Family Publications have come up with yet another first-rate book. "The Cross and the Third Reich" by John Frain looks at the opposition to Nazism from Catholics and other Christians. The focus of the book is principally on Catholic opposition (which was in fact stronger) but he does not ignore the heroic Christians of other Churches who stood up for the truth.Frain includes a detailed examination of the Concordat, of Mit Brennender Sorge, the currency" and "immorality" trials staged by the Nazis and the propaganda campaign which used them in an attempt to discredit the Church.
There is a rich chapter on individual opposition to Nazism, looking at figures such as Edith Stein and Cardinal Clemens von Galen, as well as those who are less well-known: Alfred Delp SJ, and key protestants who opposed the regime's injustices.
One of the important sources for the book is "The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich - Facts and Documents" published by Burns and Oates in 1940 and recently reprinted.
"The Cross and the Third Reich" is an inspiring read. It shows how heroic Catholics and other Christians responded there and then to Nazism as it was growing in Germany as a popular movement, supported by vast crowds and hysterical popular acclaim. It is easy with hindsight to say what people should have done. Far more challenging is to compare their own witness with ours in easier circumstances.
The Cross and the Third Reich is available from Family Publications (Hardback 336 pages £19.95) and from Amazon as below.
10 comments:
This may seem a bit roundabout but a friend (now deceased), who was a Jew and lived and worked in Germany all through the war,( he worked for Fokker), told me that the outstanding German pilot and leader, General Werner Molders, was deliberately killed by the Nazis, because of his support for Bishop Galen(?) who attacked the Nazis for their treatment of the Jews.
Hans told me that Hitler himself remarked that Molders was a devout, honourable Catholic gentleman and his support for the Bishop was only to be expected.
The death of Molders came about because he was ordered to attend the funeral of Ernst Udet who had committed suicide. The plane which Molders was travelling in ran out of fuel and crashed. Hans said that they did not dare attack Molders publicly because he was such a hero with the German public. His decorations were simply outstanding. He had an Iron cross with diamonds and oak leaves which was the highest decoration one could receive. So, the Nazis got rid of him by staging this "accident". They killed him because of his Catholicism.
That's what Hans told me anyway!
As someone who actually has a pilot's licence myself, I can tell you that no pilot, as experienced as Werner Molders was, would ever take off in an aircraft without sufficient fuel for the flight plus the obligatory reserve which must be on board in case of trouble.
JARay
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP's EU/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Yours sincerely
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's Vesper ON-LINE +
More From: www.spreadtheword.org.uk 's cityofsharedstories
YouTube - Roy Hobson (From Dark to Light Too)
8 Badlow Close,
Erith,
Kent DA8 3SA
Father, I beg to differ.
I think it is not easy to say what one should have done. The dilemmas faced by those occupied by the Germans meant that the right course was hard to identify. Resistance that achieved little of military benefit might bring heavy reprisals. What about the man who could work for the Germans to get money and extra rations or risk seeing his children suffer malnutrition. There may have been little or no choice of work.
The problems faced in the UK today are more subtle. Should a Catholic adoption agency risk having to assess a homosexual couple or give up its work and let the children suffer.
How do we know that we would have done the right thing?
So I think we must be slow to blame those who got it wrong.
Thank you for the post.
Peter - I think you have missed the point that I was trying to make. When I said "it is easy", I meant "easy" in the sense of lazy, requiring no effort, lacking in diligence etc. Hence I added the point about comparing own witness with ours in easier circumstances.
In fact, I agree with you entirely.
Father
Thank you, I reread what you said and had misunderstood.
I think that the bishops who allowed their adoption agencies to go against Church teaching were wrong but appreciate that this was a challenge with no good result.
Those who attack the Church are always likely to try to make us look racist, homophobic or otherwise uncaring. They will find some Church members to support them on each issue. This seems to be what is happening in the USA with the opposition to parts of the Obama health plan.
I hope that I can find the time to read the book.
Thank you
Peter
What if Richard Williamson is right about the "quote unquote Holocaust" where would that leave us all and the whole cult of WWII?
Bishop Williamson is wrong about the holocaust - around which there is not need to put scare quotes. It happened.
The Shoah has become an article of faith for an entire generation if not 3 or 4.
The curiousity is the cult of WWII and the way it has been turned into a religion complete with its onw theology: the "fall" at Munich, redemption under Churchill, Roosevelt and even Stalin. The moral certainty is extraordinary: "Bishop Williamson is wrong"!
Dear Father Finigan 999
Thank you for burying the wicked 666 lie that the Holocaust is a post WWII myth.
I shook hands with Mayor Johnson at the STATE OF LONDON DEBATE event at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre on Saturday 9th May 2009.
Since then Darren Johnson as the Chair of the London Assembly has provided written support for my FOOTBALL AGAINST RACISM IN EUROPE (FARE) case for the defence against neo-Nazi entryism into London's Sporting/Planning Arena 1991-2009, and Doreen Lawrence has also asked me to "keep up the good work".
Hitler stole the 'Olympic Dream' at the Berlin Games and as we as contemporary Europeans must ensure that history does not repeat itself in 2012. The SHADOW of the Third Reich,which lasted just 12 years, still generates it's evil malevolent influence:
'Pinko Duke
Your time is precious the clampdown is coming.
SS 33 The Watcher '
The above calling card was sent to my family home in Our Lady of the Rosary's Parish of Blackfen, Sidcup in the London Borough of Bexley prior to the individual FARE evidence that I gave alongside Yre (Youth against racism in europe) at the Crayford Inquiry in 1995, The subject in focus was the BNP Bookshop/HQ in Welling. The Oklahoma bomb exploded to coincide with the case for the defence and as an evil reminder of the international networking nature of the NAZI BEAST.
When I questioned the NF leader and BNP founder John Tyndall (succeeded as Chairman by Nick Griffin in September 1999) at the Crayford Inquiry about his spurious Holocaust denials and wicked lies he completely folded under examination and the NF/BNP HQ in Welling was subsequently closed down by the Government.
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP's EU/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Yours sincerely
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's Vesper ON-LINE +
More From:www.spreadtheword.org.uk 's cityofsharedstories YouTube - Roy Hobson (From Dark to Light Too)
8 Badlow Close,
Erith,
Kent DA8 3SA
SV - I don't think that the Shoah is an "article of faith" but a fact of history.
On WWII you may have a point - I do not agree, for example, with the carpet bombing of cities.
Post a Comment