Should Nazi Germany be considered the legacy of the Catholic Church since Hitler and Bavaria were Catholic?

Question

The Christians were clearly responsible for the Holocaust. Why? The Nazis were all from Christian backgrounds. Also, France and Italy and England appeased Hitler, despite their own Christian cultures.

Answer 1

Nazi Germany is more properly the legacy of the Versaille Treaty which ended the first world war. The reparations placed on the Germans by the French were backbreaking. Add the Depression, which hit Europe as hard as or hard than it did the US, and you have a country ripe for a demogogue.

Did the instititutionalized Catholic Chuch turn a blind eye to some of the Nazi offenses? YES, but then so did the US State Department. Individual Catholcs (priest, nuns and laypeople) often risked their lives in attempts to protect their Jewish neighbors. Others participated willingly in the evil.

Answer 2

Nazi Germany is the legacy of the German people. The Roman Apostacy was aware, as were Britain, Russia, and America, that atrocities were being carried out by the ruling powers in Germany. The Vatican turned a blind eye to Germany's ruthlessness toward the Jews because the Jewish community was a threat to Catholicism. There is no indication that Britain, Russia, or America overlooked the atrocities for any religious beliefs. There are many indications in history, that British, Russian, and American leaders knew, and advanced, World War II with Germany. Leaders from those three world governments were well aware of conditons in Germany in the mid 1930's. There were many expatriates living in Germany. The U.S., Britain, and Russia didn't just overlook the situation, they promoted it.

The fact that Hitler may have been a Catholic has nothing to do with Hitler's desire for world-dominence. The Pope was Catholic, too.

Answer 3

No, to be brief. The Catholic Church had no part to play in creating Nazi Germany, no matter what non-Catholics accuse the Catholic Church of doing. The Catholic Church, like politicians worldwide, merely turned a blind eye to what was happening.

Read Hitler's own Mein Kampf, read William Shirer's The Third Reich, instead of watching TV and listening to wild-eyed ignorant orations. You'll learn that the bonfire of Nazi Germany and WWII was created by Hitler's bitterness at personal failure, his exploitation of German peoples' unhappiness with the Weimar Republic, the Great Depression, the dreadful inflation in Germany (people bought bread with suitcases of German Marks), the heavy reparations payments Germany had to make post-WWI at the Treaty of Versailles, and the power-hungry greed of his compatriots. The Nazi Party formed of national socialist intent, was to make Germany for Germans and brought out the best and worst in human behavior.

Blaming all those preconditions on the Catholic Church is like blaming it on the weather. Try to study the context of how Nazi Germany got started, predeccessors to the Brownshirts (look it up) had been in action since the 1920s and the Nazi Party was elected in the 1930s - during the depths of the Great Depression.

Sorry to be blunt but the truth cuts like a knife sometimes.

Answer 4

The fact that you even propose such a preposterous question indicates you have an agenda here. What will be your next silly thought? That the Christian religion is responsible for the Holocaust?

Certainly, those who believe that religion is a problem to be overcome, not an effective contributor to conflict transformation, can point to numerous examples throughout the world where it has indeed fueled tensions between communities. However, this would be to ignore the work of a growing number of religiously-inspired peacebuilders. Emerging from a variety of traditions, they not only assert that their faith can be a constructive force in rebuilding war-torn communities, but have shown through their efforts that religious individuals and institutions can play a positive role in conflict transformation. In particular, over the past half-century, the Roman Catholic Church has evolved into a religious institution at the forefront of the struggle to promote peace and justice based on the dignity of the human person.

Answer 5

No.

Hitler freely chose his own very unchristian path.

Although Hitler was raised in a Catholic family, he left the faith and his writings clearly state that he despised all Christianity.

Nazism was atheistic and persecuted people of many religions especially Jews but including Catholics.

One example, over 6 million Poles perished during WWII. That was 22% of the population of the country. 3 million were Jews. Almost all of the others were Catholic.

The Catholic Church may have some things to answer for but Nazi Germany is not one of them.

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

No indeed. Do yourself a favor and, if nothing else, read a short book intitled "Germany 1870-1945" by Peter Pulzer. In it, Pulzer refers to Hitler's private contempt for the Churches of Germany, the Catholic Churche included, but how, recognizing their national influence, set about to appease them, at least during the early stages of the Nazi regime. With that in mind, one of the reasons the Catholic Church is accused of colaberation is because it openly took steps to preserve itself within the riche, and because, however coincidentally, Hitler, having seen the desasterous results, well prior to the Nazis rise, of Bismark's attempt to subjigate the Church, agreed to a Concordat with the Vatican. Rather than this amounting to some sort of acceptance of the Nazi regime by the Church, however, all the Concordat really did was grant parochial and educational independence in return for its staying out of politics.

As further evidence that the Catholic Church was far from being in favor of what was going on in Germany, Pulzer also mentions that, despite the Concordat, a Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich preached a series of what's known as Advent sermans expresly opposing Nazi racialist doctrine. This flies in the face of the Nazi creed and testifies to the fact that the Catholic Church most certainly did not indorse Nazism's doctrin.

If your interested in some heavier reading on the subject, Mr. Pulzer includes a list of other books which will provide greater detail.

Good luck with your research.

Answer 7

The allegation is sometimes made that Hitler was a Catholic - a Christian until the day he died. This claim is based upon the fact that Hitler was born and raised in a Catholic family.

However, as an adult, Hitler specifically rejected the Catholic Church, as well as Christianity in general. He described himself as "a complete pagan".

He felt that a lack of religion was necessary for a socialist state.

Answer 8

If Hitler was Catholic, why did he set up his own "National Reich Church," and do his best to reduce and diminish all Catholic presence in Germany?

And even if he had claimed to be Catholic, the answer is obviously no! Anyone can belong to the Church, or claim they do. That doesnt mean they ARE the Church.

Answer 9

A true Christian is someone who patterns their life after Jesus Christ and his teachings. Not just any schmuck who says that they are one. Hitler and the Nazi's could be considered the legacy of pure evil! Not Catholicism or Christianity. Do you believe that every Chinese person is communist simply because that is the form of government there? Is every Iraqi a sympathizer for Saddam Hussein and terrorists? Are all Africans poor and black just because so many are? Judge people as individuals, for their individual deeds.

Answer 10

You can't blame an entire religious movement because some psycho dictator said he belonged to the religion. The Catholic church in no way encouraged Hitler in his action so they can't be held responsible. If you want someone to blame, blame Hitler. It's not more complicated than that.