Kirchenkampf

The author tries to evaluate the “Kirchenkampf” (Church struggle) from a political viewpoint in retrospect. He is aware that only those who really felt the immense pressures of these days can truly appreciate and understand the heroic acts of some players during the events described. The time period addressed is the first year after Hitler’s rise to power when the author was church liaison in the Interior ministry. He was removed from this post by personal order of Hitler in February 1934. He sees the “Kirchenkampf” not as a fight against the churches but for the churches as an institution of spiritual power anchored deeply in the conscious of the people. Hitler realized that a direct confrontation would be counterproductive. Jesus was replaced with Hitler’s persona. The pulpits were a necessary tool for party propaganda. The churches should be conquered by the church. (“Glaubensbewegung deutsche Christen” – movement of German Christians). The Concordat is seen as a foreign policy success of the Nazis. Many of the events during the year 1934 are retold through the author’s diary entries. In the last chapter the author provides insights into the nature of National Socialism from its very beginnings. The biggest lesson learned from the Hitler years should be the high value of freedom and its legal expression and protection in a constitution.