Catalyzing Religious Antisemitism in Nazi Germany

Rhys Tucker

ENG 112 42

Paper #3

Final Draft

9/20/16

Urban

Outline
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Thesis: By continuing past narratives of hatred and following the narrative of the Nazi regime,

the role that the Catholic religion played in Nazi Germany led to more support for the oppression

of the Jews leading up to the Holocaust.

I. The Nazis used Medieval anti-Semitic justifications for the mistreatment of Jews to vindicate

themselves.

II. The Nazi regime altered and illegalized parts of the Catholic religion if it at all conflicted

with their narrative of the Jewish menace.

III. These factors made the oppression of the Jews more appealing and agreeable to the citizens

of Germany, as they painted them as condemned by religion.

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You look out over the mountains of naked corpses piled outside of the death camps and

are hit by the stench that rises from them. As you see this abhorrent sight, you wonder how

anyone could be convinced to do something like this to another people. Due to Christianitys

condemnation of them, the Jews have been the most consistent victims of oppression and

mistreatment over the past two millennia. However, these prejudicial and hatred-based actions

came to a peak with the most infamous crime against humanity; the Holocaust. The

accomplishment of this act is due in part to the support of the Catholic Church. Catholicism,

being the predominant religion in Germany at the time, held extensive sway over the citizens of

Germany. By continuing past narratives of hatred and following the narrative of the Nazi regime,

the role that the Catholic religion played in Nazi Germany led to more support for the oppression

of the Jews leading up to the Holocaust.

Although religious antisemitism was rising in Germany, it had already had deep roots in

European history. The Nazis used Medieval anti-Semitic justifications for the mistreatment of

Jews to vindicate themselves.

From Roman times through the Middle Ages, followers of Judaism have been persecuted

and abused by the followers of other religions, especially Catholicism. Throughout that time

period, the teachings of the Catholic Church encouraged a demonizing view of Jews. Popular

teachings involving these views were used as ammunition in any transgressions against them.

One of these teachings was that the Jews had been the killers of Christ and that they aimed to

destroy Christian civilization (Bergen 68, Religion: Christianity par. 69). This inspired

multiple acts of violence and discrimination against them over the centuries (Goldhagen 37-39,

Religion: Christianity par. 10).

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Then, during the 20th century, the seemingly modern-thinking and impartial Catholic

Church turned a blind eye to rising antisemitism in Germany, as well as becoming a silent ally to

them (Goldhagen 39-44). Without the Church challenging the way the Nazis portrayed the Jews,

they were able to analogize the false characteristics given to them by religious antisemitism in

the past, to new, unsavory characteristics given to them by the party. The book Antisemitism: A

History, expounds upon this:

The legacies of older, narrower kinds of antisemitism [such as Christian anti-

Judaism] provided points of contact to Nazisms redemptive brand [of

antisemitism] that both borrowed from and fed on them. The notion that Jews

were children of the devil who had betrayed and crucified Jesus prepared the way

for the accusation that Jews were perfidious traitors to the fatherland. The image

of Jews as enemies of Christianity merged with charges of Jews as the

masterminds behind atheist communism. (199)

This was one of their many effective strategies to bring down the image of the Jew in the public

eye. Through popular religion and long-held prejudices against them.

However, the Nazi regime altered and illegalized parts of the Catholic religion if they at

all conflicted with their narrative of the Jewish menace. For example, to suppress the image of

Christianity being derived from Judaism, they banned the teaching of the Old Testament, saying

it was a creation of the Jews (Pendas 577). In addition, the Nazis put forth the idea that Jesus was

of their Aryan race, not Jewish (577). This was all a part of their promulgation of positive

Christianity. Positive Christianity was the way that the Nazis reconciled their beliefs and

narratives with those of Christian doctrines, and gave them the ability to distort religion so that it

would fit with their fabrications (577). By doing this, they were able to influence the way the
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German citizens viewed their own religion and dismiss any conflicting notions between their

views and the actual teachings of the Bible.

Furthermore, the Nazi party promoted a sort of overarching German morality, which

determined what was protected by the law and what was not according to its morality (Koehne

476-477). They used this to justify banning the Old Testament as well as condemning Judaism in

general. Koehne expands upon this notion by examining the official Nazi Program documents,

stating, it allowed the state to determine "to what extent and in which places" religious

teachings contrary to "moral feeling" would be allowed.42 This was intended in the first instance

as an anti-Jewish measure (482).

These factors made the oppression of the Jews more appealing and agreeable to the

citizens of Germany. To the Germans, the Jews were condemned from multiple different

perspectives. All of these perspectives stemmed from the views instilled in them by religion.

With these things in their minds, they had little issue with accusing the Jews of being the culprits

behind all of their hardships. With the aid of the popular morality of the country, they could

condemn them with a clear conscience and a feeling of righteousness.

In addition, because of the Nazi Partys control over the Catholic church in Germany,

they practiced positive Christianity without backlash. If there was anything that the Nazi Party

did not want the people to hear from religion, they could label it as conflicting with German

morality or that it was a product of the Jews. This kept the people of Germany indoctrinated and

ignorant.

The role played by the Church in the years leading up to the Holocaust was a pivotal one

to the success of the Nazi Regime. By reinvigorating and repurposing long-held religious
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prejudices against the Jews and distorting religious doctrines and teachings to fit their narrative,

the Nazi Party used the Catholic Church to gain the support of the German people.
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Works Cited

Bergen, Doris L. et al. Antisemitism: A History. Oxford University Press, 2010. EBSCOhost,

www.web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzY5

NDE3M19fQU41?sid=b7e036b4-aaa3-4be9-a5ee-

661a57129631@sessionmgr4010&vid=1&format=EB&rid=1.

Goldhagen, Daniel J. A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and

Its Unfilled Duty of Repair. Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

Koehne, Samuel. The Racial Yardstick: "Ethnotheism" and Official Nazi Views on Religion.

German Studies Review, vol. 37, no. 3, Oct. 2014, pp. 575-596, 725. ProQuest,

www.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/docview/1614147768?

accountid=10008.

Pendas, Devin O. Explaining the Third Reich: Ethics, Beliefs, Interests, Modern Intellectual

History, vol. 5, no. 3, Nov. 2008, pp. 573-596. ProQuest, www.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/docview/217318035?accountid=10008.

Religion: Christianity. Jewish Virtual Library, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2008,

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/christianity.html.