And the Witnesses Were Silent: The Confessing Church and the Persecution of the JewsAn endlessly perplexing question of the twentieth century is how ?decent? people came to allow, and sometimes even participate in, the Final Solution. Fear obviously had its place, as did apathy. But how does one explain the silence of those people who were committed, active, and often fearless opponents of the Nazi regime on other grounds?those who spoke out against Nazi activities in many areas yet whose response to genocide ranged from tepid disquiet to avoidance? One such group was the Confessing Church, Protestants who often risked their own safety to aid Christian victims of Nazi oppression but whose response to pogroms against Jews was ambivalent. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Church Responses to Early AntiJewish Measures | 12 |
Early Church Statements | 20 |
Gutachten and Synodal Resolutions | 30 |
The Pastors Emergency League | 45 |
The Aryan Paragraph and the Protestant Press | 64 |
The Nuremberg Laws | 89 |
The Jewish Question after Steglitz | 100 |
Relief Work | 154 |
The Godesberg Declaration | 176 |
The Aryan Certificate for Theologians | 186 |
The Final Solution and the End of the Church Struggle | 192 |
Confessions of Guilt | 223 |
The Confessing Churchs Record under Nazism | 230 |
Notes | 237 |
Glossary | 287 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Albertz anti-Jewish anti-Semitism April Aryan paragraph baptism baptized Barmen Beckmann Bekenntnisse 1933 Berlin Bethge Bonhoeffer's Chancellery Chris Christian church church leaders clergy Confessing Church Confessional Synod congregation Consistory Council of Brethren Declaration Der Stürmer Dibelius Dietrich Bonhoeffer document Dritten Reich ecumenical Emergency League emigration Evangelische Kirche faith Fischer and Schäfer foreign former Archives German Christian German church German Evangelical Church Gesammelte Schriften Grüber office guilt Hannover Hermelink Hitler Israel Jewish Christians Jewish question Jews Judaism Juden Judenfrage Junge Kirche Karl Barth Kirche im Kampf Kirche in Deutschland Kirchenkampf Kirchliches Jahrbuch Klepper Landesbischof Landeskirche letter LKAVW Marahrens Martin Niemöller Meiser memorandum minister ministry Munich Nazi non-Aryan Christians November Nuremberg Laws Old Prussian Old Prussian Union Old Testament pastors persecuted Protestant Provisional Church Administration Prussian Union race racial regional church Reich Church response Schmidt schools September Siegmund-Schultze statement Steglitz Stuttgart Synod theological tians tion Volk Wilhelm words wrote Wurm