Download A Christian Response to the Holocaust

A Christian Response to the Holocaust
Between 1933, and 1939, Hitler repeatedly tested the reactions of the German people, and
the churches of Germany, and world public opinion with his brutal policies. Seeing that the
world was passive, Hitler was spurred on to the extreme policy of the final solution, i.e. total
extermination of the Jewish race. (Eisenberg, 100)
So on July 31, 1941, Herman Goering ordered the first group of Jews to their death. Jews
were killed by the millions until 1945, when Germany was defeated by the Allied Powers.
During this time period six million of the ten million European Jews were killed. (Benford, 10)
Were there any Christians in Germany? What did they have to say about the Holocaust?
Why did they let it occur? Ninety percent of the Germans were churchgoers. Forty three percent
of the Germans were Catholic. Hitler himself was a Catholic, as was Henrich Himmler and
twenty five percent of the SS. The opinion the Catholic Church took was a sad one. The
position of the high Catholic Clergy was that Jesus was a Jew, but he had been fundamentally
different from the Jews of his lifetime. The Jewish people were guilty of Jesus’ murder and have
been cursed ever since. In their writings, many of the clergy pointed out that Karl Marx was a
Jew, and that Bolshevism was led by Jews. The Church also supported Hitler’s policies and
invasions. Their line of thinking was that Jews were cursed and were causing the problems that
confronted Germany. Adolf Hitler was preaching this propaganda to them, and they believed it.
(O’Brien, 46)
As late as December 17, 1941, Protestant leaders published a statement reading: “The
National Socialist leadership of Germany has given irrefutable documentary proof that this world
war was instigated by the Jews.” (Eisenberg, 101)
On March, 1939, Pius XII became Pope. Before this he had served as the representative
of the Vatican in Munich and Berlin, and was known to be friendly to Germany. Soon after
ascending to the office of Pope, he wrote letter to Hitler saying: “We shall pray for the protection
of heaven and the blessings of the almighty God for you and all members of your nation.” This
letter was sent after Hitler had occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia. (Eisenberg, 102)
Henrich Himmler ordered the creation of an extermination camp at Auschwitz, Poland,
on April 27, 1940. There were three and a third million Jews in Poland at that time. When the
exterminations ended at Auschwitz on October 30, 1944 only ten percent of the three and a third
million Jews would still be alive. In addition the camp was responsible for the deaths of Jews
transported there from other occupied areas. (Benford, 100)
During the war the Pope never publicly protested against the slaughter of the Jews. He
did not comment on the deportation of Jews from the Vatican. (Eisenberg, 102) Colonel Jozef
Beck, the former Polish Foreign Minister, declared after the war, “One of the main sources of
responsibility for the tragedy of my country was the Vatican.” The highest office of the Catholic
Church never protested the slaughter of millions of people. The Pope never even spoke up for
the members of his own church that were occupied. If the Pope had spoken up he might have
helped the situation immensely. He could not have made it worse. Why did Pius XII sacrifice
Catholic Poland to Hitler’s SS? Why did he not protest the massacres in Holland, Belgium and
France, where large Catholic populations lived? Could he have saved the lives of Jews and nonJews had he publicly protested the Nazi atrocities? Could he have been effectual had he
excommunicated Hitler and other Nazi leaders of the Catholic faith, such as Himmler and
Gobbels? Would threat of excommunication to all participants in the Holocaust have helped the
victims by creating disunion in the Reich? Why at least did Pius XII not reveal the Nazi
atrocities to the world? Was he afraid that a public stand might endanger Catholics and cause
harm to the Vatican? Denmark’s stand against Hitler, which saved the Danish Jewry, is evidence
that resistance could be successful. The Pope criticizing the Germans would not have hurt the
Jews any it could only help. The Germans were devout Catholics and the head of the Catholic
Church telling them that they had to stop these crimes or be excommunicated would have had an
effect. (Eisenberg, 103)
In 1933, the Protestant Church adopted an Aryan Clause against accepting baptized
clergy of Jewish origin, and in 1939 it demanded proof of non-Jewish origin. Some protestant
leaders published a statement saying: “As member of the German National Community the
undersigned… have severed all links with Jewish Christians. We are determined not to tolerate
any Jewish influence on German religious life. (Eisenberg, 104)
All things considered there is little wonder the Jews did not resist very hard. The German
government, Army, Citizens, Christians and Catholics were all persecuting them. They had no
one to turn to for help. The Vatican was silent. As though it agreed with what was going on.
When deportations began Jews that had converted to Christianity were affected. Christians who
had Jewish relatives were also affected. The churches provided records to the Nazis as to who
were Jews. Knowing full well what would happen to those Jewish people. So not only did the
Christians of Germany approve of Hitler’s policies, but they took an active part in pointing out
Jews, who would be sent to the death camps.
In 1950, five years after the tragedy, a group of German Protestant and Catholic
theologians summarized this chapter with the confession that, “A few courageously helped the
persecuted, but the large majority failed disgracefully in the face of this unheard of provocation
of the merciful God.” (Eisenberg, 105)
Don’t Just Sit There – Get Involved!!!
What he did
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists and I did not speak up because I was not a
Communist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists and again I did not speak up because I was not a Trade
Unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I did not speak up because I was a Protestant.
The they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
- Martin Niemoeller