Page 181 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

168 The American Diplomats

fight. . . . i may say to those who think they have a monopoly on Heaven’s
blessings that 15 years ago i had nothing but my faith and my will. today
the movement is Germany—today this movement has conquered the Ger-
man nation and shaped the reich. Would that have been possible without
the blessing of the almighty? . . . What we are, we have become not against
the will of Providence, but by its will. . . . We will continue to have the
blessing of Providence.” White ended his dispatch with a warning that with
“this unblushing claim that divine providence is on his side,” Hitler had
indicated that there “will be little quarter and no surrender” in the struggle
with his Protestant and Catholic opponents. 56
in september 1935, the Nazi authorities gave Kerrl “virtually dictato-
rial powers over Protestant church matters,” and he used them with great
skill. He combined harsh treatment of the dissidents—arresting some of
the more recalcitrant activists—with a few conciliatory gestures, and by
November 27, according to dodd, both the Protestant and the Catholic
Churches “were in a state of unrelieved confusion.” some moderate con-
57
fessional Protestants and some Catholic dissidents were now inclined to
enter into agreements with Müller and his Nazi superiors. several leaders
of both churches, however, appeared ready to continue the fight because,
as dodd put it, “they are apparently now convinced of the anti-Christian
character of Nazi-ism.” 58
By late 1936, the reporting by american diplomats on the religious
conflicts tapered off. the volumes of documents published by the United
states department of state for the years 1937 and 1938 contain no dis-
patches entitled “relations of the Nazi regime with the evangelical and
roman Catholic Churches.” But this does not mean that Nazi pressure on
the churches had ended. in 1937 the government dissolved various Catho-
lic organizations throughout the country and in 1938 it concentrated on
outlawing Catholic youth organizations. even without touching on the
59
religious conflicts during 1937 and 1938, the numerous reports on the first
four years of Nazi rule indicate that the diplomats passed on a wealth of
information on the values and principles of government that animated the
leaders of Nazism. the Nazi views on Christianity were as primitive, dis-
torted, and dismissive of Western traditions as their views on international
relations, race, and the treatment of political opponents.

a “nucleus of the Nazi hierarchy” continued to persecute the churches on a reduced scale
even after the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, despite Hitler’s call for a truce to promote unity
for the sake of the war effort. see Conway, Nazi Persecution of the Churches, pp. 232–53.