Language:
German
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Kirche und Israel; Neukirchener theologische Zeitschrift
Angaben zur Quelle:
4,2 (1989) 123-148
Keywords:
Church history 20th century
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Kristallnacht, 1938
Abstract:
Analyzes the reaction of the Churches, particularly the Protestant Churches, to "Kristallnacht." Although reports of the Sicherheidtsdienst record opposition to the Nazi excesses on the part of laypersons, especially Catholics, official Church bodies passed over this event in virtual silence. A number of local ministers condemned the action in their sermons, but others defended or welcomed it. Several regional churches denied their ministrations to non-Aryan members, while theologians quoted Luther's antisemitic polemics and were at pains to show that the Church's expropriation of the Old Testament from the Jews was evidence (paradoxically) of its anti-Judaism. These attitudes were caused by fear, national solidarity, and the Lutheran doctrine of the non-involvement of the Church in politics, but also had roots in the anti-Jewish tradition of the Church and especially in Luther.
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