Did the Catholics and the Protestants side with Germany in WWII?

Answer 1

Hitler appealed to German nationalism rather than Christian faith to unite Germany. However. a great many theologians sided with the Nazi movement. The religious opponents of Hitler were in a small minority. Reason being is they saw the Nazis as a patriotic bulwark against the atheistic Bolsheviks (communists).

One of the sloagans of the Nazi movement taken from Mein Kampf was "By Resisting the Jews I fight for the Lord."

Friction with the Churches began when Hitler wanted to appoint a "Reichs Bishop." A Reichs Bishop was to be the supreme leader of all Christian Churches. It failed but neverthless caused the eventual imprisonment of Martin Niemoeller.

Answer 2

There were Catholics and Protestants on both sides of the war. In Germany, most were not Nazis but were drafted into the armed forces.

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

That depends on which Catholics, and which Protestants. Nazi Germany executed a fair number of Christians for their faith, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Betsie ten Boom (sister of the more famous Corrie ten Boom, who also went to prison and suffered for her faith. Their father dies before he could be sentenced, also for resisting). There were also a large number of catholic and protestent churches under Nazi rule who cooperated. For a little more on the individual differences involved, see Frydland's book, referenced below. Yerachmiel Frydland was a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ from Poland, who was aided by many believers, but shunned by a number of local clergy. He survived the holocause, while his wife was discovered and executed.

Hitler may have at one time in his life been nominally Christian, but at the height of his regime, he was what might be called a social darwinist. His regime put to death those whe were judged to be genetically inferior, including many of his own countrymen who were in mental asylums, regardless of their religious affiliations. "Heil Hitler" was the legal way to greet one another, whereas the traditional German greeting using the name of God was illegal, and one could be taken away to prison for using it under Hitler. During his regime, Hitler was definitely not a Christian, and did not even view himself as one. The Hitler youth were taught various old Teutonic rituals as a replacement for Christianity.

People are people, now as well as then. Both Protestant and Catholic leadership now acknowledge and respect greatly the martyrs who died for their faith under Hitler. Both the Bible and the traditions of Catholicism, Protestantism, and the different forms of Eastern Orthodoxy teach that is is right to resist that kind of oppression.

Answer 4

nether, hitler was more into the occult then anything. the SS had a secret war on religion. since religion teaches murder is wrong and that we are all equals. since hitler didnt believe jews, gypses, homosexuals, and non-aryans are less then human and should be destroyed. so therefor Nazisim like Communism becomes the religion and the head, Hitler or Lenin, marx, stalin become gods. and the can push there mass to do anything they want.

Answer 5

i would say that some of them did, and some of them didnt. Hitler was christian, so anybody that believed in God had a better chance than someone who didnt. this is why he "picked" on the Jews. the fact that their beliefs were different than his was part of the reason. the other half was that he was crazy.