stunning victory in the elections for representatives to local parish councils of the German Evangelical Church. In many areas, especially north and eastern Germany where the National Socialist party itself was strongest, the German Christians attracted as much as 75 percent of the vote. The Old Prussian Union church, which embraced most of the political unit of Prussia, felt the effects most profoundly. Upon filling the higher synods after the parish elections, the German Christians were the majority in seven of eight provincial representative bodies. Only the provincial synod in Westphalia retained a non-German Christian majority. Yet this resulted less from a lack of a strong German Christian following in the parishes than from an intentionally undemocratic filtering system that protected higher synods from the Nazi sympathizers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 298 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Meier, Kurt, Die Deutschen Christen (Halle, 1964), p. 26.Google Scholar See Noakes, Jeremy and Pridham, Geoffrey, Documents on Nazism, 1919–1945 (New York, 1974), pp. 114–116Google Scholar for an analysis of Nazi voting statistics. For details on Westphalia, refer to Hey, Bernd, Die Kirchenprovinz Westfalen, 1933–1945 (Bielefeld, 1974), pp. 41–49.Google Scholar

2. See the arguments in Cochrane, Arthur, The Church's Confession under Hitler (Philadelphia, 1962), p. 107Google Scholar; Conway, John S., The Nazi Persecution of the Churches (London, 1968), p. 44Google Scholar; Helmreich, Ernst C., “The Nature and Structure of the Confessing Church in Germany under Hitler,” Journal of Church and State 12 (1970): 410CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Meier, Kurt, Der Evangelische Kirchenkampf, 2 vols. (Göttingen, 1972–1976), 1:105–106Google Scholar (hereafter cited as EKK). Scholder's, KlausDie Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1 vol. to date (Berlin, 1977), 1:560–570Google Scholar gives a fuller account than most but still primarily emphasizes German Christian and Nazi party pressure.

3. EKK, 2:148–154Google Scholar; Dibelius, Otto, In the Service of the Lord (New York, 1964), p. 104.Google Scholar

4. Künneth's, WaltherDer Grosse Abfall (Hamburg, 1947)Google Scholar is a theologian's account of the conservative argument. He emphasizes Hitler's grotesque uniqueness that was imposed by force upon German society. Künneth specifically argued against the charges of the famed Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, that Nazism was the product of the conservative Prussian-German tradition.

5. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:356.Google Scholar Compare Wright, Jonathan R. C., “Above Parties”: The Political Attitudes of the German Protestant Church Leadership, 1918–1933 (Oxford, 1974), p. 2.Google Scholar

6. Balzer, Friedrich-Martin, “Kirche und Klassenbindung in der weimarer Republik,” in Spiegel, Yorick, ed., Kirche und Klassenbindung (Frankfurt, 1974), pp. 53–54.Google Scholar I am using elite as an ordinary language term denoting any group at the top of a social, economic or political hierarchy.

7. See Balzer, , “Kirche und Klassenbindung,” pp. 51–53Google Scholar for a survey of several regional synods and Jacke, Jochen, Kirche zwischen Monarchie und Republik: Der preussische Protestantismus nach dem Zusammenbruch von 1918 (Hamburg, 1976), pp. 33–34Google Scholar for a discussion of patronage.

8. Balzer's academic middle class category embraces pastors, lawyers, doctors, notaries, teachers and civil servants with a university education. Balzer, , “Kirche und Klassenbindung,” p. 49.Google Scholar For discussion of the social position of Protestant pastors, see Dahm, Karl-Wilhelm, Pfarrer und Politik: Soziale Position und politische Mentalität des deutschen evangelischen Pfarrerstandes zwischen 1918 und 1933 (Cologne and Opladen, 1965)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Werdermann, Hermann, Die Evangelische Pfarrer in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1925) entire.Google Scholar

9. For the attitudes of the church leadership during this period, see Conway, , Nazi Persecution of the Churches, pp. 9–10, 32,Google Scholar and Wright, , “Above Parties” p. 112.Google Scholar

10. The Weimar Republic was particularly generous. See Wright, , “Above Parties,” p. 19Google Scholar for the terms of the Weimar Constitution, and pp. 46–47 for the terms of the 1931 Prussian Church Treaty.

11. For conservatism in the bureaucracy and army, see Mommsen, Hans, Beamtentum im Dritten Reich (Stuttgart, 1966)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Bracher, Karl Dietrich, The German Dictatorship (New York, 1970), pp. 191–198 and 228–247Google Scholar, and Noakes, and Pridham, Documents on Nazism, pp. 117–328.Google Scholar

12. See Milatz, Alfred, “Das Ende der Parteien in Spiegel der Wahlen, 1930–1933,” in Matthias, Erich and Morsey, Rudolf, eds., Das Ende der Parteien (Düsseldorf, 1960), pp. 744–758Google Scholar for statistical evidence of the declining support of bourgeois political parties. Concerning the necessity of elites, see Schweizer, Arthur, Big Business in the Third Reich (Bloomington, Ind., 1964), chaps. 3–5Google Scholar, and Winckler, Heinrich-August, Mittelstand, Demokratie und Nationalsozialismus: Die politische Entwicklung von Handwerk und Kleinhandel in der weimarer Republik (Cologne, 1972), pp. 183–187.Google Scholar

13. Childers, Thomas, “The Social Bases of the National Socialist Vote,” Journal of Contemporary History 11 (1976): 17–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar gives an original and detailed analysis with some surprising conclusions. See also Schoenbaum, David, Hitler's Social Revolution (New York, 1967), pp. 35–42Google Scholar and Lebovics, Herman, Social Conservatism and the Middle Classes in Germany, 1914–1933 (Princeton, 1969), pp. 27–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. See Wright, “Above Parties,” pp. 91–98Google Scholar; Meier, , Deutschen Christen, pp. 2–17Google Scholar, and Siegele-Wenschkewitz, Leonore, Nationalsozialismus und Kirche (Düsseldorf, 1974), p. 20–25Google Scholar for the origins of the German Christian movement.

15. The movement's most surprising victory came in the Old Prussian Union elections in late 1932 when it won one-third of the vote, a high for a new party. See Wright, , “Above Parties,” pp. 94–98.Google Scholar

16. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:369.Google Scholar Unless otherwise indicated, translations from the German are my own.

17. Report of the Convention to the Supreme Church Council of Prussia, Archive of the Evangelical Church of the Union (hereafter cited as EKU), West Berlin, Generalia folder II–42–I. See also Kirche und Volk: The Official Report of the First National Meeting of the Faith Movement of German Christians, Schriftenreihe der ‘Deutschen Christen’, no. 4 (Berlin, 1933), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

18. Kirche und Volk, pp. 61–62.Google Scholar

19. EKU Generalia folder II–42–I, 4 April 1933.

20. Wright, , “Above Parties,” p. 119.Google Scholar

21. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:357.Google Scholar

22. Schaefer, Gerhard, Die evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg und der Nationalsozialismus: Eine Dokumentation zum Kirchenkampf, 4 vols. (Stuttgart, 1971–1976), vol. 2, 1933, pp. 45–46.Google Scholar

23. Wright, , “Above Parties,” p. 123–124.Google Scholar

24. Like all German Christian leaders, this important figure demands a fuller study than currently exists. Some of Müller's statements later in the decade revealed an increasing radicalism. For Müller's background, see Dannenmann, Arnold, Die Geschichte des Glaubensbewegung Deutsche Christen (Dresden, 1933), p. 33–34Google Scholar; Kinder, Christian, Neue Beitrage der evangelische Kirche in Schleswig-Holstein und im Reich, 1924–1945, 2nd ed. (Flensburg, 1968), p. 45Google Scholar; and EKK, 1:157. Dannenmann and Kinder were German Christians.

25. EKU Generalia folder 111–51-I (Beiheft) Parish Elections 1929–1933, No. 59.

26. See Zabel, James A., Nazism and the Pastors: A Study of the Ideas of Three “Deutsche Christen” Groups (Missoula, Montana, 1976), pp. 10–11, 51–109.Google Scholar

27. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1: 395–396.Google Scholar

28. Zabel, , Nazism and the Pastors, pp. 29–30.Google Scholar

29. Wright, , “Above Parties,” p. 127.Google Scholar

30. Hossenfelder, , Unser Kampf, Schriftenreihe der ‘Deutschen Christen’, no. 1 (Berlin, 1933), pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

31. EKK, 1:75.

32. Meier, , Deutschen Christen, p. 3.Google Scholar

33. Documents of the Reich Church Committee relating to Mecklenburg, 1934–1935, Archive of the German Evangelical Church, West Berlin, A4–463. (Hereafter cited as DEK).

34. Jacke, See, Kirche zwischen Monarchie und Republik, p. 311Google Scholar; Kupisch, Karl, Zwischen Idealismus und Massendemokratie: Eine Geschichte der evangelische Kirche in Deutschland von 1815–1945 (Berlin, 1955), p. 133Google Scholar; Piper, Otto, Recent Developments in German Protestantism (London, 1934), p. 36.Google Scholar General comments made in a report of Westphalian General Superintendents, EKU Generalia folder III–51–I (Beiheft) No. 41 (May 1932), included the remark, “the church has become too one-sidedly Mittelstand.”

35. Means, Paul, Things that Are Caesar's: The Genesis of the German Church Conflict (New York, 1935), p. 219.Google Scholar

36. Dibelius, , In the Service of the Lord, p. 139.Google Scholar

37. Dannenmann, , Geschicte des Glaubensbewegung, p. 17.Google Scholar

38. Church Struggle Archive, West Berlin, folder 264a, “The Young Reformers 1933,” 27 June 1933 (Archive herafter cited as KKA).

39. KKA, folder 264a, report of election meeting in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, undated.

40. New York Times, 23 July 1933; Kupisch, , Zwischen Idealismus und Massendemokratie, p. 203.Google Scholar

41. Zabel, , Nazism and the Pastors, p. 136.Google Scholar

42. Conway, , Nazi Persecution of the Churches, p. 35Google Scholar, and Wright, Jonathan R. C., “Über den Parteien”: Die politische Haltung der evangelischen Kirchenführer 1918–1933 (Göttingen, 1977)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, the expanded German edition of his earlier book, pp. 221–222.

43. Wright, , “Above Parties” (English edition), p. 125.Google Scholar

44. See Hahn, Hugo with Prater, Georg, Kämpfer wider Willen (Metzingen, 1969), pp. 238, 241, 258Google Scholar; Schmidt, Jürgen, Martin Niemöller im Kirchenkampf (Hamburg, 1971), p. 27Google Scholar; and Bethge, Eberhard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage (New York, 1970), pp. 3–28.Google ScholarScholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:408Google Scholar points out that a substantial number of theologians backed the Young Reformers.

45. Neumann, Peter, Die Jungreformatorische Bewegung (Göttingen, 1971), pp. 41–43Google Scholar, analyzes the program. See Niemöller, Wilhelm, Handbuch des Kirchenkampfes (Bielefeld, 1956), pp. 82–83Google Scholar for the program itself.

46. Niemöller, Martin, Junge Kirche 9 (24 August 1933):99.Google Scholar

47. KKA, folder 147, undated statement of von Rabenau, reports from Apostle Paul parish, Berlin.

48. Neumann, , Jungreformatorische Bewegung, pp. 108–114Google Scholar for a detailed comparison between moderate German Christians and Young Reformers, and Stählin, Wilhelm, Via Vitae: Lebenserinnerungen von Wilhelm Stählin (Kassel, 1968), pp. 272–273.Google Scholar This former Young Reformer noted that the movement wanted to establish a “great young front” with moderate German Christians.

49. Wright, , “Above Parties” (English edition), pp. 128, 135–136.Google Scholar

50. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:415.Google Scholar

51. Neumann, , Jungreformatorische Bewegung, pp. 53–54.Google Scholar

52. Wright, , “Above Parties” (English edition), pp. 132–133.Google Scholar

53. Schaefer, , Evangelische Landeskirche, 2:9–70Google Scholar; Baier, Helmut, Die Deutschen Christen Bayerns im Rahmen des bayerischen Kirchenkampfes (Nuremberg, 1968), p. 44Google Scholar, and Diebelius, , In the Service of the Lord, p. 143.Google Scholar See also Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:416–421Google Scholar for a discussion of the voting for Reich Bishop. Pridham's, GeoffreyHitler's Rise to Power: The Nazi Movement in Bavaria 1923–1933 (New York, 1973), pp. 171Google Scholar, 283, 321 discusses relations between Protestants and Catholics; and Martin Broszat and others, Bayern in der NS Zeit: Soziale Lage und Politisches Verhalten der Bevölkerung im Spiegel Vertraulicher Berichte (Munich, 1977), p. 371Google Scholar, describes Meiser's role.

54. For Jäger's installation and removal, see Baier, Helmut and Wright, J. R. C., “Ein Neues Dokument zum Staatseingriff in Preussen (1933),” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 2 (1975):220–241Google Scholar; Kretschmar, George and Nicolaisen, Carsten, eds., Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, 2 vols. (Munich, 1971–1974), 1 (1933):67–94Google Scholar; Söhngen, Oskar, “Die Reaktion der ‘amtlichen’ Kirche auf die Einsetzung eines Staatskommissars zur den nationalsozialistische Staat,” Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Kirchenkampfes, 29 vols. (1958–1975) 26:35–78Google Scholar (hereafter cited as AGK); Söhngen, , “Hindenburgs Eingreifen in der Kirchenkampf, 1933,” AGK, 15:30–44Google Scholar, and Conrad, Walter, Kampf urn die Kanzeln (Berlin, 1957), p. 14.Google Scholar The Young Reformers agreed to continue negotiating with Müller following a meeting among Müller, Martin Niemöller and Karl Fezer, 29 June 1933, KKA 264a. The Three Man Committee followed suit on 4 July, DEK A4–11.

55. For the terms of the constitution see Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1:479–481Google Scholar and Kater, Horst, Die Deutsche Evangelische Kirche in den Jahren 1933 und 1934 (Göttingen, 1970), p. 140.Google Scholar

56. Kretschmar, and Nicolaisen, , eds., Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik, 1:118.Google Scholar

57. Scholder, , Kirchen und das Dritten Reich, 1: picture no. 61.Google Scholar

58. EKU Generalia folder III–51–III, parish elections 1933, 22 July 1933.

59. EKU Generalia folder III–51–III, 18 August 1933; KKA 70–24, Kirchenkampf in Fehrbellin (Brandenburg), 9 December 1933.

60. Kretschmar, and Nicolaisen, , eds., Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik, 1:114.Google Scholar

61. Baier, See, Deutschen Christen Bayerns, pp. 51–56.Google Scholar

62. DEK folder A4–388, letter from the parish Recklinghausen to Zoellner, 19 February 1936 reflecting on the 1933 parish elections, papers of the Chairman of the Reich Church Committee, Wilhelm Zoellner.

63. Niemöller, Wilhelm, Der Stunde der Versuchung: Gemeinden im Kirchenkampf (Munich, 1963), p. 99.Google Scholar

64. KKA 70–4, letter to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 26 July 1933.

65. Kretschmar, and Nicolaisen, , eds., Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik, 1:121.Google Scholar

66. New York Times, 25 July 1933.Google Scholar

67. Bethge, , Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 225.Google Scholar

68. New York Times, 24 July 1933.Google Scholar

69. Allgemeine Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchenzeitung, 31 (4 August 1933): 729–730.Google Scholar

70. DEK folder A4–11, 15 July 1933.

71. EKU Generalia folder III–51–I, 20 July 1933.

72. Niemöller, , Stunde der Versuchung, p. 30.Google Scholar

73. EKU Generalia folder III–51–I, Report from the Rhineland Consistory, 22 July 1933.

74. Schaefer, , Evangelische Landeskirche, 2:304–307.Google Scholar

75. Slenczka, Hans, Die Evangelische Kirche von Kurhessen-Waldeck in den Jahren von 1933 bis 1945 (Göttingen, 1977), pp. 34–36.Google Scholar

76. EKU Generalia folder III–51–I, 24 July 1933.

77. Schmidt, , Martin Niemö11er im Kirchenkampf, p. 103.Google Scholar

78. The Young Reformers' platform can be found in Junge Kirche 5 (20 July 1933):59–62.

79. New York Times, 23 07 1933.Google Scholar

80. KKA folder 7–40, “The Confessing Church in 1933,” includes Gerhard Jacobi's undated remarks.

81. “KKA folder 147–123. Though undated this report's clear reference to the meeting as that of the “Gospel and Church” faction places it during the campaign.

82. Hahn with Prater, , Kämpfer wider Willen, pp. 25–27.Google Scholar