did the nazis suceed in controlling the churches?

Answer 1

They managed to control the Catholic Church and some of the Protestant Church. However there was a group of Pastors like Pastor Niemoller and Pastor Schneider who formed a "Confessing Church" and refused to conform. They were sent to camps and killed.

Answer 2

The Nazis could hardly come out against the churches in Germany and Austria since almost everybody was Catholic or Protestant. They wouldn't have been able to put together much of an army if they did so. The churches were cowed like everybody else. The Nazis once in power would have gotten ridden of any religious leader who came up against them. If Germany had won the war they eventually would have replaced Christianity with a new "Aryan religion" based on myths. A better question would be "Why were the churches outside Germany and Austria silent about the racial policies of the Third Reich?

Answer 3

Indirectly yes. Pope Pius XII was in a position to condemn the Nazi persecution of the Jews. He had many opportunities via regular radio broadcasts and news releases to use the power of the Catholic Church to force the world's attention. He chose not to do so. He stepped aside and let countless Jews across Italy, many from neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of the Vatican, to be rounded up. Mussolini himself even hesitated initially and was a bit resistant to the Jewish roundups. The pope sat in silence an dindirectly contributed to the deaths of millions.

Answer 4

Yes

Answer 5

Yes--people met secretely in their basements or anywhere they wouldn't be suspected of gathering....