NAZI OPPRESSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 October 1941, Page 6

NAZI OPPRESSION

RESISTED BY THE CHURCHES POSITION IN GERMANY. MANY PASTORS DETAINED. | What is the situation in the German churches now? Has there been, as so often asserted, a lessening of pressure on account of the war? What about the church opposition? Is the youth work of the church allowed to go forward at all? What about the training of the ministry of the future? How has the war affected the leadership of parish life in general? These questions are asked by Mr Henry Smith Leiper, Foreign Secretary, Federal Council of Churches, writing in a recent issue of the “Christian Science Monitor.” The supply of information direct from Germany —that is, of information that can be trusted—is strictly limited. It would be dangerous to generalise too much from the few facts which we know beyond question. The following answers may be made with reasonable certainty to the sort of questions I have posed. The church situation is bad. It is distinctly not better because of the war. The number of pastors in concentration camps has steadily increased; although no one can say exactly how many there are. One recent arrival with unusual sources of information tells me that there are 90 in one camp where a mutual acquaintance is imprisoned. Well over 60 pei’ cent of all pastors are in the army, leaving more than half of the parish churches without trained leadership. Among the pastors known to be in the ranks of the confessional churchmen —those Protestants opposed to Hitlerism in the church — about 75 per cent have been taken out of their parishes for war service. About 99 per cent of all religious publications have been suppressed. The Young Men’s Christian Associations in large centres have been closed. In some areas no church collections are permitted. All Christian Science Churches have been suppressed. Roman Catholic nuns and monks, thrown out of their institutions, have been compelled to work in factories and offices. CAUTIOUS OPPOSITION. The opposition continues, of course. But there are not many ways in which it can be openly manifested, particularly in war time. The most dramatic Roman Catholic protest —and the first official one since the war began—came out of Fulda in early July in the form of a letter composed by the Bishops’ meeting at the grave of St Boniface, English-born missionary to Germany who was martyred in the eighth century. The letter began with warm praise for the heroic attitude of the soldiers and stressed the sacrifices which had been made by church leaders and people in the war. It evidenced Roman Catholic support for the nation in its perils, but indicated strong resentment against the thesis of Nazi leaders that “Germans must choose between Christ and the Fatherland.” It assailed the steps taken by the Nazis against the church by interference with all education —even including the kindargarten—through the destruction of the Roman Catholic press, through the confiscation of numerous Roman Catholic institutions, through subtle efforts to compromise the faith of Christians. No similarly dramatic act has characterised the conduct of the Evangelical opposition in recent months. But there are evidences of steady and planned resistance. One proof is the ordination some months ago of 50 confessional clergymen in the Rhineland whose training had been carried on outside of the official theological seminaries—most of which are closed and all of which are Nazi-dominated. STUDENTS FALL OFF. It is noteworthy that in all of the theological schools officially . listed there were last autumn only 39 students registered in the entering classes where normally there should have been more than 600 to supply the usual replacements in the ministerial leadership of the Evangelical churches. For the training of candidates outside the official schools money is needed, and about 25,000 marks a month have been given in the Rhineland for that purpose—at a risk which Americans cannot easily imagine. Protestants, led by Dr Friedrich von Boaelschwingh, who was for a brief period Reichsbishop of the Evangelical Church, have protested against the State killing of sick, infirm, aged, and insane persons which has gone on on a large scale. Cardinal Faulhaber joined in this protest, which is reported to have caused the arrest of about 300 Catholic priests and an undetermined number of Protestants. The last figures of ministers under indictment for some action or attitude offensive to the Government was 125, with about 50 forbidden to preach. Even greater pressure has been applied through financial restrictions and limitations. Confessional pastors known to be critical of the Nazis have been sometimes made to work in offices 12 hours a day to prevent their circulating among the people, and this practice may be extended to all pastors soon. NEW PROHIBITIONS. The success of opposition has, however, been sufficient to. inspire a new set of Nazi rules for the suppression of the churches. Among 13 recently found on a secret list emanating from the “Brown House” are such significant ones as these: Vigorous control of Church finance is to be exercised by the State, making voluntary collections impossible; no religious instruction is to be permitted save in church buildings; no one is to be permitted to join the church until past the age of 21; no contact of the churches in one part of the country with churches in other parts is to be permitted. The fear that the Church will influence youth and the army is also an indirect evidence of the continuing resistance of the churches to the full

Nazi programme ideologically considered. No religious literature may be sent to soldiers; no pastors are permitted in work camps of students and no pastors may correspond with their young people in those camps; Christian hymns are forbidden in many of the camps. General book stores are forbidden to carry religious literature. Such rules would not be needed if religious resistance were subsiding. TWO MAIN GROUPS. In the confessional Protestant churches there are two main groups. The one seeks to cultivate the spiritual life r and to interpret history solely in theo-/ logical or “apocalyptic” (i.e., other worldly) terms. The other is sure that it must give guidance to its members in terms applicable to the _ present crisis. The members of this latter group are for the most part sure that a victory of the Nazis would mean the end of the churches in Europe and a defeat of the Nazis would mean the end of Germany as a nation. They are thus facing a terrible dilemma. No one from outside—and probably no one from inside—can accurately sum up the present state of the struggle in the German churches. Theie are, as has been shown, hopeful signs of continued resistance. Yet the steady victories of Nazism over the churches in the realm of education are to be feared for their future, more than for their immediate, effect. And of .the measure of success attained here there is as yet no accurate gauge. It must be admitted that reports from the evacuation camps of city children—where all church influences are barred, ministers forbidden, religious literature banned and hymns outlawed—are highly disturbing as they reveal a quite thoroughly paganised youth. Until the churches cease to be prisoners of the censorship we shall continue to be deprived of any complete survey of the war within the War which began with Hitler’s rise and must continue so long as there is no effective overthrow of the Nazi Party.