D
1. Christianity and the Jewish question.
"Today, we are inundated with many comments on the Jewish question, but apart from the purely theoretical ones, even the more serious ones are of little more than a statistical nature. In doing so, however, the intellectual and, above all, the religious and ideological side of the problem is almost completely ignored.
While careful observation of the activities of world Jewry is necessary, the ideological side of the problem should never be overlooked. It is important to remove Judaism from Germany not only physically but also psychologically.
The church, which arose on the soil of Judaism, adopted the holy scriptures of the Jews as the so-called Old Testament, and with it, by and large, the religious and spiritual ideas of Judaism. The Old Testament, along with the Talmud, is a value in which the Jewish racial soul is largely reflected.
Church dogma and preaching of all centuries has had its models and examples repeatedly taken from the Old Testament. Indeed, the definition of the Jews as a "chosen people" was maintained through the centuries by the churches and forced upon the Nordic-Germanic people...
Thus, the racial danger of the Jews was trivialized in the eyes of the German people, and the racial question was obscured. Not least through the church, the ground was prepared on which Jewish emancipation could then be built, and the path of racial degeneration and the power of Judaism could be taken.
The evidence of the influence of the Jewish spirit, which, via the Church was conveyed, is certainly part of the Jewish question. Furthermore, it is incorrect to claim that the Jews became what they are today through the dispersion that swept with the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (and later with the suppression of the Bar-Kokhba revolt), which is even viewed by some denominations as God's punishment for the rejection of Christ.
This is contradicted by the unanimous testimony of all antiquity, which proves that long before 70 CE, the Jews possessed the same characteristics as the Jews of our day. Furthermore, a large Jewish diaspora existed even before Jesus. Luther is often portrayed as the eminent anti-Jew. It must first be noted that Luther underwent a development in his attitude toward the Jews...
This unfortunate duality drove him into an inner conflict from which he could not free himself. As much as he had to realize that no Jew could escape his own kind (not even through conversion), he nevertheless adhered to the idea of missionary work to the Jews, in accordance with the biblical missionary command.
The Jewish question is not limited to the demographic and economic problem but must be addressed fundamentally. All further questions can only be addressed based on the results of racial psychology, which also includes religious feelings and ethical ideas and actions.
For example, the Jewish question would not be solved simply because no Jew lives in Germany and exerts any political or economic influence. It is not solved as long as Jewish thought and belief still exist in any form. This is certainly part of the Jewish question. The Jewish question in this sense also includes missionary work to the Jews, conversions from Judaism to Christianity, and the general attitude of the denominations to Christianity.
The influence of Jews and Jewish intellectual heritage in the denominations, the position of Judaism towards cultural life, and particular attention to the disguised Jewish influence in religion. It is necessary to point out all of this in order to demonstrate the great challenges that still await solution."
~Curt Tiltad~
_______________________________
Source:
Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte. Heft 101. Jahrgang 9. Page 57. Official NSDAP publication 1938.
2. The spiritual turning point."Then we (National Socialists) say: Better Heathenism out of genuine faith than currency offences out of supranational ties!"
"A transformation of thought is taking place among Germany's youth. A new way of looking at the world is beginning. Outdated things are sinking away; foundations that seemed to have eternal value are bursting, and from their cores bubbles the source of inherent power long thought to have dried up. A new attitude to life is becoming noticeably eternal! A turning point is taking place, for an entire era is sinking away, and another greets us with its promising light. Thus, the 20th century is a solstice in the history of nations! Midsummer Night is a symbol of our time. The cultural foundations of the Aryan peoples were born in the sign of the sun. The sons of Germania fought under the swastika, and their deeds and fates, often tragic but always great, we see rising with pride and awe from the ruins of history. Today, under this sign, we have once again begun a struggle that is a defensive struggle against alien thinking, but which simultaneously represents a rebirth of the Nordic-Germanic soul. For today we are more aware than ever that only our blood and our character can be the sole determining element of our mental attitude, our moral values, our sense of justice, and thus our creativity and our ethnic life in general. Only in this way are we in a position to assert an eternal claim to the existence of the nation.We have proclaimed to the nation's eternity, and we believe in it. Indeed, more than that: we grant it the primacy of all our thoughts and actions. Eternal values, however, have always been sacred values to humanity. Therefore, for us, the Germans of this revolution, who are fighting for those values, there is logically no spot on earth that could be more sacred to us than the land after which we are called Germans. There is no blood that is more sacred to us than that which was shed for us... And that was obviously always only German blood. We feel a kinship with it, not only because we were born of it, but because it was shed for us, not to redeem us, but only to oblige us to perform deeds in which the resurrection of this blood becomes recognizable! The German people have always achieved deeds only with courage and not with humility, and deeds will endure if they are represented not by subservience but by strength of character. There are powers in our country that oppose us and believe they must take other paths. They do this, however, not by stimulating forces from their own sphere of ideas that, in their own inherent morality, also seek paths to good; rather, they strive, initially timidly, but increasingly boldly, to drive a wedge into our way of understanding German life by claiming that National Socialism preaches greedy materialism. We see the laws enacted by the Reich government for the recovery of the race, and thus for the recovery not only of the body but also of the soul, attacked by these powers with the claim that they are "original sin" and that they were created only to promote "lustful" behavior. These claims are an attempt to provoke conflicts of conscience... But such attempts will be in vain. For the sound judgment of the German people will be able to determine that such attacks are intended to construct a separatism of the spirit, which is nothing other than the shameful parallel to that territorial separatism on the Rhine. In both cases, however, the voices against German unity came from the same camp. We are clear about this and have never shied away from saying so, that the revolution is politically over, but that the battle of the spirits is only just beginning. We National Socialists, however, expect it to be carried out in chivalrous forms, without obscurantists and without impure malice. We denigrate or fight no one because of their religious convictions. Therefore, it would be better if these powers refrained from attempting to equate our conception of national life with the Godless Bolshevik movement.... And if we are called Heathens, even though we restored opportunities for activity for the different denominations by overthrowing Marxism, without, however, committing a confessional commitment ourselves, then we say: Better Heathenism out of genuine faith than currency offences out of supranational ties! Our opponents may be assured: Our worldview has been proclaimed! We stand by it, and in it, we will bring about the unification of the German spirit. Not only in the nation's outward appearance, but also in the attitude of the German soul, the unification that enables us to correctly evaluate the great deeds and tragedies of German history and draw appropriate conclusions from them, but also gives us the strength for new creation and to preserve the values, not only of the German but of all European peoples. A turning turning point of time has arrived! The Nordic symbol of eternity rises. In terms of ages, the pyres of the Inquisition are dying out. From the fuel of the solstice blazes the flame of new life, and in its glow, honor, loyalty, and courage harden. One day, the German people will be immune to the concepts of humility, sin, and damnation. Then the old saying of the Edda will apply again: "Let us part happily, fate triumphs." So, you young German people, when you see the sparks flying in the solstice fire, remember the time in which fate has placed you. In your blood pulses the past of your ancestors, in it the power of your century. Keep yourself strong so that your deeds live on in the bloodstream of free grandchildren!"Kurt Jeserich
Source: der Schulungsbrief. Jahrgang 2, Folge 6, June. Franz Eher Nachf Verlag Berlin. Official NSDAP publication 1935. Pg 189.
3. The German Armed Forces Command Thought the Torah and Christianity Were Jewish Weapons.
The Ideological instruction booklet for the German Armed Forces "Why We Fight?" names the Torah and Christianity in general as being uniting factors strengthening world Jewry.
Side Note: This booklet came directly out of the Herausgegeben von Personal Amt des Heeres (Personnel Office of the Army) and includes a forward by Adolf Hitler himself. The booklet was to be distributed to Wehrmacht officers to inculcate their men in the National Socialist worldview. This means that the passages below had the tacit approval of the Führer.
Excerpts:
Source:Source: Personalamt Des Heeres Wofuer Kaempfen Wir? 1944
4. Clergy, theologians and those with strong religious ties were explicitly BANNED from joining the National Socialist Party.
"Clergy and other comrades WHO have strong religious ties CANNOT BE ACCEPTED into the party. It has also proven necessary to prevent the churches from repeatedly recruiting party comrades as clergy from their offspring. I have therefore ordered that in the future party comrades who enter the clergy or who turn to studying theology must leave the party (NSDAP)."
Source:NS 15/698 Aug. 1941 Aufnahme von Geistlichen und Theologiestudenten in die NSDAP und deren Gliederungen, p.49-50
5. Christians who laugh at the demise of ancient deities are described as being even lower than Marxists.
"These Germanic gods were also part of the German character, they were as much a part of the German character as Faust is a part of the German character or as other figures of German legend and poetry. Therefore, if you attack the character (of the Gods) in this direction, you are deliberately insulting the character value of the German in general."Source:NSDAP Schulungsbrief, Februar 1935 (Kreisleitung Stuttgart) Pg 11
6. Hitler expressed agreement with Nietzsche’s rejection of Christianity.
In January 1941, Goebbels recorded in his diary that Hitler was riled up against scholars, including philosophers, but he made an exception for Nietzsche, who, he asserted:
"Only Nietzsche is an exception here. He proved in detail the ABSURDITY of Christianity. In two hundred years it will only remain a grotesque memory. We must gradually undermine it in all areas. Above all, among the younger generation."
Thus, Hitler approved of Nietzsche’s anti-Christian stance and predicted the ultimate demise of Christianity.
Source: BArch N 1118/13 Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Eintrag vom 30. Januar 1941, p.64
7. Hitler against Christ.
In the German newspaper "The German way" in their article titled "Hitler against Christ" published in 1936: "The National Socialist worldview is anti-Christian. First and foremost, Adolf Hitler himself may again act as a witness to substantiate this fact. On August 27, 1933, he declared at a meeting of the Führer in Bad Godesberg: "the unity of the Germans must be guaranteed by a new worldview, since Christianity in its present form is no longer equal to the demands being placed on the bearers of national unity" He may be right, because these demands, which Christianity is really not in a position to fulfill, are precisely the National Socialist postulates regarding race and blood, state and party, which slap Christian doctrine in the face. But the National Socialist worldview is not only essentially anti-Christian [...] it wants to fight against the Christian worldview, which is incompatible with it. While in Germany itself this should not be spoken out loud because Hitler does not yet consider it advisable to openly declare war on Christianity"
Source: Der deutsche Weg : für Wahrheit, Freiheit, Recht ; kath. Wochenblatt gegen die Irrtümer der Zeit und für christliche Lebenserneuerung, Pg 1.
8. 'Paganism Becomes Serious for Reich'
BERLIN, June 28.-Paganism is no longer regarded in Germany as something humorous. The Summer solstice festivals throughout the Reich, which were attended by General Herman Goering, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, Julius Streicher and other high officials, have revealed beyond hope of further concealment the tendency of Nazism to take on a religious or pseudo-religious character.The open-air rites were officially declared to have only "cultural significance," but they turned out in effect to be ceremonies honoring a viewpoint and ethical code that preceded the Christianization of the ancient Germanic tribes.General Goering, in particular, in his address on Hesselberg Mountain, startled Catholics and Protestants into the realization that he apparently was no longer able to distinguish between the Christian faith and the loose deism that tends to dignify nationality with a transcendental character supposedly adequate for day-by-day religious purposes.Scorned "Chatter of Clerics.""Let no one object if we prefer to stream together here in the unity of our people to lift up our hearts to the idea of our Fuehrer rather than listen to the chatter of quarreling clerics," he declared.He followed this, from the Christian standpoint, astounding statement with a series of arguments intended to demonstrate that all doctrines, including the Christian, are of minor consequence and that the one fundamental religious experience is "faith in the future of the nation.""This faith," the Air Minister and Prussian Premier said, "does not stand in contradiction to the Deity."Dr. Goebbels, Bernhard Rust, Minister of Education, and other speakers assembled about the great fires lighted on hilltops throughout Germany to celebrate the revival of the ancient pagan festival that issued in Summer, were less frank than General Goering, but all said enough to convince Protestants and Catholics that the pontiffs of Nazism regard Adolf Hitler's particular dogma as divine revelation and tend to hold that this revelation has more significance for Germans than the Christian one.Despite all denials and protests, the fact of the matter appears to be that the Nazi party desires a new faith and a new church and has accordingly welcomed and supported the German faith movement and its leaders, Professor Wilhelm Hauer and Count Ernst Zu Reventlow, who go about preaching that Christianity is un-German and that the Third Reich must have an essentially German approach to God.500,000 Active Backers.It is estimated that the new creed is now supported by less than 500,000 people, mostly fanatical Nazis and many of them party functionaries.At the present moment neo-paganism appears to have captured the black-coated special guards, the janizaries of the régime, or at least their commanders. The Black Corps, the organ of the black coats, makes no attempt to hide its sympathy for the neo-pagan doctrines and its violent dislike for the Protestant and Catholic clergy.For good measure, neo-paganism has largely absorbed pre-war and post-war atheistic and free thinking circles in Germany.Christian leaders, on the other hand, are convinced that if free discussion in pulpit and press of the drift toward paganism were allowed, it would arouse almost universal opposition.The most bitterness has been aroused by a growing conviction among Christian parents that the Nazi youth organizations, with 6,000,000 members under Baldur von Schirach's leadership, are becoming centres of anti-Christian teaching and neo-pagan influence.Attitude of Teachers.A critical attitude toward the orthodox churches has been prevalent among many public school teachers and they are reported to favor the new faith. The situation resulting is inevitably aggravated by the close alliance between the schools and the party's youth organizations.The Frankfurter Zeitung, treading softly but courageously on dangerous ground, expressed clearly the situation in which the Nazi enthusiasts find themselves. It reported in discussing the Summer scholastic rites:"A profound love for one's own race and history and one's people, as well as a general desire to experience all this ritually does not need to become a negation of our traditional religious faith. It does not need to become that, but it may."Is there place for our traditional Christian faith beside this national mythos or shall faith in the nation, this faith that dare not disappear again from our consciousness, make every other faith unnecessary?"Such statements of the issue are as rare as they are courageous in Germany today.
Source: New York Times, June 30, 1935
"Today, we are inundated with many comments on the Jewish question, but apart from the purely theoretical ones, even the more serious ones are of little more than a statistical nature. In doing so, however, the intellectual and, above all, the religious and ideological side of the problem is almost completely ignored.
While careful observation of the activities of world Jewry is necessary, the ideological side of the problem should never be overlooked. It is important to remove Judaism from Germany not only physically but also psychologically.
The church, which arose on the soil of Judaism, adopted the holy scriptures of the Jews as the so-called Old Testament, and with it, by and large, the religious and spiritual ideas of Judaism. The Old Testament, along with the Talmud, is a value in which the Jewish racial soul is largely reflected.
Church dogma and preaching of all centuries has had its models and examples repeatedly taken from the Old Testament. Indeed, the definition of the Jews as a "chosen people" was maintained through the centuries by the churches and forced upon the Nordic-Germanic people...
Thus, the racial danger of the Jews was trivialized in the eyes of the German people, and the racial question was obscured. Not least through the church, the ground was prepared on which Jewish emancipation could then be built, and the path of racial degeneration and the power of Judaism could be taken.
The evidence of the influence of the Jewish spirit, which, via the Church was conveyed, is certainly part of the Jewish question. Furthermore, it is incorrect to claim that the Jews became what they are today through the dispersion that swept with the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (and later with the suppression of the Bar-Kokhba revolt), which is even viewed by some denominations as God's punishment for the rejection of Christ.
This is contradicted by the unanimous testimony of all antiquity, which proves that long before 70 CE, the Jews possessed the same characteristics as the Jews of our day. Furthermore, a large Jewish diaspora existed even before Jesus. Luther is often portrayed as the eminent anti-Jew. It must first be noted that Luther underwent a development in his attitude toward the Jews...
This unfortunate duality drove him into an inner conflict from which he could not free himself. As much as he had to realize that no Jew could escape his own kind (not even through conversion), he nevertheless adhered to the idea of missionary work to the Jews, in accordance with the biblical missionary command.
The Jewish question is not limited to the demographic and economic problem but must be addressed fundamentally. All further questions can only be addressed based on the results of racial psychology, which also includes religious feelings and ethical ideas and actions.
For example, the Jewish question would not be solved simply because no Jew lives in Germany and exerts any political or economic influence. It is not solved as long as Jewish thought and belief still exist in any form. This is certainly part of the Jewish question. The Jewish question in this sense also includes missionary work to the Jews, conversions from Judaism to Christianity, and the general attitude of the denominations to Christianity.
The influence of Jews and Jewish intellectual heritage in the denominations, the position of Judaism towards cultural life, and particular attention to the disguised Jewish influence in religion. It is necessary to point out all of this in order to demonstrate the great challenges that still await solution."
~Curt Tiltad~
_______________________________
Source:
Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte. Heft 101. Jahrgang 9. Page 57. Official NSDAP publication 1938.
2. The spiritual turning point."Then we (National Socialists) say: Better Heathenism out of genuine faith than currency offences out of supranational ties!"
"A transformation of thought is taking place among Germany's youth. A new way of looking at the world is beginning. Outdated things are sinking away; foundations that seemed to have eternal value are bursting, and from their cores bubbles the source of inherent power long thought to have dried up. A new attitude to life is becoming noticeably eternal! A turning point is taking place, for an entire era is sinking away, and another greets us with its promising light. Thus, the 20th century is a solstice in the history of nations! Midsummer Night is a symbol of our time. The cultural foundations of the Aryan peoples were born in the sign of the sun. The sons of Germania fought under the swastika, and their deeds and fates, often tragic but always great, we see rising with pride and awe from the ruins of history. Today, under this sign, we have once again begun a struggle that is a defensive struggle against alien thinking, but which simultaneously represents a rebirth of the Nordic-Germanic soul. For today we are more aware than ever that only our blood and our character can be the sole determining element of our mental attitude, our moral values, our sense of justice, and thus our creativity and our ethnic life in general. Only in this way are we in a position to assert an eternal claim to the existence of the nation.We have proclaimed to the nation's eternity, and we believe in it. Indeed, more than that: we grant it the primacy of all our thoughts and actions. Eternal values, however, have always been sacred values to humanity. Therefore, for us, the Germans of this revolution, who are fighting for those values, there is logically no spot on earth that could be more sacred to us than the land after which we are called Germans. There is no blood that is more sacred to us than that which was shed for us... And that was obviously always only German blood. We feel a kinship with it, not only because we were born of it, but because it was shed for us, not to redeem us, but only to oblige us to perform deeds in which the resurrection of this blood becomes recognizable! The German people have always achieved deeds only with courage and not with humility, and deeds will endure if they are represented not by subservience but by strength of character. There are powers in our country that oppose us and believe they must take other paths. They do this, however, not by stimulating forces from their own sphere of ideas that, in their own inherent morality, also seek paths to good; rather, they strive, initially timidly, but increasingly boldly, to drive a wedge into our way of understanding German life by claiming that National Socialism preaches greedy materialism. We see the laws enacted by the Reich government for the recovery of the race, and thus for the recovery not only of the body but also of the soul, attacked by these powers with the claim that they are "original sin" and that they were created only to promote "lustful" behavior. These claims are an attempt to provoke conflicts of conscience... But such attempts will be in vain. For the sound judgment of the German people will be able to determine that such attacks are intended to construct a separatism of the spirit, which is nothing other than the shameful parallel to that territorial separatism on the Rhine. In both cases, however, the voices against German unity came from the same camp. We are clear about this and have never shied away from saying so, that the revolution is politically over, but that the battle of the spirits is only just beginning. We National Socialists, however, expect it to be carried out in chivalrous forms, without obscurantists and without impure malice. We denigrate or fight no one because of their religious convictions. Therefore, it would be better if these powers refrained from attempting to equate our conception of national life with the Godless Bolshevik movement.... And if we are called Heathens, even though we restored opportunities for activity for the different denominations by overthrowing Marxism, without, however, committing a confessional commitment ourselves, then we say: Better Heathenism out of genuine faith than currency offences out of supranational ties! Our opponents may be assured: Our worldview has been proclaimed! We stand by it, and in it, we will bring about the unification of the German spirit. Not only in the nation's outward appearance, but also in the attitude of the German soul, the unification that enables us to correctly evaluate the great deeds and tragedies of German history and draw appropriate conclusions from them, but also gives us the strength for new creation and to preserve the values, not only of the German but of all European peoples. A turning turning point of time has arrived! The Nordic symbol of eternity rises. In terms of ages, the pyres of the Inquisition are dying out. From the fuel of the solstice blazes the flame of new life, and in its glow, honor, loyalty, and courage harden. One day, the German people will be immune to the concepts of humility, sin, and damnation. Then the old saying of the Edda will apply again: "Let us part happily, fate triumphs." So, you young German people, when you see the sparks flying in the solstice fire, remember the time in which fate has placed you. In your blood pulses the past of your ancestors, in it the power of your century. Keep yourself strong so that your deeds live on in the bloodstream of free grandchildren!"Kurt Jeserich
Source: der Schulungsbrief. Jahrgang 2, Folge 6, June. Franz Eher Nachf Verlag Berlin. Official NSDAP publication 1935. Pg 189.
3. The German Armed Forces Command Thought the Torah and Christianity Were Jewish Weapons.
The Ideological instruction booklet for the German Armed Forces "Why We Fight?" names the Torah and Christianity in general as being uniting factors strengthening world Jewry.
Side Note: This booklet came directly out of the Herausgegeben von Personal Amt des Heeres (Personnel Office of the Army) and includes a forward by Adolf Hitler himself. The booklet was to be distributed to Wehrmacht officers to inculcate their men in the National Socialist worldview. This means that the passages below had the tacit approval of the Führer.
Excerpts:
- The Torah and Old Testament are the backbone of Judaism from which the Rabbinate operates:
- The Jews use Christianity to infiltrate and subvert gentile nations:
- The Laws of Moses preserved Judaism for Millennia.
- Yahweh's prophecy of the Messiah is an anti-gentile conspiracy:
- The Jews created Christianity, and theological opposition to Judaism is a scam.
Source:Source: Personalamt Des Heeres Wofuer Kaempfen Wir? 1944
4. Clergy, theologians and those with strong religious ties were explicitly BANNED from joining the National Socialist Party.
"Clergy and other comrades WHO have strong religious ties CANNOT BE ACCEPTED into the party. It has also proven necessary to prevent the churches from repeatedly recruiting party comrades as clergy from their offspring. I have therefore ordered that in the future party comrades who enter the clergy or who turn to studying theology must leave the party (NSDAP)."
Source:NS 15/698 Aug. 1941 Aufnahme von Geistlichen und Theologiestudenten in die NSDAP und deren Gliederungen, p.49-50
5. Christians who laugh at the demise of ancient deities are described as being even lower than Marxists.
"These Germanic gods were also part of the German character, they were as much a part of the German character as Faust is a part of the German character or as other figures of German legend and poetry. Therefore, if you attack the character (of the Gods) in this direction, you are deliberately insulting the character value of the German in general."Source:NSDAP Schulungsbrief, Februar 1935 (Kreisleitung Stuttgart) Pg 11
6. Hitler expressed agreement with Nietzsche’s rejection of Christianity.
In January 1941, Goebbels recorded in his diary that Hitler was riled up against scholars, including philosophers, but he made an exception for Nietzsche, who, he asserted:
"Only Nietzsche is an exception here. He proved in detail the ABSURDITY of Christianity. In two hundred years it will only remain a grotesque memory. We must gradually undermine it in all areas. Above all, among the younger generation."
Thus, Hitler approved of Nietzsche’s anti-Christian stance and predicted the ultimate demise of Christianity.
Source: BArch N 1118/13 Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Eintrag vom 30. Januar 1941, p.64
7. Hitler against Christ.
In the German newspaper "The German way" in their article titled "Hitler against Christ" published in 1936: "The National Socialist worldview is anti-Christian. First and foremost, Adolf Hitler himself may again act as a witness to substantiate this fact. On August 27, 1933, he declared at a meeting of the Führer in Bad Godesberg: "the unity of the Germans must be guaranteed by a new worldview, since Christianity in its present form is no longer equal to the demands being placed on the bearers of national unity" He may be right, because these demands, which Christianity is really not in a position to fulfill, are precisely the National Socialist postulates regarding race and blood, state and party, which slap Christian doctrine in the face. But the National Socialist worldview is not only essentially anti-Christian [...] it wants to fight against the Christian worldview, which is incompatible with it. While in Germany itself this should not be spoken out loud because Hitler does not yet consider it advisable to openly declare war on Christianity"
Source: Der deutsche Weg : für Wahrheit, Freiheit, Recht ; kath. Wochenblatt gegen die Irrtümer der Zeit und für christliche Lebenserneuerung, Pg 1.
8. 'Paganism Becomes Serious for Reich'
BERLIN, June 28.-Paganism is no longer regarded in Germany as something humorous. The Summer solstice festivals throughout the Reich, which were attended by General Herman Goering, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, Julius Streicher and other high officials, have revealed beyond hope of further concealment the tendency of Nazism to take on a religious or pseudo-religious character.The open-air rites were officially declared to have only "cultural significance," but they turned out in effect to be ceremonies honoring a viewpoint and ethical code that preceded the Christianization of the ancient Germanic tribes.General Goering, in particular, in his address on Hesselberg Mountain, startled Catholics and Protestants into the realization that he apparently was no longer able to distinguish between the Christian faith and the loose deism that tends to dignify nationality with a transcendental character supposedly adequate for day-by-day religious purposes.Scorned "Chatter of Clerics.""Let no one object if we prefer to stream together here in the unity of our people to lift up our hearts to the idea of our Fuehrer rather than listen to the chatter of quarreling clerics," he declared.He followed this, from the Christian standpoint, astounding statement with a series of arguments intended to demonstrate that all doctrines, including the Christian, are of minor consequence and that the one fundamental religious experience is "faith in the future of the nation.""This faith," the Air Minister and Prussian Premier said, "does not stand in contradiction to the Deity."Dr. Goebbels, Bernhard Rust, Minister of Education, and other speakers assembled about the great fires lighted on hilltops throughout Germany to celebrate the revival of the ancient pagan festival that issued in Summer, were less frank than General Goering, but all said enough to convince Protestants and Catholics that the pontiffs of Nazism regard Adolf Hitler's particular dogma as divine revelation and tend to hold that this revelation has more significance for Germans than the Christian one.Despite all denials and protests, the fact of the matter appears to be that the Nazi party desires a new faith and a new church and has accordingly welcomed and supported the German faith movement and its leaders, Professor Wilhelm Hauer and Count Ernst Zu Reventlow, who go about preaching that Christianity is un-German and that the Third Reich must have an essentially German approach to God.500,000 Active Backers.It is estimated that the new creed is now supported by less than 500,000 people, mostly fanatical Nazis and many of them party functionaries.At the present moment neo-paganism appears to have captured the black-coated special guards, the janizaries of the régime, or at least their commanders. The Black Corps, the organ of the black coats, makes no attempt to hide its sympathy for the neo-pagan doctrines and its violent dislike for the Protestant and Catholic clergy.For good measure, neo-paganism has largely absorbed pre-war and post-war atheistic and free thinking circles in Germany.Christian leaders, on the other hand, are convinced that if free discussion in pulpit and press of the drift toward paganism were allowed, it would arouse almost universal opposition.The most bitterness has been aroused by a growing conviction among Christian parents that the Nazi youth organizations, with 6,000,000 members under Baldur von Schirach's leadership, are becoming centres of anti-Christian teaching and neo-pagan influence.Attitude of Teachers.A critical attitude toward the orthodox churches has been prevalent among many public school teachers and they are reported to favor the new faith. The situation resulting is inevitably aggravated by the close alliance between the schools and the party's youth organizations.The Frankfurter Zeitung, treading softly but courageously on dangerous ground, expressed clearly the situation in which the Nazi enthusiasts find themselves. It reported in discussing the Summer scholastic rites:"A profound love for one's own race and history and one's people, as well as a general desire to experience all this ritually does not need to become a negation of our traditional religious faith. It does not need to become that, but it may."Is there place for our traditional Christian faith beside this national mythos or shall faith in the nation, this faith that dare not disappear again from our consciousness, make every other faith unnecessary?"Such statements of the issue are as rare as they are courageous in Germany today.
Source: New York Times, June 30, 1935
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