J. Noakes & G. Pridham New Social Order Source: J. Noakes & G. Pridham, Documents on Nazism 1919-1945 (London, 1974), pp.349-374. Education In view of the Nazis' wish to impose their ideology on German culture, it was not surprising that they should have allotted ~ major role in their State to education. Nazi education policy combined an anti-intellectual approach with an emphasis on those subjects and activities, which would train the new generation in loyalty to the Nazi State. In the universities, the NSDAP had found little support among the teaching body before 1933, although the Nazi student organization did win a majority in the AStA elections at most universities in 1931-32. The 'seizure of power' had aroused much enthusiasm among students, who already had little sympathy for the traditional liberal values of the university. In many cases, the NSDStB provoked demonstrations against those professors suspected of lukewarmness towards the aims of the Nazi regime. At Marburg University a professor of law was humiliated by students when during a lecture on Roman law he expressed the view that Nazi policy had non-German roots. Many professors found the conflict between their academic consciences and the required compliance with Nazi policy unbearable and resigned. By 1935 over 300 university teachers had left their posts and during 1933-38 the dumber of professors declined to 71 per cent of its 1931-32 level. The new role of the universities In a speech at Berlin University in May 1933, Bernhard Rust, the Prussian Minister of Education (and later head of the new Reich Ministry of Education created in May 1933), told the assembled professors that the universities had a purpose other than scholarship: The German university has two tasks, which must be seen quite clearly. The university is not only the place of research, but also the place of education. We cannot measure the value of a German university only by the number of academic publications; we must also consider it from another standpoint. Gentlemen, during those years when this un-German State and its un-German leadership barred the way to German youth, you, in your professional solitude and devotion to your great work of research, overlooked the fact that youth looked to you to lead the future of the German nation. Youth was marching while you, gentlemen, were not out in front. . . . Rust's aim was to 'reorganize the teaching body so that it can fulfil its task running parallel with the will of the nation'. The Government assumed formal control over the universities through its appointment of the rectors, who were given full responsibility for administration. Academic senates and other autonomous bodies lost their power. An emphasis was put on subjects which the authorities preferred. New chairs were established for military and racial science, and the qualification for university teaching (the Habilitation, an advanced dissertation) now included training in field sports and labor camps. Official attitudes were influenced by the views of Party militants, who had little respect for academic distinction-in a speech in Berlin in 1938 Streicher asked rhetorically: 'If one put the brains of all university professors into one side of a pair of scales, and the brain of the Fuehrer into the other, which side do you think would sink?' Nazi lecturers were of course preferred, to fill the vacancies left by the many professors who had resigned, but their quality as academics was not always high. As Professor Paul Kahle of Bonn University wrote, The provmotion of Nazi professors Among the Privatdozenten there were several who became Nazis in the hope of getting a professorship which they were otherwise doubtful of obtaining. Many of them had been pronounced, not convinced, Catholics so long as it was profitable, but as soon as advantages were no longer to be seen there, they turned to Nazism. Amongst them was Karl Schmidt. . . . Karl Schmidt had been Privatdozent and assistant in the clinic of Ophthalmology, which he had to manage for some time during the illness of the able Professor Roemer. He was a fairly good physician but no scholar, and he doubted whether he would be promoted to a professorship on merit alone. I remember a long conversation with him shortly before the Nazis came to power. He complained then about the policy of the Center Party which he held responsible for his non-promotion. He had secretly turned to Nazism in good time and had some connexion with Reich Doctors' Leader Wagner in Munich, an influential man in Germany during the first period of Nazi rule. So in 1935 he became Professor Roemer's successor, and as he turned more and more to active Nazism, he became Rector of the University in 1937 and still held his post in 1939 when I left Bonn. Schmidt had been given the nickname 'Beer Schmidt', of which he knew and was proud. At a social gathering of the staff of the University with their families in 1938, he let us see a film representing him and his companions performing gymnastic exercises-gymnastics were somewhat over-estimated under the Nazis. He was a fat man, and for recreation he drank down in long draughts, one after another, seven big jugs of beer which stood before him. Dismissal of Professor Kahle Kahle was one of those who managed to retain their posts despite their reluctance or refusal to conform to political requirements. A full Nazification of the universities proved impossible because wholesale dismissals would have created an enormous gap in the staff, which could only have been filled by those who had little experience or few qualifications for the work. Kahle was himself dismissed because of an indiscretion by members of his family: But my whole activity came to a sudden end in November 1938. The fact that I had an influential position without being a Nazi, that I was in contact with many more Nazi authorities than most of my colleagues in Bonn, especially those who regarded themselves as good Nazis, the fact that, thanks to my position, it was not necessary for me to make any compromise with Nazi ideology, to go to any meeting arranged by the Nazis, to send any of my sons to the Hitler Youth, may have alarmed some of the Nazis in Bonn, inside and outside the university. Already during my negotiations with the Ministry in 1935 I had been told by the official of the Ministry with whom I dealt of denunciations of me sent to the Ministry at regular intervals by Anton Baumstark, who had been Professor in Muenster University and had been dismissed there on moral grounds in spite of his being an outspoken Nazi and Dean of the Philosophical Faculty in Muenster. Since 1934 he had been living in Bonn again, where he had been before he was called to Muenster in 1930. He was a Nazi spy and a most suspicious hypocrite. . . . My wife had paid a five minutes' visit to a Jewish shop which had been destroyed by the Nazis on l0 November 1938. My eldest son, a student at Bonn University, had accompanied her. A policeman had seen them in the shop and had noted their names. The Nazis prepared a long and very abusive article against my wife and son for the Westdeutscher Beobachter. I was informed about the 'crime' committed by members of my family for whose actions I was held responsible by the Rector, who told me the news by telephone. He knew about the article, but did nothing 'to prevent it. When the article - four columns! - appeared in the paper two days later, I was suspended from my post in the university, my son was expelled from the university, my wife was condemned by the secret Nazi court, and in consequence of this we were outlawed. The Ministry in Berlin was completely powerless against the local Nazi authorities. We succeeded in leaving Germany quite secretly in March 1939. It was only at the end of May that the Nazi officials, the Gestapo, came to my house in Bonn. They were greatly surprised to hear that the whole family had disappeared and had been safely in England for nearly two months. . . . Academic work suffered because of the wide range of duties demanded of students. They were required to pursue many extra-curricular activities as working farms as well asfrequent sport, on the principle that they should not regard themselves as an intellectual elite but should serve the community (the heroism of Spartan youth was held up as a model). The Ten Commandments of Student Education (September 1937) urged students to do their duty towards the German people, to live in order and discipline, to be comradely, chivalrous and modest and to 'live up to the Fuehrer'. Guidelines for school regulations Similar considerations, the emphasis being on character rather than intellectual ability and on dedication to the community ( Volksgemeinschaft), determined the policy on schools. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, announced in his decree of 18 December 1934 that 'the principal task of the school is the education of youth in the service of nationhood and State in the National Socialist spirit'. In the same decree he ordered the use of the Hitler salute in schools : Teachers and pupils are to give one another the German salute [the Hitler salute] within and outside the school. At the beginning of each lesson the teacher goes in front of the class, which is standing, and greets it by raising his right arm and with the words 'Heil Hitler'; the class returns the salute by raising their right arms and with the words (Heil Hitler'. The teacher closes the lesson after the pupils have risen by raising his right arm and with the words (Heil Hitler'; the pupils reply in the same way. Apart from this, the pupils greet the members of staff by raising their right arms in the appropriate posture within the boundaries of the school. Where hitherto Catholic religious instruction began and ended with the verse and response: (Praised be Jesus Christ.' (For ever and ever, Amen.', the German salute is to be given before this at the beginning of the lesson and after it at the end of the lesson. The non-Aryan pupils are given the choice of whether or not they want to give the German salute. . . . The importance of the 'New Education' The hoisting of flags and such ceremonies were calculated to induce a spirit of conformity. The Nazis hoped through the introduction of ideological training at the impressionable stage to mould the younger generation into a more acquiescent body than their elders, whose ideas had been mainly formed during the days of Imperial Germany. Understandably, the authorities paid special attention to school curricula. A preference was given for those subjects which contained a strong ideological element, such as German history and literature. In a speech on (the new education' to a conference of ministers of state governments (May 1933), Frick proclaimed: Our mother tongue, of the harmony, power and flexibility of which we can be proud, belongs to the noblest values, whose preservation lies close to our hearts. Unfortunately, its purity is not always cared for as much as is desirable. Even government offices frequently employ superfluous foreign words, which plainly endanger the comprehension of language among wide sections of the people. The school has in this respect important tasks to fulfil so that we can hand down the precious treasure of the German language pure and unadulterated. We also include here the German script, which should never lose its unquestionable superiority over the Latin script. With reference to the general aim of education, which I have indicated, it follows that history stands in the foremost place among school subjects. Therefore, special attention should be given to the development of the teaching of history and the selection or production of new history books. . . . The Nazi version of German history emphasized such themes as the existence of Germans outside the borders of the Reich, the superiority and heroic nature of the German race and the line of continuity from Charlemagne through Frederick the Great to Hitler. But the remodelling of history textbooks was not handled in any coordinated fashion until the introduction of a general censorship in 1938. The uniformity of education policy suffered from the conflicts of the different authorities which had an interest in education. Rust was formally Education Minister, but Frick (as Minister of the Interior) and Goebbels (with his claim to supervise the cultural health of the nation) also had a hand in educational matters, not to mention such Party leaders as Rosenberg (concerned with the ideological relevance of education), Bouhler (who controlled the production of school-books) and, of course, Baldur von Schirach (who as Hitler Youth Leader wished to restrict the influence of traditional schools). The ultimate aim of the proponents of a radical educational policy-like Baldur von Schirach and Robert Ley, leader of the German Labor Front-was the creation of a special school system under Party control, which would train the Nazi elite for future generations. The establishment of a completely new system separate from the State was based on the wish to implement the 'revolutionary' ideological aims of the NSDAP. Hitler gave his approval to this idea and thereby enabled the Party to by-pass Rust, the Minister of Education, whose policy was considered too slow by the radicals. The new system consisted of three stages : the Adolf Hitler Schools (initiated in 193 6), which the selected pupil would enter at the age of 12; the so-called Ordens-burgen (the name was borrowed from Teutonic Knights); and finally, the Party High Schools in place of universities: Of these the first two stages were completed. The Adolf Hitler Schools, founded in 1935-37, were under the control of the local Gauleiter and boys were selected who had excelled in the Jungvolk. Four Ordensburgen were established in castles throughout the Reich under the authority of Robert Ley, as head of the Party organization. These institutions illustrated the aim of the Third Reich to create on the one hand a classless society, and on the other a new elite to lead that society. The Nazis intended to form a new elite based not on social class but on equality of opportunity, where the criterion for selection was the degree of devotion to National Socialism. But these new institutions failed to establish themselves satisfactorily because of the lack of sufficient and suitable applicants and because of competition from the traditional institutions of education, which remained relatively strong despite the Government measures. Youth An increasingly serious competitor for control over education was the Hitler Youth, the youth branch of the Party. Its leader, Baldur von Schirach, who sought to exclude the influence of school and home on the minds of the young, was ambitious that his organization should with its educational and semi-military activities provide the basis for training future generations. According to Schirach, 'the Hitler Youth is an ideological community of education-he who marches in the Hitler Youth is not one among millions but a soldier of an idea'. It was a frequent theme of Nazi ideology that youth had a major role to play in 'the new Germany'. Hitler's views on Youth Hitler took up this theme when he spoke to the Hitler Youth at the Nuremberg Party Rally in September 1935 : German Youth ! You are assembled here on parade for the third time. Over 54,000 representatives of a community which is getting larger year by year. The weight of those whom you represent here every year is becoming heavier and heavier. Not only numerically speaking; no, we see it in terms of quality. When I think back to that first parade and to the second and compare them with this one today, I see the same development which we can see in the whole of the rest of German life. Our people are becoming noticeably more sturdy and disciplined and youth is beginning to do the same. The ideal of manhood has not always been the same even for our own people. There were times which now seem to us very far off and almost incomprehensible when the ideal of the young man was the chap who could hold his beer and was good for a drink. But now his day is past and we like to see not the man who can hold his drink, but the young mwho can stand all weathers, hardened young man. Because matters is not how many glasses of beer he can drink, but how many blows he can stand; not how many. nights he can spend on the spree, but how many kilometers he can march. We no longer see in the boorish beer-drinker the ideal of the German people: we find it in men and girls who are sound to the core, and sturdy. What we look for from our German youth is different from what people wanted in the past. In our eyes the German youth of the future must be slim and slender, swift as the greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel. We must educate a new type of man so that our people is not ruined by the symptoms of degeneracy of our day. . . . Membership of the Hitler Youth Hitler envisaged a process whereby a German youth would enter the Party youth organization at the age of 10 and in his late teens pass on to the SA and SS and later the armed forces. At the beginning of 1933, the Hitler Youth had been a relatively small organization, containing no more than I per cent of the total membership of youth organizations in the country. Its leader, von Schirach, used the new authority enjoyed by the Nazis through Hitler's appointment as Chancellor to put pressure on the other youth organizations, some of which rapidly dissolved themselves and joined the Hitler Youth. But the establishment of a monopoly over German youth took longer than expected because of strong resistance from conservative groups and especially from the Catholic associations. The following statistics illustrate the rate of increase in membership: HJ (boys DJ (boys BDM (girls JM (girls Total aged 14-18) aged 10-14) aged 14-18) aged 10-14) End 1932 55,365 28,691 19,244 4,656 107,956 End 1933 568,288 1,130,521 243,750 349,482 2,292,041 End 1934 786,000 1,457,304 471,944 862,317 3,577,565 End 1935 829,361 1,498,209 569,599 1,046,134 3,943,303 End 1936 1,168,734 1,785,424 873,127 1,610,316 5,437,601 End 1937 1,237,078 1,884,883 1,035,804 1,722,190 5,879,955 End 1938 1,663,305 2,064,538 1,448,264 1,855,119 7,031,226 Beg. 1939 1,723,886 2,137,594 1,502,571 1,923,419 7,287,470 and the BDM Werk (girls aged 18-21): 440,189 ABBREVIATIONS. HJ, Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth); DJ, Deutsches Jungvolk (German Young People); BDM, Bund Deutscher Maedel (League of German Girls); JM, Jungmaedelbund (League of Young Girls). Members of a Catholic Youth Club forced to join the Hitler Youth The degree of the enrolment in the Hitler Youth was lowest in Catholic areas, where the Hitler Youth faced strong competition from the well-established confessional youth groups. A case of pressure being applied by a teacher was recorded in Trier early in 1934. A local Catholic priest wrote to the Party district leader on 14 February 1934 complaining; In the 5th Class which is taught by teacher A there are 10 members of the Youth Club W. These boys have been youth club members for years and remained when the Hitler Youth was founded. Because of this latter fact they have had to endure a good deal of chicanery from their teacher. Despite the fact that there is a Reich Concordat, despite the fact that the Supreme Youth Leadership of the Reich stresses again and again that no boy is to be forced into the Hitler Youth, teacher A exerts such pressure on the members of the Youth Club that it is almost unbearable for the boys. For example : last Saturday he set those boys concerned the essay: 'Why am I not in the Hitler Youth?', while all the other children in the class had no homework. On setting the essay he added : 'If you don't write the essay I shall beat you until you can't sit down.' Another case: a member of the H] had come back to the Catholic Youth Club. When Mr A heard of this he threatened he would set him forty sums every time he stayed away from the HJ parade. This was made even worse by his threat of a beating as well. After this, the boy who had voluntarily wanted to come back to us stayed in the Hider Youth. The teacher's pressure on the Youth Club members even goes so far as to threaten the boys that he would (muck up' their reports at Easter and would not move them up, and so on. When Mr A was asked why he often punished only the members of the Youth Club, he said: 'It goes against the grain to beat a boy wearing the brown shirt of honor.' From this one can figure out how unbearable the pressure of the teacher is on members of the Catholic Youth Club. It would be in the interest of the boys and of the whole class if this situation was changed and the Youth Club members were given the same freedom and just treatment as the other members of the class. Letter of the Party district leader to the district leader of the NS Teachers' League, 2 March 1934 The reply from the Party district leader makes it clear that, at this stage at least, the Party wished to avoid too much controversy by precipitate action. I send the enclosed report of the Chaplain of W re treatment of the Catholic Youth Club of W in the primary school by Mr A for your information. It is advisable to suggest to the teacher concerned that he proceed more wisely, cautiously, and inconspicuously so that the other side has no occasion for complaint. Law on the Hitler Youth, 1 December 1936 During the first two years of the regime, while Hitler was consolidating his position, he was anxious not to give unnecessary offence to the Catholic Church. The Church had resented the aggressive and precipitate manner in which von Schirach had attempted to 'coordinate' Catholic youth clubs during the first months of the regime. In June 1933, therefore, Hitler endeavored to establish greater control over the youth movement by placing Schirach, as Reich Youth Leader, under the authority of the Reich Minister of the Interior. As the regime consolidated itself, however, the Hitler Youth began to acquire greater scope to assert itself. Teachers came under growing pressure from the authorities to persuade their pupils to join, and in November 1935 the Ministry of the Interior decreed that future applicants for posts in the Civil Service should show evidence of 'successful activity' in the Hitler Youth. Finally, a law of I December 1936 declared the Hitler Youth to be the State youth organization of which membership was compulsory: The future of the German nation depends upon its youth and German youth must therefore be prepared for its future duties. The Reich Government has accordingly decided on the following law which is published here with: I. The whole of German youth within the borders of the Reich is organized in the Hitler Youth. 2. All German young people, apart from being educated at home and at school, will be educated in the Hitler Youth physically, intellectually, and morally in the spirit of National Socialism to serve the nation and the community. 3. The task of educating German youth in the Hitler Youth is being entrusted to the Reich Leader of German Youth in the NSDAP. He therefore becomes the 'Youth Leader of the German Reich'. His office shall rank as a Supreme Governmental Agency with its headquarters in Berlin and he will be directly responsible to the Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich. 4. All regulations necessary to execute and supplement this decree will be issued by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor. Most activities outside school were taken over by the Hitler Youth, such as scouting, hiking, camping and, of course, all sporting activities, some of which, like shooting, had a military emphasis. In 1934, the State Youth Day had been instituted, when such outdoor activities replaced all school instruction (it took place on a Saturday). Ceremony of admission into the Cubs of the Deutsches Jungvolk Members of the Hitler Youth were required to swear an oath to the Fuehrer. The following ceremony for admission to the junior male branch of the HJ was laid down on instructions of the Trier section of the Hitler Youth (dated April 1940): It is of the greatest importance that the admissions are arranged in a solemn way. For everybody the hour of his induction must be a great experience. The cub [Pimpf] and young lass [Jungmaedel] must regathis hour of their first vow to the as the holiest of their whole life. Text of the speech of the DJ leader, to be read in all branches: Dear boy! / Dear girl! This hour in which you are to be received into the great community of the Hitler Youth is a very happy one and at the same time will introduce you into a new period of your lives. Today for the first time you swear allegiance to the Fuehrer which will bind you to him for all time. And every one of you, my young comrades, enters at this moment into the community of all German boys and girls. With your vow and your commitment you now become a bearer of German spirit and German honor. Every one, every single one, now becomes the foundation for an eternal Reich of all Germans. When you too now march in step with the youngest soldiers, then bear in mind that this march is to train you to be a National Socialist conscious of the future and faithful to his duty. And the Fuehrer demands of you and of us all that we train ourselves to a life of service and duty, of loyalty and comradeship. You, ten-year-old cub, and you, lass, are not too young nor too small to practice obedience and discipline, to integrate yourself into the community and show yourself to be a comrade. Like you, millions of young Germans are today swearing allegiance to the Fuehrer and it is a proud picture of unity which German youth today presents to the whole world. So today you make a vow to your Fuehrer and here, before your parents, the Party and your comrades, we now receive you into our great community of loyalty. Your motto will always be : 'Fuehrer, command-we follow!' ( The cubs are asked to rise.) Now say after me: 'I promise always to do my duty in the Hiter Youth in love and loyalty to the Fuehrer and to our flag.' Poets for a Hitler Youth ceremony in 1941 Such ceremonies took on an almost religious character. New members had to recite set poems, which expressed dedication to the Fuehrer. The following may serve as an example of the sort of kitsch which typified them: background. But although she could hardly pronounce a single foreign word correctly, it would not have occurred to anyone to make fun of her. She brought us to the point at which we each recognized one another's particular value, after having come to know one another's weak and strong points, and everyone strove to be willing and reliable. Poets for a Hitler Youth ceremony in 1941 Such ceremonies took on an almost religious character. New members had to recite set poems, which expressed dedication to the Fuehrer. The following may serve as an example of the sort of kitsch which typified them: background. But although she could hardly pronounce a single foreign word correctly, it would not have occurred to anyone to make fun of her. She brought us to the point at which we each recognized one another's particular value, after having come to know one another's weak and strong points, and everyone strove to be willing and reliable. The knowledge that this model of a National Community had afforded me such intense happiness gave birth to an optimism to which I clung obstinately until 1945. Upheld by this experience, I believed, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that the pattern of our camp would one day be magnified on an infinite scale- if not in the next, then in future generations. The feeling of comradeship based on common membership of tile German nation was largely a state of mind and did not reflect the real nature of German society, only an attitude towards it. It was based on a belief about Nazi society-that people were first of all Germans rather than Catholics or Protestants, workers or members of the bourgeoisie. It was superficial to the extent that it usually produced an outward conformity. Students were warned not to get out of touch with the ordinary man in the street because of any feeling of intellectual superiority. Hitler himself, as 'the People's Chancellor', made concessions to this attitude by sitting on the front seat (of his Mercedes) beside his chauffeur and by officially refusing an honorary doctorate (symbol of bourgeois class status). Melita Maschmann's criticisms of the Hitler Youth Melita Maschmann later contrasted the Hitler Youth with other youth organizations and referred in particular to its regimentation and its being transformed into an institution, the culmination of which she saw in the organized mass extermination of people by the Nazis : Apart from its beginnings during the 'years of struggle', the Hitler Youth was not a youth movement at all: it became more and more the (State youth organization', that is to say, it became more and more institutionalized, and finally became the instrument used by the National Socialist regime to run its ideological training of young people and the war work for certain age groups. The reasons for this development can be found in the external pressure of events, since the increased membership which the Hitler Youth had to absorb after 1935 was such that any healthy growth was impossible. . . . And yet the Hitler Youth was a youth organization. Its members may have allowed themselves to be dressed in uniforms and regimented, but they were still young people and they behaved like young people. Their characteristic surplus of energy and thirst for action found great scope in their program of activities, which constantly required great feats to be performed. It was part of the method of the National Socialist Youth leadership to arrange almost everything in the form of competitions. It was not only in sport and one's profession that one competed. Every unit wanted to have the best group 'home', the most interesting expedition log, the biggest collection for the Winter Relief Fund, and so forth-or at least they were supposed to want it. In the musical competitions Hitler Youth choirs, fife and drum bands, chamber orchestras and amateur theatrical groups competed as did young singers, instrumentalists, sculptors, painters and poets for the glory of the most brilliant performance. There were even story-telling competitions to see which boys and girls out of all their contemporaries were best at telling folk stories. This constant competition introduced an element of unrest and forced activity into the life of the groups even in peacetime. It did not merely channel young people's drive for action; it also inflamed it, where it would have been wiser and better to give the individual within the group and the group as a whole periods when they could mature and develop in tranquillity. There was certainly a great deal of good and ambitious education in the Hitler Youth. There were groups who learned to act in a masterly way. People told stories, danced and practiced handicrafts, and in these fields the regimentation was fortunately often less strict. But the idea of a competition (behind which lay the glorification of the fighter and the heroic) often enough banished the element of meditation even from musical activities, and the playful development of the creative imagination, free of any purpose, was sadly stunted. The leaders of a youth movement so drilled to activity and performance gradually created a style of their own as 'managers'. They were themselves driven from one activity to the next, and so they drove their charges on in the same manner. Even the young men and women in the Reich Youth Leadership who initiated all this activity were subject to the same restless compulsive drive. The constantly turning wheel of incessant activity continually created a fresh momentum and carried along everyone who came within its sphere of influence. . . . Women Hitler's views on the role of women Nazi ideology was solidly conservative on the question of the role of women and attacked female emancipation as part of its more general attack on liberal democracy-the Weimar Constitution had both given women the vote and proclaimed their equality of rights with men. The Nazis held up a certain ideal of womanhood, according to which women should confine themselves to their allotted functions in society-as the familiar saying had it, to bear children, go to church and work in the kitchen-and above all to be submissive to men, who were by nature superior. In the words of Goebbels, 'The mission of woman is to be beautiful and to bring children into the world . . . the female prettifies herself for her mate and hatches the eggs for him.' Politics was, in the Nazis' view, a male preserve, confirmed by the fact that before 1933 women formed a minimal proportion of the membership of the NSDAP (about 6 per cent of the total membership in January 1933) and women were excluded from high positions in the Party (all NSDAP Reichstag deputies were male, despitthe fact that during the 1920s Germany had for a western country a record number of femparliamentary deputies). Hitler, speaking to the National Socialist Women's Organization in September 1934, elaborated the official attitude towards women: . . . The slogan, 'Emancipation of women' was invented by Jewish intellectuals and its content was formed by the same spirit. In the really good times of German life the German woman had no need to emancipate herself. She possessed exactly what nature had necessarily given her to administer and preserve; just as the man in his good times had no need to fear that he would be ousted from his position in relation to the woman. In fact the woman was least likely to challenge his position. Only when he was not absolutely certain in his knowledge of his task did the eternal instinct of self-and race-preservation begin to rebel in woman. There then grew from this rebellion a state of affairs which was unnatural and which lasted until both sexes returned to the respective spheres which an eternally wise providence has preordained for them. If the man's world is said to be the State, his struggle, his readiness to devote his powers to the service of the community, then it may perhaps be said that the woman's is a smaller world. For her world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home. But what would become of the greater world if there were no one to tend and care for the smaller one ? How could the greater world survive if there were no one to make the cares of the smaller world the content of their lives ? No, the greater world is built on the foundation of this smaller world. This great world cannot survive if smaller world is not stable. Providence has entrusted to the woman the cares of that world which is her very own, and only on the basis of this smaller world can the man's world be formed and built up. The two worlds are not antagonistic. They complement each other, they belong together just as man and woman belong together. We do not consider it correct for the woman to interfere in the world of the man, in his main sphere. We consider it natural if these two worlds remain distinct. To the one belongs the strength of feeling, the strength of the soul. To the other belongs the strength of vision, of toughness, of decision, and of the willingness to act. In the one case this strength demands the willingness of the woman to risk her life to preserve this important cell and to multiply it, and in the other case it demands from the man the readiness to safeguard life. The sacrifices which the man makes in the struggle of his nation, the woman makes in the preservation of that nation in individual cases. What the man gives in courage on the battlefield, the woman gives in eternal self-sacrifice, in eternal pain and suffering. Every child that a woman brings into the world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people. And both must therefore mutually value and respect each other when they see that each performs the task that Nature and Providence have ordained. And this mutual respect will necessarily result from this separation of the functions of each. It is not true, as Jewish intellectuals assert, that respect depends on the overlapping of the spheres of activity of the sexes; this respect demands that neither sex should try to do that which belongs to the sphere of the other. It lies in the last resort in the fact that each knows that the other is doing everything necessary to maintain the whole community. . . . So our women's movement is for us not something which inscribes on its banner as its program the fight against man, but something which has as its program the common fight together with man. For the new National Socialist national community acquires a firm basis precisely because we have gained the trust of millions of women as fanatical fellow-combatants, women who have fought for the common life in the service of the common task of preserving life, who in that combat did not set their sights on the rights which a Jewish intellectualism put before their eyes, but rather on the duties imposed by nature on all of us in common. Whereas previously the programs of the liberal, intellectualist women's movements contained many points, the program of our National Socialist Women's movement has in reality but one single point, and that point is the child, that tiny creature which must be born and grow strong and which alone gives meaning to the whole life-struggle. . . . Official encouragement of marriage The Weimar Republic had in fact not seen the expected improvements in openings for the employment of women because of the reluctance of the authorities to encourage rapid change, the increased competition for jobs and the restricted labor market following the Depression. In 1933, the Nazis used the need for dealing with the question of unemployment to discriminate, firstly against women in positions of political importance, and then more generally against married women in paid jobs. The idea had been favored in Weimar days, but the Nazi Government made it official with the law of 30 June 1933, which decreed that only unmarried women over 35 (who were not Jews or married to Jews) could be appointed to permanent posts in the public service. By way of encouragement, women who gave up their jobs on marriage were entitled to apply for a marriage loan according to section 5 of the Law for the Reduction of Unemployment (I June 1933): The Reich encourages marriages in accordance with the following regulations. Carriage Loans, section I I. People of German nationality who marry one another after this law has come into force can on application be granted a marriage loan of up to 1000 Reichsmarks. The application for the marriage loan can be made before marriage. The amount is paid only after the conclusion of the marriage. The conditions which must be fulfilled before the grant of a marriage loan are as follows: (a) That the future wife has spent at least six months in employment in Germany between 11 June 1931 and 31 May 1933. (b) That a banns has been issued by the Registry Office and that the future wife gives up her job at the latest at the time of the wedding or has already given it up at the time the application is made. (c) That the future wife pledges herself not to take up employment so long as her future husband receives an income (within the meaning of the Income Tax Law) of more than 125 Reichsmarks a month and so long as the marriage loan has not been fully paid off. . . . The marriage loan is paid in the form of vouchers. These entitle one to purchase furniture and household equipment in retail shops which are prepared to accept vouchers. The vouchers will be redeemed by the Finance Offices in cash. . . . Fritz Reinhardt on the economic recovery, 29 January 1935 The program expressed an ideological tenet of the Nazis, the principle that women should stay at home. By offering marriage loans on this condition and by making the provision that one quarter of the loan should be cancelled on the birth of each child, it was hoped to withdraw females from employment and replace them by males and also to increase the birth rate. Two years later Reinhardt, State Secretary in the Reich Finance Ministry, claimed substantial success for this aspect of the program, though as far as female employment was concerned the success was to be merely temporary : -.. 5. The granting of 365,591 marriage loans making a total amount of 200 million Reichsmarks up to 31 December 1934 on the basis of the Law for the Promotion of Marriages of 1 June 1934. The effect of this measure alone: Reduction in the unemployment figure of at least 500,000 and reduction in the financial requirement of unemployment benefits by approximately 250 million Reichsmarks. Significant increase in the number of marriages and births. The number of marriages for 1933 was already 27.3 per cent higher than that of 1932- For the first six months of 1934 there is the following picture: First six months 1933 1934 Marriages 252,592 334,567 Births 490,340 576,843 Significant increase in number of households and in the demand for furniture, household equipment and small apartments. . - . Frick's guidelines on the employment of women civil servants and teachers Protests were made from 1933 even by pro-Nazi women's associations concerned at the prospect of discrimination against all employed women, such as the Ring of National Women which wrote to Hitler in April 1933 approving of the removal of women civil servants for political reasons but complaining that 'the position of these women are not filled by other women, but men take over their posts'. In response to further complaints, Flick, Minister of the Interior, wrote in October 1933 to local authorities that there was no general law against women in official positions, although he admitted that, other things being equal, there existed a preference for a male applicant: As I understand from numerous petitions, a strong sense of disquiet prevails among women civil servants, teachers and employees about the way in which they have been affected by measures of retrenchment carried out by different Reich, state and municipal authorities- It must be pointed out that different authorities evidently take action on the assumption that in the National Socialist State female officials and employees are on principle to be removed from the public service or to be forced from the posts they have held up to now into posts of lower rank and income or into employee status. I must emphatically point out that the legal position governing such general action against women civil servants and teachers does not cover the handling of the question in this way. In particular, the stipulations of the Law for the Restoration of the ProfessioCivil Service, which according to the needs of the service make possible the transfer of officials to a lower rank or the retirement of officials who are not yet incapable of service, cannot be used in a general way against women civil servants as mentioned at the beginning. I consider it fundamentally right that, in the event of males and females being equally qualified for employment in the public service, the male applicant should be given preference. On the other hand, I must point out that in certain fields, namely in the sphere of youth welfare and the care of youth, also to some extent in that of tuition, the needs of the service require the employment of female labor as civil servants and as employees. A succession of complaints prompts me to call attention to married female civil servants and teachers, who according to the Law on the Legal Status of Female Civil Servants of 30 May 1932 in the form set out on 30 June 1933 (Reioehs-gesetzblatt Pt. I, p. 435), can be discharged only if their economic maintenance seems permanently secured. The relevant stipulations indicate a regulation with exceptions for women civil servants. These provisions must therefore be taken into consideration. Hitler forbids the admission of women to the practice of law In April 1934, the Prussian Government specifically decreed that high positions in the Civil Service should be reserved to men. One way of restricting the number of qualified females seeking employment in the professions was to put a limit on girl students at universities-this also reflected the Nazi belief that women were not suited to academic work-but in fact the proportion of female students was already relatively low. Few women had been appointed to university posts, but they were very numerous among schoolteachers. Official attempts to reduce their number and the pressure applied through the Nazi professional organizations brought no dramatic changes simply because their services were needed. The law was regarded like politics as an occupation only for men, so that Hitler decided in August 1936 that women should no longer act as lawyers and judges, although those qualified in law could continue in administrative work: Following the conference in your Ministry on 5.viii.1936 concerning the admission of women as lawyers, I have put the matter to the Fuehrer, since, as the course of the meeting showed, the Party has a special interest in these things. He has decided that women cannot become either judges or lawyers. Women trained in law can therefore be employed only in the public service. I particularly request that trouble should be taken to find places there, where possible, for the existing female probationary lawyers. Hitler's decision creates practical difficulties Hitler's measure created problems of re-employment. In January 1937 Roland Freisler wrote to national and local authorities on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, pointing out that women had made an important contribution to the practice of law and that their skills should be employed in suitable positions: The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor has decreed that women in future should not be employed as judges or lawyers or admitted as solicitors. A fairly large number of female probationary judges, probationary lawyers and junior barristers will be affected by this decision. These women have spent considerable sums on their training and in the overwhelming majority of cases have brought it to a successful conclusion (sometimes at very considerable sacrifice) by hard work and application. Following upon the decision of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor, these women lawyers can find employment in the public service only as administrators. The Deputy Fuehrer has expressly desired that existing female probationary lawyers should be found a place there where possible. Accordingly, I have already accommodated a number of female probationary judges in positions suitable to their training outside judicial work in the administration of the Reich Chamber of Lawyers and the Reich Chamber of Notaries. I have been in touch over the matter of selection with the Reich Leadership of the Frauenwerk (1) , which looks after these women. The Reich Women's Leader has considered employing a number of female probationary lawyers herself in the administration of her organization. Considering the limited possibilities of employment available to women in the administration of justice, I would be particularly grateful if a number of suitable women with the ability to become judges or junior barristers can be found employment appropriate to their training in their field of work. Suitable permanent employment would be particularly desirable. For especially severe cases of social hardship, employment for one or two years would be welcome. From experience, the applicants are qualified not only for consideration as employees in administration proper but also in such work as the press, periodicals and library matters. In view of the position of female lawyers immediate help seems desirable as soon as possible. I request therefore that existing requirements should be ascertained quickly in your field of occupation and that the result of these findings be communicated to me. In fact, although as a result of Government measures, 800,000 women were removed from the labor market in 1933-35, by 1936 owing to the boom there were more women employed than when Hitler came to power. Religion The culmination of the Nazi attempt to mould society in accordance with their ideology would have been a fundamental conflict with religion. National Socialism claimed to be totally comprehensive since it aimed to transform not only the State and its institutions but also its substructure-the social system, manners of living and even attitudes to life. Religion, with its influence over certain sections of the population, presented ultimately a rival to Nazi ideology, which assumed many of the characteristics of a religion with its adulation of the Fuehrer and its intense nationalism. Hitler chose for tactical reasons not to provoke a conflict with the Churches until such time as he could deal with the problem without difficulty. In his speech to the Reichstag on 23 March 1933, he had declared that Christianity was 'the unshakable foundation of the moral and ethical life of our people' and promised that the rights of the Churches would remain unaffected. Repudiation 'German Christians' by the Confessional Church A number of Protestant leaders had responded with considerable enthusiato Hitler's rise to power in 1933 and were affected by the feeling of 'national revival'. But Hitler's announcement of a new constitution for the Protestant Church (July 1933) uniting the 28 Provincial Protestant Churches (Landes-kirchen) to form one Reich Church under a pro-Nazi Reich Bishop, and his promotion of the pro-Nazi (German Christians', produced strong reactions leading to the establishment of a so-called Confessional Church, whose opposition to the totalitarian claims of the Nazi regime implied a fundamental challenge. This opposition was primarily theological, as seen in the rejection of the 'German Christians' in the Barmen Declaration of May 1934, which reasserted Jesus Christ as the only source of revelation. In October 1934, however, the Confessional Church formally rejected the Reich Church by creating its own government: 1. We declare that the Constitution of the German Evangelical Church has been destroyed. Its legally constituted organs no longer exist. The men who have seized the Church leadership in the Reich and the states have divorced themselves from the Christian Church. 2. In virtue of the right of Churches, religious communities and holders of ecclesiastical office, bound by scripture and confession, to act in an emergency, the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church establishes new organs of leadership. It appoints as leader and representative of the German Evangelical Church, as an association of confessionally determined Churches, the Fraternal Council of the German Evangelical Church and from among it the Council of the German Evangelical Church to the management leadership. Both organs are composed and organized in accordance with the confessions. 3. We summon the Christian communities, their pastors and elders, to accept no directions from the present Church Government and its authorities and to decline cooperation with those who wish to remain obedient to this ecclesiastical governance. We summon them to observe the directions of the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church and its recognized organs. The Confessional Church won the allegiance only of a minority of Protestant pastors, the majority of whom gave active support to neither the Confessional Church nor the German Christians. The Confessional Church also suffered from differences of attitude between its leaders in the different regions of the country, but its protests had some effect. The Government came round to the view that the German Christians had acted too brashly and too hastily. The Catholic Church also reacted strongly to the encroachments of the Nazis in Church affairs. It was at first content with the negotiations of the Concordat of 1933 (see above, Part II, 'The Seizure of Power') but disillusionment set in when it became clear that the Nazis interpreted the Concordat differently from the Vatican. Particular dismay was voiced over the apparent official approval given to the book, The Myth of the 20th Century (regarded by Catholics as an attack on Christianity) when its author, Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi ideologist, was given a position involving supervision of cultural affairs. Good attendance at churches The Catholic Church was in a stronger position than the Protestant Church in Germany because it was more united and also more cosmopolitan. Moreover, church attendance was generally higher and more regular among Catholics. This report from the Landrat of Bad Kreuznach (February 1936) admitted some of the difficulties met wizen dealing with the passive resistance of Catholic priests: The efforts by the Catholic Church, already mentioned last month, to further the consolidation of its supporters by all means have been continued intensively. Catholic churches are full to overflowing. Even in the early hours of the morning the churches are very well attended. At this point, I would like again to refer to the following: it is often the case that Catholic priests appeal from official orders to a contrary statement on the part of their Episcopal authorities, or refer the State authorities to higher church authorities. For example, it has never been possible in the whole district to obtain the membership lists of Catholic associations from the priests, as this ostensibly contradicts an order of the bishop. In order to avoid such fiascoes, which can be detrimental to the authority of the State, I should like to suggest that in such cases there should first be direct contact with the Episcopal authorities. Furthermore, police statements as to the reading out of pastoral letters have probably, in my opinion, little practical value in so far as this reading takes place on principle in all churches on the order of the bishop. Catholic Bishops' disillusionment with National Socialism The Catholic Church, which had felt little sympathy for the democracy of the Weimar Republic, had initially welcomed the Nazi Government because of its anti-Communism and its promise of establishing order in the country. Some of its leaders, like those of the Protestant Church, reacted sharply when the Nazis tried to intervene in the Church's internal affairs. By 1937, when Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical criticizing the position of the Catholic Church in Germany, tile situation had worsened and relations between the Catholic Church and the Nazi Government were very strained. On 13 December 1936 the Bavarian bishops had expressed their disillusionment with the Government in their pastoral letter: After the deplorable fight carried on by Marxists, Communists, Free Thinkers and Freemasons against Christianity and the Church we welcomed with gratitude the National Socialist profession of positive Christianity. We are convinced that many hundreds of thousands are still loyal to this profession of faith and, indeed, we observe with sorrow how others tend to remove themselves from Christian belief and from the program of the Fuehrer, and by this means put the Third Reich on a new basis, a Weltanschauung standing in open contradiction to the commandments of Christianity. This formation of National Socialism into a Weltanschauung which cuts it away from any foundation in religion is developing more and more into a full-scale attack on the Christian faith and the Catholic Church. All this bodes ill for the future of our people and our fatherland. Our Fuehrer and Chancellor in a most impressive demonstration acknowledged the importance of the two Christian confessions to State and society, and promised the two confessions his protection. Unfortunately, men with considerable influence and power are operating in direct opposition to those promises and both confessions are being systematically attacked. Certain of those who lead the attack on the Churches wish to promote a united church in which the confession of faith will become meaningless. Most especially they seek to rid Germany of the Catholic Church and declare it to be a foreign to our country and its people. These folk lack all real understanding of our holy faith and of the Christian religion in any form. In 1933 a Concordat was signed between the Holy Father and the German Reich. This was done, as is said in the preamble, out of a 'common desire to consolidate and enhance the friendly relations existing between the Holy See and the German State'. But instead of the much wished-for friendship, there has developed an ever-growing struggle against the Papacy, a struggle carried out in writings and speeches, in books and study courses, in organizations, schools and camps. A hate for 'Rome' has been engendered even in the ears of children. . . . Under the Concordat, Catholic organizations and societies were promised protection for their continued existence. But instead of this continued protection, the exact reverse has taken place until by gradual means the continuation of these organizations has been made impossible. . . . According to the Concordat, insults to the clergy were to be punished. But where is the protection against the kind of inswhich come in speeches, writings, broadsheets and pictures? Where is the State protection of the honor of clergy when it comes to caand posters which are set before the eyes of children even in the remotest villages? It has been reported to us that an anticlerical cartoon was exhibited in a class-room. When the parish priest urged the teacher to remove it, he refused. . . . Nothing could be further from our intentions than to adopt a hostile attitude toward, or a renunciation of, the present form taken by our Government. For us, respect for authority, love of Fatherland, and the fulfillment of our duty to the State are matters not only of conscience but of divine ordinance. This command we will always require our faithful to follow. But we will never regard as an infringement of this duty our defense of God's laws and of Ibis Church, or of ourselves against attacks on the Faith and the Church. The Fuehrer can be certain that we Bishops are prepared to give all moral support to his historic struggle against Bolshevism. We will not criticize things which are purely political. What we do ask is that our holy Church be permitted to enjoy her God-given rights and her freedom. The resistance of the Catholic Church to State interference Church opposition to the Nazis remained of a largely theological nature until the war brought cooperation between the confessions. Opposition was the result of official interference in religious matters rather than of abhorrence at the political methods of the Nazis or their racial policy (on which question the Churches were on the whole notoriously silent). There were limits to the official direction of ecclesiastical affairs. The Gestapo could ban the distribution of pastoral statements, but could not prevent priests from reading them out in church. In 1940 efforts to control religious festivals aroused strong resistance: The concluding reports on Corpus Christi Day permit the generalization that the decree of the General Plenipotentiary for the Reich Administration concerning the switching of Corpus Christi as a public holiday, in accordance with Reich regulations, from g May 1940 to Sunday 26 May 1940 was simply sabotaged by the Church and the population. Immediately after its publication the decree was the subject of lively discussion and the reaction of the clergy was in general that the celebration of Corpus Christi on a Thursday was the law of the Church and must be upheld by the Catholic population. The Bishop of Fulda even took the view that such a switch could only be undertaken by the Church or the Pope himself, that interference with this canonical and most solemn religious festival was inadmissible and the State decree invalid.... The position adopted uniformly by almost all the Church authorities finally led to Corpus Christi being celebrated as a religious festival and work stopped on that day. This was particularly true of the countryside and especially of the mainly Catholic parishes. Hess had warned in a speech to Party leaders in September 1938 that 'a religion that has influenced, indeed dominated, the life of a people for two thousand years cannot be destroyed or overcome by external measures'. As the Fuehrer's Deputy, he was presumably expressing Hitler's own views at the time. The war changed the situation as it created new possibilities for the application of Nazi ideology (for instance, racial policy) and brought to the fore men who favored more radical policies. Martin Bormann, who rose high in the Nazi hierarchy during the war and enjoyed increasing influence over Hitler, had made little secret of his long-standing antagonism toward religion. An order sent to the Gauleiters in June 1941 outlined his uncompromising views. Bormann declares Christianity to be irreconcilable with National Socialism, June 1941 The concepts of National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable. The Christian Churches build on people's ignorance and attempt to preserve the ignorance of as wide a section of the population as possible. National Socialism, on the other hand, is based on scientific foundations. Christianity has immutable tenets, laid down nearly 2000 years ago, which have increasingly petrified into dogmas incompatible with reality. National Socialism, on the other hand, if it is to continue to fulfil its task, must always be in accordance with the latest findings of scientific research. The Christian Churches have always recognized the dangers which threaten their existence in the form of exact scientific knowledge. They have therefore endeavored by means of pseudo-science, which is what theology is, to suppress or falsify scientific research with their dogma. Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the concepts of Christianity, which in their essential points have been taken over from Jewry. For this reason also we have no need of Christianity. No human being would know anything of Christianity if it had not been drilled into him in his childhood by pastors. The so-called 'dear God' does not by any means give young people advance notice of his existence. Astonishingly, for all his omnipotence, he leaves this to the efforts of the pastors. If, therefore, in the future our youth learns nothing of this Christianity, whose doctrines are far inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear of its own accord. It is also surprising that before the beginning of the present era nothing was known of this Christian God. Further, since that point in time the vast majority of the earth's inhabitants have never learned anything about this Christianity; so, according to the arrogant but Christian doctrine, they were damned from the start. If we National Socialists speak of belief in God, we do not understand by God, as the naive Christians and their spiritual camp followers do, a human-type being sitting around somewhere in space. Rather must we open people's eyes to the fact that, apart from our small planet which is very unimportant in the universe, there are an inconceivably large number of other bodies, innumerable additional bodies, which like the sun are surrounded by planets and these in turn by smaller bodies, the moons. The natural force by which all these innumerable planets move in the universe we call 'the Almighty' or 'God'. The claim that this world force is concerned about the fate of every single being, of the tiniest earth bacillus, or can be influenced by so-called prayers or other astonishing things, is based on a proper dose of naivete or else on a calculating shamelessness. As opposed to that, we National Socialists set ourselves the task of living as naturally as possible, that is to say, biologically. The more accurately we recognize and observe the laws of nature and of life, and the more we adhere to them, so much the more do we conform to the will of the Almighty. The more insight we have into the will of the Almighty, the greater will be our successes. It follows from the irreconcilability of National Socialist and Christian concepts that we must reject any strengtof existing denominations or any demand by Christian denominations in the process of emerging. We should not differentiate here between the various Christian denominations. For this reason too the thought of establishing a Reich Evangelical Church by merging the various Evangelical Churches has been definitely given up because the Evangelical Church is just as hostile to us as the Catholic Church. Any strengthening of the Evangelical Church would merely redound to our disadvantage. It was a historical mistake on the part of the German emperors of the Middle Ages that they repeatedly created order at the Vatican in Rome. It is always an error, into which we Germans unfortunately fall too often, to attempt to create order where we ought to have an interest in disunity and separation. . . . In former generations the leadership of the people lay exclusively in the hands of the Church. The State limited itself to issuing laws and decrees and primarily to administration. The real leadership of the people lay not with the State but with the Churches. The latter exerted through the priest the strongest influence on the life of the individual human being, on families and on the community as a whole. . . . The State was dependent on the aid of the Church. . . . The ideological dependence of the State on the Church, the yielding of the leadership of the people to the Church, had become a matter of course, so that nobody dared oppose it seriously. To refuse to accept this as an incontrovertible fact from the beginning was considered absurd stupidity until just before the take-over of power. For the first time in German history, the Fuehrer has the leadership of the people consciously and completely in his own hands. In the Party, its components and its affiliated organizations the Fuehrer has created for himself, and thereby for the German Reich, an instrument which makes him independent of the Church. All influences which might impair or damage the leadership of the people exercised by the Fuehrer with the help of the NSDAP must be eliminated. More and more the people must be separated from the Churches and their organs, the pastors. Of course, from their own viewpoint, the Churches must and will defend themselves against this loss of power. But never again must influence over the leadership of the people be yielded to the Churches. This influence must be broken finally and completely. Only the Reich Government and under its direction the Party, its components and affiliated organizations, have the right to the leadership of the people. Just as the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers and other quacks are eliminated and suppressed by the State, so must the possibility of Church influence also be totally removed. Not until this has happened does the leadership of the State have real influence over its individual citizens. Not until then are people and Reich secure in their existence for the future. It would only repeat the fatal mistakes of past centuries if we were to contribute in any way to the strengthening of one of the various Churches, in view of our knowledge of their ideological hostility towards us. The interest of the Reich lies not in conquering but in preserving and strengthening ecclesiastical particularism. Back to the top