Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression B. Acts of suppression of the Christian Churches in Annexed
an Occupied Territories.
(1) In Austria. The methods of suppression of churches
followed in Austria by the occupying power began with
measures to exclude the Church from public activities, such
as processions, printing of newspapers and Reviews which
could spread Christian doctrines; from forming Youth
organizations, such as Boy Scouts; from directing
educational or charitable activities; and even from
extending help in the form of food to foreigners. Unable in
conscience to obey the public
prescription, ministers of religions were arrested and sent
to concentration camps, and some were executed. Churches
were closed, convents and mon-
[Page 281]
asteries suppressed, and educational property confiscated.
The total number of confiscations, suppressions, or
alienations of religious institutions exceeded 100 cases in
one diocese alone. (3278-PS)
The Lutheran Church in Austria, though comprising a small
minority of the population, was subjected to organized
oppression. Its educational efforts were obstructed or
banned. Believers were encouraged, and sometimes
intimidated, to repudiate their faith. Lutheran pastors were
given to understand that a government position would be
awarded to each one who would renounce his ministry and if
possible withdraw from the Lutheran Church. (3273-PS)
Tn summation of the period of Nazi domination and in review
of the attempted suppression of the Christian Church, the
Archbishops and Bishops of Austria in their first joint
Pastoral after liberation declared:
"At an end also is an intellectual battle, the goal of
which was the destruction of Christianity and the
Church among our people; a campaign of lies and
treachery against truth and love, against divine and
human rights and against international law." (3274-PS)
(2) In Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak Official Report for
the prosecution and trial of the German Major War Criminals
by the International Military Tribunal established according
to the Agreement of the Four Great Powers of 8 August 1945
describes in summary form the measures taken by the Nazi
conspirators to suppress religious liberties and persecute
the churches. The following excerpts are quoted from this
report (998-PS):
"(a) Catholic Church.
"*** At the outbreak of war, 487 Catholic priests
were among the thousands of Czech patriots arrested and
sent to concentration camps as hostages. Venerable high
ecclesiastical dignitaries were dragged to
concentration camps in Germany. *** Religious orders
were dissolved and liquidated, their charitable
institutions closed down and their members expelled or
else forced to compulsory labor in Germany. All
religious instruction in Czech schools was suppressed.
Most of the weeklies and monthlies which the Catholics
had published in Czechoslovakia, had been suppressed
from the very beginning of the occupation. The Catholic
gymnastic organization "Orel" with 800,000
members was dissolved and its Property was confiscated.
To a
[Page 282]
great extent Catholic church property was seized for
the benefit of the Reich.
"(b) Czechoslovak National Church.
"*** The Czechoslovak Church in Slovakia was entirely
prohibited and its property confiscated under German
compulsion in 1940. It has been allowed to exist in
Bohemia and Moravia but in a crippled form under the
name of the Czecho-Moravian Church.
"(c) Protestant Churches.
"The Protestant Churches were deprived of the freedom
to preach the gospel. German secret state police
watched closely whether the clergy observed the
restrictions imposed on it. *** Some passages from
the Bible were not allowed to be read in public at all.***
"* * Church leaders were especially persecuted, scores
of ministers were imprisoned in concentration camps,
among them the General Secretary of the Students'
Christian Movement in Czechoslovakia. One of the Vice-
Presidents was executed.
"Protestant Institutions such as the YMCA and YWCA were
suppressed throughout the country.
"The leading Theological School for all Evangelical
denominations, HUS Faculty in Prague and all other
Protestant training schools for the ministry were
closed down in November 1939, with the other Czech
universities and colleges.
"(d) Czech Orthodox Church.
"The hardest blow was directed against the Czech
Orthodox Church. The Orthodox churches in
Czechoslovakia were ordered by the Berlin Ministry of
Church Affairs to leave the Pontificate of Belgrade and
Constantinople respectively and to become subordinate
to the Berlin Bishop. The Czech Bishop Gorazd was
executed together with two other priests of the
Orthodox Church. By a special order of the Protector
Daluege, issued in September 1942, the Orthodox Church
of Serbian Constantinople jurisdiction was completely
dissolved in the Czech lands, its religious activity
forbidden and its property
"All Evangelical education was handed over to the civil
authorities and many Evangelical teachers lost their
employment; moreover the State grant to salaries of
many evangelical priests was taken away." (998-PS)
(3) In Poland. The repressive measures levelled against the
Christian Church in Poland where Hans Frank was Governor-
[Page 283]
General from 1939 to 1945, were even more drastic and
sweeping. In protest against the
systematic strangulation of religion, the Vatican, on 8
October 1942, addressed a memorandum to the German Embassy
accredited to the Holy See in which the Secretariat of State
emphasized the fact that despite previous protests to the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Reich, von
Ribbentrop, the religious condition of the Catholics in the
Warthegau "has become even sadder and more tragic." This
memorandum states:
"For quite a long time the religious situation in the
Warthegau gives cause for very grave and ever
increasing anxiety. There, in fact, the Episcopate has
been little by little almost completely eliminated; the
secular and regular clergy have been reduced to
proportions that are absolutely inadequate, because
they have been in large part deported and exiled; the
education of clerics has been forbidden; the Catholic
education of youth is meeting with the greatest
opposition; the nuns have been dispersed;
insurmountable obstacles have been put in the way of
affording people the helps of religions; very many
churches have been closed; Catholic intellectual and
charitable institutions have been destroyed;
ecclesiastical property has been seized." (3263-PS)
The original plaintext version of
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one or
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two of this file is available via
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Volume
I Chapter VII
Means Used by the Nazi Conspiractors in Gaining Control of the German State
(Part 35 of 55)