Is Martin Luther and his Christian writings not responsible for the Holocaust?

Question

Why do Christians and K-12 teachers paint a heroic picture around Martin Luther and make Hitler look barbaric? Does Mein Kampf not include Martin Luther propaganda quotes referring to Jews? Were his writings about burning Jewish homes and exterminating Jews from the planet not taken seriously by the Nazis in Germany? We read over and over about one man taking on the horrible totalitarian Catholic Church and never do we hear about the protestant regressive ideals that include the anti semitic writings. Should protestant regressive differences not be included in the history of the reformation? Do people really believe that the holocaust could have taken place without Christian teachings? Do people really think that Hitler’s Jewish perspective did not come from Christian teachings? Will Christians ever admit to their religions wrong doings and take responsibility for the horrific history instead of blaming atheists????

Answer 1

The two major influences of German National Socialism at the beginning of the 20th Century?
1. The Roman Empire
The Roman Emperors Vespasian and Titus, destroyed Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews all over the globe. All this done under a pagan empire. Not Christian at the time. The first European country to deport all the Jews from their borders was England under King Edward I. This all was done for financial reasons to win the favor of the people:
1. By throwing out their creditors (Jewish lenders who had no problem with usury with non Jews) and absolving the people's debt. It is also suspected that the King probably owed creditors money and benefited from the expulsion.
2. Throwing out prominent merchants and disrupting an influence the Jews had on trade.

This all happened a good 200 years before Martin Luther! It wasn’t because a Pope told him to do so, it wasn’t because Martin Luther wrote a book about it, it was because early Europe and Europe of the Middle Ages was anti Semitic and suspicious of the Jews. I guess the Roman Emperors like Vespasian and Titus brought back their anti Semites to Rome, Europe and transplanted it. Again, it wasn’t the Pope (Rome at this point was staunchly anti Christian) and it wasn’t Martin Luther’s writing that prompted the Roman Emperors to destroy Jerusalem, and exile the Jews.

I would content that the majority of Anti Semitism in Europe was perpetrated more out of Political, Social and Cultural reason than religious. But hey, Europe has never had a problem with separating these factors with religion.


2. The German Metaphysical Philosophers
Heinrich Heine, a German Jew writer seemingly predicted the rise of National Socialism in German 100 years before it happened, but look at what he says about Christianity.

"Christianity -- and that is its greatest merit -- has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. ...
The old stone gods will then rise from long ruins and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and Thor will leap to life with his giant hammer and smash the Gothic cathedrals. ..
... Do not smile at my advice -- the advice of a dreamer who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, and philosophers of nature. Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder ..comes rolling somewhat slowly, but ... its crash ... will be unlike anything before in the history of the world. ...At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in farthest Africa will draw in their tails and slink away. ... A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."

He points out that the German Metaphysical Philosophers like Kant and Ficht where more insidious than Christianity. Remember, it is the German Metaphysical Philosophers that gave Europe the concept of the "Unter Mensch" which the National Socialists exploited.

Does Mein Kampf not include Martin Luther's propaganda quotes referring to Jews?
I would wager to bet you have never read Hitler's Mein Kampf or Luther's The Jews and Their Lies. The two books read very differently and there is NO EVIDENCE that Hitler used Luther's obscure 60 page little book.

Were his writings about burning Jewish homes and exterminating Jews from the planet not taken seriously?
Again your lack of knowledge on the book "The Jews and Their Lies" shows. If you had read the book you would have known that you have to read pretty deep into the books before any action (other than keeping your guard up against these people and not believing what they were saying) is even suggested. After reading the book I DO NOT get the impression that he was speaking to the whole of Judaism (past, present and future). It appears to be more geared towards a certain group/sect of Jews that were prosletizing in Germany against Christianity. Again if you read Luther's book, he spells out where these Jews have gone wrong, strayed from their religion and why they were insidious to Christian Europe. To be honest, he would probably write the same things in 2007 about our society and culture.

Compare that to the word and motivation of Hitler who drove to remove anything Jewish from Europe and the face of the earth. Hitler's Christianity was not that of Luther's and the Reformations.

++++++++++++++++++
Mo Mosh,
Where is your proof that Hitler used Luther's ideas or text? Other than Shirer's assertion?

Answer 2

Martin Luther was insane when it came to the Jews. He was obsessed with them the way Hitler was, and yes, Luther was a major contributor to the Holocaust, that is, in the process of poising the minds of Europeans.

Luther had plenty of ideas on how best to slaughter Jews (no gas chambers in his day).

If people would only read his lunatic writings (the stuff they conveniently don't cover in the k-12 history curriculum)

Answer 3

There was a story, variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln, a young boy came running up to his father on their farm and said, "Sister and the hired hand are in the loft of the barn. They took their clothes off and look like they are going to pee all over the hay!" The father calmed the boy and looked serious as he said, "Well, you've got your facts right, but your conclusion is all wrong."

Check the link below and tell me where Martin Luther had any thing at all to do with it, other than being a German historical figure.

Answer 4

I couldn't agree more.

"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church… a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.”
— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

"What shall we do with ... the Jews? ...set fire to their synagogues and schools and bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them."
— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

It's so hard to believe the above quote came from somebody so reasonable and level-headed...

"Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism ... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets."
— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

"Without centuries of Christian antisemitism, Hitler's passionate hatred would never have been so fervently echoed."
— Robert Runcie, (1921-2000), British ecclesiastic, Archbishop of Canterbury

Answer 5

Hitler was associated with the Catholic church, if any church affiliation during the Holocaust. Thus, your argument flops because research shows that Luther was doing that whole "Protestant Reformation" against the Catholic church.

Secondly, most historians would agree that Hitler used the Catholic church as his aide to gain political support.

Finally, I've never blamed atheists for Hitler's lifestyle. I blame Hitler and his regime for it. You can't blame Christians for it. You can't blame the Catholic church for it. you can't blame atheists for it.

Answer 6

martin luther had his flaws, like hitler, and was by no stretch of the imagination perfect.

its true, when few jews were interested in what he had to say about jesus, he grew rather....bitter.