Hitler
How successful were the Nazis religious policies? Hitler's aim was to mould Germany's political and community life to fit in with his own ideas. German lives were to be controlled by the Nazi Party and independent organisations and institutions, for instance, political parties and trade unions were not permitted in the Germany state. These organisations also included the two major churches - Protestant and Catholic, which belonged to almost every German's life. The Nazis believed that Christianity was not necessary because they thought that the Germans required Hitler, not God, and t
At that time, Hitler was not in a strong enough position to shut down the Churches even though he desired to, since he might spark off unwanted opposition. For example, Hitler promoted his Pagan Faith Movement, which was the Nazis' alternative to religion. The Nazis saw the German Faith movement as a way to gain control of the German Evangelical Church, and gave them heavy support (In 1939, the Faith Movement attracted two or three quarter million Protestants) for as long as they felt the movement had a chance to succeed. However, he and the Pope made a neutral agreement (Concordat), which prevented the Catholic Church from speaking out politically. In conclusion, even though the Pope offered no leadership for opposition, Catholic martyrs still spoke out against Hitler's plans, so the Nazis were not as successful in keeping individuals quiet. On the other hand, not all Church leaders agreed to tolerate Hitler's actions. Therefore they wanted to abolish the faith. hey needed to concentrate on Germany's greatness. However, they were more successful with the Protestant Churches because the Nazis had more of a direct control over it, since they re-organised them. In addition, they saw the Churches as a threat since they assumed that they would speak out against his policies, for example, the Nazi persecution of the disabled as they were seen by Hitler as "unfit". Those who tried to speak out and carry out plots against Hitler were soon arrested and murdered. Instead, he used various strategies to gradually win over the minds of the Christian members of society. Since the Catholic Church was so major, Hitler could not control it, or just simply re-organise the Church as he did with the Protestant Church. Additionally, they got people to do as they were told and not to question and no body got a positive outcome for opposing the Nazis anyway.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
