The Nazi Party and religion

Key learning points

1. Germany was a deeply religious country and the Nazis saw this as a source of opposition, requiring state control.
2. In 1933, Hitler signed a Concordat with the Pope - but soon broke his promise not to interfere with the Church.
3. Catholic schools and youth groups were dismantled as part of Nazi religious control.
4. A new state Church, the Reich Church, was set up to promote Nazi ideas and unify the Protestant Churches.
5. Some Church leaders resisted Nazification and, despite arrests and pressure, the Nazis never fully controlled religion.

Keywords

• Reich - meaning empire; under the Nazis, it referred to the Third Reich, their name for Hitler’s regime, which they saw as the third great German empire after the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire

• Vatican - the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, based in Vatican City, an independent state in Rome; it is led by the Pope and acts as the Church’s spiritual and diplomatic authority

• Concordat - a formal agreement between the Vatican and a government, usually about the rights of the Church within that country

• Nazification - the process of bringing institutions and daily life under Nazi control, influencing schools, churches, and local organisations; part of a wider Nazi policy known as Gleichschaltung (coordination)

Common misconception