How many Catholics were killed by Nazi Germany?

Answer 1

Pure rubbish. Hitler was long past being "Catholic" by any stretch of the imagination. He was trying to create his own religion which was based on Norse mythology.

According to the best estimates, 13 million Catholics died in WWII. Of that, nearly 4 million died in the hands of Germans in concentration camps and 3 million never even made it to concentration camps...they were killed on the streets and in the fields as members of the Underground.

The Reich Concordant was signed before Hitler became Fuhrer and before anyone knew what his plans were. The same man who signed it became Pope and was behind one of the biggest underground efforts to thwart the Nazis (the Assisi Underground and Roman Underground). They were hiding Jews in the Vatican, as well as in convents and monasteries throughout Europe. The Pope was held prisoner in the Vatican and wasn't allowed to leave for over 3 years.

Get off the idea that nothing happened to Catholics during WWII. More Catholics died in WWII than any other group--including Jews!...because they were the Italians, French, Poles, Dutch, Austrians, et al who were fighting to stop Hitler long before the US even decided to get itself involved.

Answer 2

It is only right to place the Jews first on the list of the Nazis' victims.

However millions of Catholics and other Christians were also killed. No one knows exactly how many. I've seen claims of up to 42,000,000 but I could not find documentation for this number.

One example, over 6 million Poles perished during WWII. That was 22% of the population of the country. Three million were Jews. Most of the rest were Catholics.

Also remember most the the allied military dead were Christians.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

don't quote me on this but not to many Catholics were targeted by the SS or any Nazi for that matter since Hitler was catholic him self and was given the popes blessing and given the right to appoint his own bishops in Germany and so many other things the only things the catholics really had to worry about in Germany at that time was helping to hide the Jews. now before the catholics chime in and say hitler wasn't catholic. lets look at the facts here ok u don't get italy as an ally with out the pope back then there are more facts to A.a) Hitler was baptized as Roman Catholic during infancy in Austria
b) Hitler was NEVER excommunicated nor condemned by his church. Matter of fact the Church felt he was JUST and “avenging for God” in attacking the Jews for they deemed the Semites the killers of Jesus.

f) Hitler, Franco and Mussolini were given VETO power over whom the pope could appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain and Italy. In turn they surtaxed the Catholics and gave the money to the Vatican. Hitler wrote a speech in which he talks about this alliance, this is an excerpt: “The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the Catholic Church. This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism [Nazism] is hostile to religion is a lie.” Adolf Hitler, 22 July 1933, writing to the Nazi Party

g) Hitler worked CLOSELY with Pope Pius in converting Germanic society and supporting the church. The Church absorbed Nazi ideals and preached them as part of their sermons in turn Hitler placed Catholic teachings in public education. This photo depicts Hitler with Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, the papal nuncio in Berlin. It was taken On April 20, 1939, when Orsenigo celebrated Hitler’s birthday. The celebrations were initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) and became a tradition.

Answer 4

Ryan s point is very much to the mark. But the Nazis were seriously threatened by the power of the Catholic Church. A very large portion of the army was made of Catholics. There are grounds to suspect that Catholics were sent to dangerous positions and for front line position. The sixth Army that got destroyed in Stalingrad may have been such a case. This explains why suicide was not committed by them even when Hitler ordered it. I write "may" because there is not, as far as I know, no proper statistical study of this. There are some beautiful cases of Catholic opposition to Nazism and to Hitler, including in Austria. But the Pope in Vatican could have made a difference. But I think the Vatican has learned and the Popes after that have been very much opposed to totalitarianism, opposed to racism, and opposed to persecution.

Answer 5

Estimated 2,500 - 3,000 Priest & Bishops. <1>

"The Nazis also targeted some religious groups, though Jews were actually the main target for total extermination during the Holocaust. Around 2,500-5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses perished in concentration camps, where they were held for political and ideological reasons. Additionally, some members of the Catholic clergy were killed by the Nazis, many of whom were either of Jewish background, as in the case of Edith Stein, or were killed as part of the Nazis campaign against the Polish intelligentsia. In the countries in which Roman Catholic bishops, and even Roman Catholics themselves had openly protested and attacked Nazi policies, like in the Netherlands and Poland where bishops and priests had protested to the deportations of Jews, the clergy was either threatened with deportation themselves and kept in custody (case of German bishop Clemens von Galen), or directly deported to concentration camps, as in the cases of the Dutch Carmelite priest Titus Brandsma and Polish Fr. Maximillian Kolbe (who was later canonized). Some dissenting Protestant clergy, such as those who founded the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, were also persecuted." <2>