Religious views of Adolf Hitler: Difference between revisions

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	]Adolf Hitler was raised by a ] father and a devout Catholic mother; he ceased to participate in the ]s after childhood~~{{Citation~~ ~~needed~~\|~~date=October~~ ~~2012}}~~. In his book '']'' and in public speeches he often made statements that affirmed a belief in Christianity.<ref name="MeinKampf">Hitler, Adolf (1999). ''Mein Kampf''. Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, pp. 65, 119, 152, 161, 214, 375, 383, 403, 436, 562, 565, 622, 632-633.</ref><ref name="Speeches">Baynes, Norman H., ed. (1969). ''The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939''. New York: Howard Fertig. pp. 19-20, 37, 240, 370, 371, 375, 378, 382, 383, 385-388, 390-392, 398-399, 402, 405-407, 410, 1018, 1544, 1594.</ref> Prior to ] Hitler had promoted "]", a movement which purged Christianity of its ] elements and instilled it with Nazi philosophy.<ref>Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). ''The Holy Reich''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, , p. 252.</ref> According to the ] collection of transcripts edited by ], titled '']'', as well as the testimony of some intimates, ] had privately negative views of Christianity. Others reported he was a committed believer.<ref name="Toland" /><ref name="MRobert">Michael, Robert (2008). ''A history of Catholic antisemitism''. New York: Macmillan, </ref>		]Adolf Hitler was raised by a ] father and a devout Catholic mother; he ceased to participate in the ]s after childhood and supported the ] church which rejected the ]. <ref>Susannah Heschel, ''The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany'', Princeton University Press, 2008. pp 1-10</ref> In his book '']'' and in public speeches he often made statements that affirmed a belief in Christianity.<ref name="MeinKampf">Hitler, Adolf (1999). ''Mein Kampf''. Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, pp. 65, 119, 152, 161, 214, 375, 383, 403, 436, 562, 565, 622, 632-633.</ref><ref name="Speeches">Baynes, Norman H., ed. (1969). ''The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939''. New York: Howard Fertig. pp. 19-20, 37, 240, 370, 371, 375, 378, 382, 383, 385-388, 390-392, 398-399, 402, 405-407, 410, 1018, 1544, 1594.</ref> Prior to ] Hitler had promoted "]", a movement which purged Christianity of its ] elements and instilled it with Nazi philosophy.<ref>Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). ''The Holy Reich''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, , p. 252.</ref> According to the ] collection of transcripts edited by ], titled '']'', as well as the testimony of some intimates, ] had privately negative views of Christianity. Others reported he was a committed believer.<ref name="Toland" /><ref name="MRobert">Michael, Robert (2008). ''A history of Catholic antisemitism''. New York: Macmillan, </ref>

	==Views as a youth==		==Views as a youth==

Revision as of 13:36, 6 December 2012

Adolf Hitler was raised by a Catholic father and a devout Catholic mother; he ceased to participate in the sacraments after childhood and supported the Deutsche Christen church which rejected the Hebrew origins of the Gospel. In his book Mein Kampf and in public speeches he often made statements that affirmed a belief in Christianity. Prior to World War II Hitler had promoted "positive Christianity", a movement which purged Christianity of its Jewish elements and instilled it with Nazi philosophy. According to the controversial collection of transcripts edited by Martin Bormann, titled Hitler's Table Talk, as well as the testimony of some intimates, Hitler had privately negative views of Christianity. Others reported he was a committed believer.

Views as a youth

Hitler's father Alois, though nominally a Catholic, was somewhat religiously skeptical, while his mother Klara was a practicing Catholic. At the Benedictine monastery school which Hitler attended for one school year as a child (1897–1898), Hitler became top of his class, receiving twelve 1s, the highest grade in the final quarter. He was confirmed on 22 May 1904, and also sang in the choir at the monastery. According to historian Michael Rissmann, young Hitler was influenced in school by Pan-Germanism, and began to reject the Catholic Church, receiving Confirmation only unwillingly. Rissmann also relates a story where a boyhood friend claimed that after Hitler had left home, he never again attended Mass or received the sacraments.

According to an interview with a British correspondent years after the First World War, Hitler claimed a mysterious voice told him to leave a section of a crowded trench during a minor barrage. Moments after he left the trench, a shell fell on that particular spot. Hitler saw this experience as a message that he was a uniquely illuminated individual who had a special task to fulfill. This story did not, however, appear in Mein Kampf.

Views as an adult

Something of Hitler's religious beliefs can be gathered from his public and private statements, however they present a conflicting picture of a man who appears spiritual and yet against organized religion. Some private statements attributed to him remain disputed.

Public statements

In public statements, especially at the beginning of his rule, Hitler frequently spoke positively about the Christian German culture, and his belief in an Aryan Christ. Before his ascension to power, Hitler stated before a crowd in Munich: "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As a Christian, I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."

In a proclamation to the German Nation February 1, 1933 Hitler stated, "The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and co-operation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life."

Historian Joachim Fest wrote, "Hitler knew, through the constant invocation of the God the Lord (Template:Lang-de) or of providence (German: Vorsehung), to make the impression of a godly way of thought." He used his "ability to simulate, even to potentially critical Church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity," according to biographer Ian Kershaw. Kershaw adds that Hitler's ability also succeeded in appeasing possible Church resistance to anti-Christian Nazi Party radicals. For example, on March 23, 1933, he addressed the Reichstag: "The National Government regards the two Christian confessions as factors essential to the soul of the German people. ... We hold the spiritual forces of Christianity to be indispensable elements in the moral uplift of most of the German people."

According to Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer, Hitler remained a formal member of the Catholic Church until his death, and even ordered his chief associates to remain members, however it was Speer's opinion that "he had no real attachment to it." According to biographer John Toland, Hitler was still "a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite his detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within himself its teaching that the Jew was the killer of God. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of God — so long as it was done impersonally, without cruelty." Hitler's own words from Mein Kampf seem to conflict with the idea that his antisemitism was religiously motivated, stating: "In the Jew I still saw only a man who was of a different religion, and therefore, on grounds of human tolerance, I was against the idea that he should be attacked because he had a different faith."

In his book Mein Kampf Hitler made numerous religious pronouncements. In its pages, historian Richard Steigmann-Gall notes, "Hitler gave no indication of being an atheist or agnostic or of believing in only a remote, rationalist divinity. Indeed, he referred continually to a providential, active deity."

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

In an attempt to justify Nazi aggression, Hitler drew a parallel between militantism and Christianity's rise to power as the Roman Empire's official state religion:

"The individual may establish with pain today that with the appearance of Christianity the first spiritual terror entered into the far freer ancient world, but he will not be able to contest the fact that since then the world has been afflicted and dominated by this coercion, and that coercion is broken only by coercion, and terror only by terror. Only then can a new state of affairs be constructively created. Political parties are inclined to compromises; philosophies never. Political parties even reckon with opponents; philosophies proclaim their infallibility."

Elsewhere in Mein Kampf Hitler speaks of the "creator of the universe" and "eternal Providence." He also states his belief that the Aryan race was created by God, and that it would be a sin to dilute it through racial intermixing:

"The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will."

According to Steigmann-Gall, Hitler's references to Jesus, God as the "Lord of Creation" and the necessity of obeying "His will" reveals that Christianity was fused into his thinking. "What Christianity achieves is not dogma, it does not seek the outward ecclesiastical form, but rather ethical principles.... There is not religion and no philosophy that equals it in its moral content; no philosophical ethics is better able to diffuse the tension between this life and the hereafter, from which Christianity and its ethic were born," Hitler stated.

Derek Hastings sees Hitler's commitment to Christianity as more tenuous. He considers it "eminently plausible" that Hitler was a believing Catholic as late as his trial in 1924, but writes that "there is little doubt that Hitler was a staunch opponent of Christianity throughout the duration of the Third Reich."

Private statements

Hitler's private statements about Christianity were often conflicting. Hitler's intimates, such as Joseph Goebbels, Albert Speer, and Martin Bormann suggest that Hitler generally had negative opinions of Christianity, while Gen. Gerhard Engel and Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber report he was a believer.

It was Goebbels opinion that Hitler was "deeply religious but entirely anti-Christian." In his diary Goebbels reported that Hitler believed Jesus "also wanted to act against the Jewish world domination. Jewry had him crucified. But Paul falsified his doctrine and undermined ancient Rome." Albert Speer quotes Hitler stating, "You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"

Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber wrote in a confidential report that Hitler "undoubtedly lives in belief in God" and that he "recognizes Christianity as the builder of western culture." Historian Ian Kershaw believes that Hitler had deceived Faulhaber, noting his "evident ability to simulate, even to potentially critical church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity". Nazi General Gerhard Engel reported in his diary that in 1941 Hitler stated, "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."

The historical validity of other remarks has been challenged, particularly the English translation of Hitler's Table Talk. Historian Richard Carrier states, "It is clear that Picker and Jochmann have the correct text and Trevor-Roper's is entirely untrustworthy." One disputed example includes Hitler's statement that, "Our epoch will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity." Which Carrier translates from the original German as:

"I have never found pleasure in maltreating others, even if I know it isn't possible to maintain oneself in the world without force. Life is granted only to those who fight the hardest. It is the law of life: Defend yourself! The time in which we live has the appearance of the collapse of this idea. It can still take 100 or 200 years. I am sorry that, like Moses, I can only see the Promised Land from a distance.

In the Table Talk, Hitler praised Julian the Apostate's Three Books Against the Galilaeans, an anti-Christian tract from AD 362. In the entry dated 21 October 1941 Hitler stated, "When one thinks of the opinions held concerning Christianity by our best minds a hundred, two hundred years ago, one is ashamed to realise how little we have since evolved. I didn't know that Julian the Apostate had passed judgment with such clear-sightedness on Christianity and Christians.... the Galilean, who later was called the Christ, intended something quite different. He must be regarded as a popular leader who took up His position against Jewry... and it's certain that Jesus was not a Jew. The Jews, by the way, regarded Him as the son of a whore—of a whore and a Roman soldier. The decisive falsification of Jesus's doctrine was the work of St. Paul.... Paul of Tarsus (his name was Saul, before the road to Damascus) was one of those who persecuted Jesus most savagely." And author Konrad Heiden has quoted Hitler as stating, "We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have fanatical faith and hope and love in and for Germany."

Scholarly Opinion

According to Max Domarus Hitler promoted the idea of God as the creator of Germany, but Hitler was not a Christian or conservative. Domarus also points out that Hitler did not believe in organized religion and did not see himself as a religious reformer. According to historian Laurence Rees, "Hitler did not believe in the afterlife, but he did believe he would have a life after death because of what he had achieved." Historian Richard Overy maintains that Hitler was not a "practising Christian," nor was he a "thorough atheist." Samuel Koehne, a Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Research Institute, working on the official Nazi views on religion, answers the question Was Hitler a Christian? thus: "Emphatically not, if we consider Christianity in its traditional or orthodox form: Jesus as the son of God, dying for the redemption of the sins of all humankind. It is a nonsense to state that Hitler (or any of the Nazis) adhered to Christianity of this form." Koehne says Hitler was probably not an atheist and refers to the fact that recent works have asserted that he was a deist. According to Robert S. Wistrich Hitler thought Christianity was finished but he did not want any direct confrontation for strategic reasons.

Hitler simplified Arthur de Gobineau's elaborate ideas of struggle for survival among the different races, from which the Aryan race, guided by providence, was supposed to be the torchbearers of civilization. In Hitler's conception, Jews were enemies of all civilization, especially the Volk. Although Hitler has been called a "Social Darwinist, he was not such in the usual sense of the word. Whereas Social Darwinism stressed struggle, change, the survival of the strongest, and a ceaseless battle of competition, Hitler, through the use of modern industrial technology and impersonal bureaucratic methods ended all competition by the ruthless suppression of all opponents." His understanding of Darwinism was incomplete and based loosely on the theory of "survival of the fittest" in a social context, as popularly misunderstood at the time. According to Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, the Catholic priest Bernhard Stempfle was a prominent member of Hitler's inner circle and frequently advised him on religious issues.

Positive Christianity

For a time Hitler advocated positive Christianity, a militant, non-denominational form of Christianity which emphasized Christ as an active preacher, organizer, and fighter who opposed the institutionalized Judaism of his day. Positive Christianity purged or deemphasized the Jewish aspects of Christianity and was infused with aspects of nationalism and racial antisemitism. Hitler never directed his attacks on Jesus himself, whom Hitler regarded as an Aryan opponent of the Jews. Hitler viewed traditional Christianity as a corruption of the original ideas of Jesus by the Apostle Paul. In Mein Kampf Hitler writes that Jesus "made no secret of his attitude toward the Jewish people, and when necessary he even took the whip to drive from the temple of the Lord this adversary of all humanity, who then as always saw in religion nothing but an instrument for his business existence. In return, Christ was nailed to the cross." In a speech 26 June 1934, Hitler stated:

The National Socialist State professes its allegiance to positive Christianity. It will be its honest endeavour to protect both the great Christian Confessions in their rights, to secure them from interference with their doctrines (Lehren), and in their duties to constitute a harmony with the views and the exigencies of the State of today.

Former Prime Minister of Bavaria, Count Graf von Lerchenfeld-Köfering stated in a speech before the Landtag of Bavaria, that his beliefs "as a man and a Christian" prevented him from being an anti-Semite or from pursuing anti-Semitic public policies. Hitler while speaking the Bürgerbräukeller turned Lerchenfeld's perspective of Jesus on its head:

I would like here to appeal to a greater than I, Count Lerchenfeld. He said in the last session of the Landtag that his feeling 'as a man and a Christian' prevented him from being an anti-Semite. I say: My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. .. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison.

Historian Steigmann-Gall argues that Hitler demonstrated a preference for Protestantism over Catholicism, as Protestantism was more liable to reinterpretation and a non-traditional readings, more receptive to positive Christianity, and because some of its liberal branches had held similar views. These views were supported by the German Christians movement, but rejected by the Confessing Church. According to Steigmann-Gall, Hitler regretted that "the churches had failed to back him and his movement as he had hoped." Hitler stated to Albert Speer, "Through me the Protestant Church could become the established church, as in England."

Not all the Protestant churches submitted to the state, which Hitler said in Mein Kampf was important in forming a political movement. Hitler supported the appointment of Ludwig Müller as Reichsbischof over the Protestant churches, hoping that he would get them to adhere to Nazi positions. After 1935 Hitler was advised by the newly-appointed Reich Minister for Church Affairs Hans Kerrl. Many Protestants who were not persuaded by argument were arrested and their property and funds confiscated.

By 1940 it was public knowledge that Hitler had abandoned advocating for Germans even the syncretist idea of a positive Christianity.

Persecution of Christian Churches

In 1999 Julie Seltzer Mandel, while researching documents for the "Nuremberg Project", discovered 150 bound volumes collected by Gen. William Donovan as part of his work on documenting Nazi war crimes. Donovan was a senior member of the U.S. prosecution team and had compiled large amounts of evidence that Nazis persecuted Christian Churches. In a 108-page outline titled "The Nazi Master Plan" Office of Strategic Services investigators argued that the Nazi regime had a plan to reduce the influence of Christian churches through a campaign of systematic persecutions. "Important leaders of the National Socialist party would have liked to meet this situation by complete extirpation of Christianity and the substitution of a purely racial religion," said the report. The most persuasive evidence came from "the systematic nature of the persecution itself." However "direct evidence" of this plan might possibly be obtained through an examination of the "directives of the Reich Propaganda Ministry" or by the "questioning of Nazi newspapermen and local and regional propagandists". The O.S.S. outline suggested that the plan to neutralize the Churches was conceived by Hitler and an inner circle even before the Nazis came to power, however editor and historian Richard Bonney stated this conjecture was an "interesting, but undocumented, assertion." The report argued that "considerations of expediency made it impossible, however, for the National Socialist movement to adopt this radical anti-Christian policy officially." Historian Alan Bullock is in agreement with this view, and argues that once the war was over it was Hitler's intention to "root out and destroy the influence of the Christian Churches." According to its own self-assessment, however, the O.S.S. "document is still seriously lacking in evidence of probative value, and is consequently ill suited to serve as the basis for an international discussion."

Under the supervision of Alfred Rosenberg and Heinrich Himmler moves were made to reduce Christianity's presence in German traditions, such as replacing Christian elements in Christmas carols with pagan references.

Statements against atheism

Hitler often associated atheism with Bolshevism, Communism, and Jewish materialism. Hitler stated in a speech to the people of Stuttgart on February 15, 1933: "Today they say that Christianity is in danger, that the Catholic faith is threatened. My reply to them is: for the time being, Christians and not international atheists are now standing at Germany’s fore. I am not merely talking about Christianity; I confess that I will never ally myself with the parties which aim to destroy Christianity. Fourteen years they have gone arm in arm with atheism. At no time was greater damage ever done to Christianity than in those years when the Christian parties ruled side by side with those who denied the very existence of God. Germany's entire cultural life was shattered and contaminated in this period. It shall be our task to burn out these manifestations of degeneracy in literature, theater, schools, and the press—that is, in our entire culture—and to eliminate the poison which has been permeating every facet of our lives for these past fourteen years."

In a radio address October 14, 1933 Hitler stated, "For eight months we have been waging a heroic battle against the Communist threat to our Volk, the decomposition of our culture, the subversion of our art, and the poisoning of our public morality. We have put an end to denial of God and abuse of religion. We owe Providence humble gratitude for not allowing us to lose our battle against the misery of unemployment and for the salvation of the German peasant."

In a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933, Hitler stated: "We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."

In a speech delivered at Koblenz, August 26, 1934 Hitler states: "There may have been a time when even parties founded on the ecclesiastical basis were a necessity. At that time Liberalism was opposed to the Church, while Marxism was anti-religious. But that time is past. National Socialism neither opposes the Church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary, it stands on the ground of a real Christianity. The Church's interests cannot fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms of degeneracy in the world of today, in our fight against the Bolshevist culture, against an atheistic movement, against criminality, and in our struggle for the consciousness of a community in our national life, for the conquest of hatred and disunion between the classes, for the conquest of civil war and unrest, of strife and discord. These are not anti-Christian, these are Christian principles."

During negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of April 26, 1933 Hitler argued that "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith."

Islam and eastern religions

Among eastern religions, Hitler described religious leaders such as "Confucius, Buddha, and Mohammed" as providers of "spiritual sustenance". In this context, Hitler's connection to Mohammad Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem — which included asylum in 1941, the honorary rank of an SS Major-General, and a "respected racial genealogy" — has been interpreted more as a sign of respect than political expedience. Hitler expressed admiration for the Muslim military tradition and directed Himmler to initiate Muslim SS Divisions as a matter of policy. However, Nazi-era Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer acknowledged that Hitler was only cooperating with Muslim figures, such as al-Husseini, because he felt the antisemitic views they shared would eventually help him win power and influence over the Middle East in the long run. According to Speer, Hitler stated in private, "The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?" Speer also stated that when he was discussing with Hitler events which might have occurred had Islam absorbed Europe:

"Hitler said that the conquering Arabs, because of their racial inferiority, would in the long run have been unable to contend with the harsher climate and conditions of the country. They could not have kept down the more vigorous natives, so that ultimately not Arabs but Islamized Germans could have stood at the head of this Mohammedan Empire."

Hitler's choice of the Hindu Swastika as the Nazis' main and official symbol, was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The theory was inspired by the German archaeologist Gustaf Kossinna, who argued that the ancient Aryans were a superior Nordic race from northern Germany who expanded into the steppes of Eurasia, and from there into India, where they established the Vedic religion, the ancestor of Hindu and Buddhist faiths.

Role of religion in the Nazi state

Main article: Religion in Nazi Germany

In Hitler's political relations dealing with religion he readily adopted a strategy "that suited his immediate political purposes." According to Marshall Dill, one of the greatest challenges the Nazi state faced in its effort to "eradicate Christianity in Germany or at least subjugate it to their general world outlook" was that the Nazis could not justifiably connect German faith communities to the corruption of the old regime, Weimar having no close connection to the churches. Because of the long history of Christianity in Germany, Hitler could not attack Christianity as openly as he did Judaism, Communism or other political opponents. The list of Nazi affronts to and attacks on the Catholic Church is long. The attacks tended not to be overt, but were still dangerous; believers were made to feel that they were not good Germans and their leaders were painted as treasonous and contemptible. The state removed crucifixes from the walls of Catholic classrooms and replaced it with a photo of the Führer.

Hitler issued a statement saying that he wished to avoid factional disputes in Germany's churches. He feared the political power that the churches had, and did not want to openly antagonize that political base until he had securely gained control of the country. Once in power Hitler showed his contempt for non-Aryan religion and sought to eliminate it from areas under his rule. Within Hitler's Nazi Party some atheists were quite vocal, especially Martin Bormann. During negotiations relating to the Concordat with the Catholic Church and the Nazis state in 1933, Hitler expressed his view on the relationship between race and religion to Bishop Wilhelm Berning:

I have been attacked because of my handling of the Jewish question. The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc, because it recognised the Jews for what they were. In the epoch of liberalism the danger was no longer recognised. I am moving back toward the time in which a fifteen-hundred-year-long tradition was implemented. I do not set race over religion, but I recognise the representatives of this race as pestilant for the state and for the church and perhaps I am thereby doing Christianity a great service by pushing them out of schools and public functions

Hitler often used religious speech and symbolism to promote Nazism to those that he feared would be disposed to act against him. He also called upon religion as a pretext in diplomacies. The Soviet Union feared that if they commenced a programme of persecution against religion in the western regions, Hitler would use that as a pretext for war.

In 1985 the Austrian author Wilfried Daim published a photograph of an alleged document signed by Hitler in 1943, which proposed the:

"Immediate and unconditional abolition of all religions after the final victory ('Endsieg') not only for the territory of Greater Germany but also for all released, occupied and annexed countries ..., proclaiming at the same time Hitler as the new messiah. Out of political considerations the Muslim, Buddhist and Shintoist religion will be spared for the present. The 'Führer' has to be presented as an intermediate between a redeemer and a liberator, yet surely as one sent by God, who has to get godly honour. The existing churches, chapels, temples and cult places of the different religions have to be changed into 'Adolf-Hitler-consecration places'. The theological faculties of the universities have to be transformed into the new faith. Special emphasis has to be laid on the education of missionaries and wandering preachers, who have to proclaim the teaching in Greater Germany and in the rest of the world and have to form religious bodies, which can be used as centres for further extension. (With this the problems with the abolition of monogamy will disappear, because polygamy can be included into the new teaching as one of the statements of faith.)"

In his childhood, Hitler had admired the pomp of Catholic ritual and the hierarchical organisation of the clergy. Later he drew on these elements, organizing his party along hierarchical lines and including liturgical forms into events or using phraseology taken from hymns. Because of these liturgical elements, Hitler's Messiah-like status and the ideology's all-encompassing nature, the Nazi movement, like Communism, is sometimes termed a "political religion".

God, racism and anti-Semitism

To the extent he believed in a divinity, Hitler did not believe in a "remote, rationalist divinity" but in an "active deity," which he frequently referred to as "Creator" or "Providence". In Hitler's belief God created a world in which different races fought each other for survival as depicted by Arthur de Gobineau. The "Aryan race," supposedly the bearer of civilization, is allocated a special place:

"What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and the reproduction of our race ... so that our people may mature for the fulfilment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. ... Peoples that bastardize themselves, or let themselves be bastardized, sin against the will of eternal Providence."

In November 1936 the Roman Catholic prelate Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber met Hitler at Berghof for a three hour meeting. He left the meeting convinced that "Hitler was deeply religious" and that "The Reich Chancellor undoubtedly lives in belief in God. He recognises Christianity as the builder of Western culture".

Hitler viewed the Jews as enemies of all civilization and as materialistic, unspiritual beings, writing in Mein Kampf: "His life is only of this world, and his spirit is inwardly as alien to true Christianity as his nature two thousand years previous was to the great founder of the new doctrine." Hitler described his supposedly divine mandate for his anti-Semitism: "Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

In his rhetoric Hitler also fed on the old accusation of Jewish Deicide. Because of this it has been speculated that Christian anti-Semitism influenced Hitler's ideas, especially such works as Martin Luther's essay On the Jews and Their Lies and the writings of Paul de Lagarde. Others disagree with this view. In support of this view, Hitler biographer John Toland opines that Hitler "carried within him its teaching that the Jew was the killer of God. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of God..." Nevertheless, in Mein Kampf Hitler writes of an upbringing in which no particular anti-Semitic prejudice prevailed.

According to historian Lucy Dawidowicz, anti-Semitism has a long history within Christianity, and that the line of "anti-Semitic descent" from Luther to Hitler is "easy to draw." In her The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, she writes that Luther and Hitler were obsessed by the "demonologized universe" inhabited by Jews. Dawidowicz states that the similarities between Luther's anti-Jewish writings and modern anti-Semitism are no coincidence, because they derived from a common history of Judenhass, which can be traced to Haman's advice to Ahasuerus, although modern German anti-Semitism also has its roots in German nationalism. Catholic historian José Sánchez argues that Hitler's anti-Semitism was explicitly rooted in Christianity.

Mysticism and Occultism

Marriage

In the Führerbunker on April 29, 1945, a day before their suicide, Hitler and Eva Braun married in front of a civil servant in a cramped map room without a religious service or blessing ceremony. This was due to the difficulty of finding an official who could conduct the marriage legally. The problem was solved by Goebbels, who knew of a registrar named Walter Wagner who was fighting with the depleted Volkssturm.

References

Susannah Heschel, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, Princeton University Press, 2008. pp 1-10
^ Hitler, Adolf (1999). Mein Kampf. Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, pp. 65, 119, 152, 161, 214, 375, 383, 403, 436, 562, 565, 622, 632-633.
^ Baynes, Norman H., ed. (1969). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939. New York: Howard Fertig. pp. 19-20, 37, 240, 370, 371, 375, 378, 382, 383, 385-388, 390-392, 398-399, 402, 405-407, 410, 1018, 1544, 1594.
Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 13-50, p. 252.
^ John Toland, Adolf Hitler. New York: Anchor Publishing, 1992, p. 507.
^ Michael, Robert (2008). A history of Catholic antisemitism. New York: Macmillan, p. 111.
Smith, Bradley (1967). Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, p. 27. "Closely related to his support of education was his tolerant skepticism concerning religion. He looked upon religion as a series of conventions and as a crutch for human weakness, but, like most of his neighbors, he insisted that the women of his household fulfill all religious obligations. He restricted his own participation to donning his uniform to take his proper place in festivals and processions. As he grew older Alois shifted from relative passivity in his attitude toward the power and influence of the institutional Church to a firm opposition to "clericalism," especially when the position of the Church came into conflict with his views on education."
Smith, Bradley (1967). Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, p. 42. "Alois insisted she attend regularly as an expression of his belief that the woman's place was in the kitchen and in church....Happily, Klara really enjoyed attending services and was completely devoted to the faith and teachings of Catholicism, so her husband's requirements worked to her advantage."
Toland chapter 1; Kershaw chapter 1. By his account in Mein Kampf (which is often an unreliable source), he loved the "solemn splendor of the brilliant Church festivals." He held the Abbot in very high regard, and later told Helene Hanfstaengl that one time as a small boy he had once ardently wished to become a priest. His flirtation with the idea apparently ended as suddenly as it began, however. (Ibid.)
^ Rissmann, Michael (2001). Hitlers Gott: Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewußtsein des deutschen Diktators. Zürich München: Pendo, pp. 94-96; ISBN 978-3-85842-421-1.
Rees, Simon (2003-10-25). "A Slow Fuse — Hitler's World War One Experience". FirstWorldWar.com. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). See Toland, p. 64.
^ Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds." German Studies Review 26 (3): 561-576.
Heschel, Susannah (2008). The Aryan Jesus: Christian theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 8.
Speech delivered at Munich 12 April 1922; from Norman H. Baynes, ed. (1942). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 19.
Adolf Hitler. (1941). My New Order. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 144.
"Hitler wusste selber durch die ständige Anrufung des Herrgotts oder der Vorsehung den Eindruck gottesfürchtiger Denkart zu machen." J.C. Fest. Hitler. (German edition), p. 581.
Kershaw 1987, p. 109
"Hitler’s evident ability to simulate, even to potentially critical Church leaders, an image of a leader keen to uphold and protect Christianity was crucial to the mediation of such an image to the church-going public by influential members of both major denominations. It was the reason why church-going Christians, so often encouraged by their 'opinion-leaders' in the Church hierarchies, were frequently able to exclude Hitler from their condemnation of the anti-Christian Party radicals, continuing to see in him the last hope of protecting Christianity from Bolshevism."
Dennis Barton. (2006). Hitler's Rise to Power. www.churchinhistory.org.
Albert Speer. (1997). Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs. New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 96.
John Toland. (1976). Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography. New York: Anchor Books, p. 703.
Hitler, Adolf (1999) Mein Kampf. Trans. Ralph Manheim. New York: Mariner Books, p. 52.
Richard Steigmann-Gall. (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 26.
Hitler, Adolf (1999) Mein Kampf. Trans. Ralph Manheim. New York: Mariner Books, p. 65.
Hitler, Adolf (1969). Mein Kampf. McLeod, MN: Hutchinson, p. 562.
Hitler, Adolf (1999). Mein Kampf. Trans. Ralph Manheim. New York: Mariner Books, p. 562.
Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 46.
Hastings, Derek (2010). Catholicism and the Roots of Nazism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 181.
Bonney, Richard (2009). Confronting the Nazi war on Christianity: the Kulturkampf newsletters, 1936-1939 Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang Pub., p. 20.
Lang, Peter (2009). Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography. New York: Anchor Books, p. 703.
Friedländer, Saul (2009). Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945. New York: HarperCollins, p. 61.
Speer, Albert (1971). Inside the Third Reich. Trans. Richard Winston, Clara Winston, Eugene Davidson. New York: Macmillan, p. 143; Reprinted in 1997. Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-684-82949-4.
Kershaw, Ian (2001). The "Hitler Myth": Image and reality in the Third Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109.
Carrier, Richard (2002). "Was Catholic Hitler "Anti-Christian"? On the Trail of Bogus Quotes." Freethought Today 19 (November): 10-11.
Trevor-Roper, Hugh, ed. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. Trans. Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens. New York: Engima Books, p. 343.
Trevor-Roper, Hugh, ed. (2000). Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944. Trans. Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens. New York: Engima Books, p. 76.
Heiden, Konrad (1935). A History of National Socialism. A.A. Knopf, p. 100.
^ Adolf Hitler; Max Domarus (1 April 2007). The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-0-86516-627-1. Retrieved 6 August 2012. Cite error: The named reference "HitlerDomarus2007" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
Kelly, Jon (2001) "Osama Bin Laden: The power of shrines" BBC News Magazine (4 May).
Overy, R. J. (2004). The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 280-282.
^ Koehne, Samuel, Hitler's faith: The debate over Nazism and religion, ABC Religion and Ethics, 18 Apr. 2012
Robert S. Wistrich (1 May 2007). Laboratory for World Destruction: Germans and Jews in Central Europe. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 375–. ISBN 978-0-8032-1134-6. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
Fest, Joachim (1974). Hitler. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 56, 210.
Zalampas, Sherree Owens. (1990). Adolf Hitler: A psychological interpretation of his views on architecture, art, and music. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, p. 139..
Ellenberger, Henri (1970). The Discovery of the Unconscious: The history and evolution of dynamic psychiatry. New York: Basic Books. p. 235.
Sklair, Leslie (2003). The Sociology of Progress. New York: Routledge, p. 71. ISBN 978-0-415-17545-6
Hastings, Derek (2010). Catholicism and the roots of Nazism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 119.
Stackelberg, Roderick (2007). The Routledge companion to Nazi Germany. New York: Routledge, p. 136.
Steigmann-Gall 2003, p. 255
Steigmann-Gall 2003, pp. 257–260
Trevor-Roper, Hugh (2007) Hitler's table talk, 1941-1944. New York: Enigma Books, p. 76.
Hitler, Adolf (1998). Mein Kampf. Trans. Ralph Manheim. New York: Houghton Mifflin, p. 307.
Baynes, Norman H. ed. (1969). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. New York: Howard Fertig. p. 385.
Speech 12 April 1922; Baynes 1942, pp. 19–20
Steigmann-Gall 2003, p. 84
Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2007-06-01). "The Nazis' 'Positive Christianity': a Variety of 'Clerical Fascism'?". Kent State University. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
Steigmann-Gall 2003, p. 260
Speer, Albert (1970). Inside the Third Reich. New York: p. 95.
"Churchmen to Hitler". Time Magazine. 1936-08-10. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
Poewe, Karla (2006). New Religions and the Nazis. Routledge, p. 30.
Claire, Hulme. "The Nazi's persecution of religion as a war crime: The OSS's response within the Nuremberg Trials Process" (PDF). Rutgers University. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Sharkey, Joe (13 January 2002). "Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
^ Bonney, Richard ed. (2001). "The Nazi Master Plan: The Persecution of the Christian Churches" Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion (Winter): 1-4.
^ Office of Strategic Services (1945). The Nazi Master Plan. Annex 4. Ithaca NY: Cornell Law Library, p. 9. Cite error: The named reference "Annex 4p9" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
Bullock, Alan (1991) Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. New York: Harper Collins, p. 219.
"How Hitler and the Nazis tried to steal Christmas". The Daily Telegraph. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942, pp. 240, 378, 386.
Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942, p. 240.
Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942, p. 369-370.
Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942, p. 378.
Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942, p. 386.
Ernst Helmreich, The German Churches Under Hitler. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1979, p. 241.
Angebert 1974, p. 246
Angebert 1974, pp. 275–276 note 14
^ Albert Speer (1 April 1997). Inside the Third Reich: memoirs. Simon and Schuster. pp. 96–. ISBN 978-0-684-82949-4. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
"Origins of the swastika". BBC. 2005-01-18. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
^ Who Were the Aryans? Hitler's Persistent Mythology
Conway, John S. (1968). The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933–45. p. 3, ISBN 978-0-297-76315-4
^ Dill, Marshall (1970). Germany: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 365.
^ Dill, Marshall (1970). Germany: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 369.
Dill, Marshall (1970). Germany: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 363.
Zipfel 1965, p. 226
Miner 2003, p. 54
Thomsett 1997, pp. 54–55
Overy, R. J. 2004. The dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 286.
Nazi Germany & the Jews: The Years of Persecution 1933-39, Saul Friedlander, p.47, Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1997, ISBN 978-0-297-81882-3
Davies 1996, p. 975
Sage 2006, pp. 154–60
De George & Scanlan 1975, pp. 116–117
Wilfried Daim: "Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen Gab" (Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1985), pp. 216-218, 299
Rissmann, Michael (2001). Hitlers Gott. Zurich, p. 96.
Voegelin, Eric (1986). Political Religions. New York: Edward Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-88946-767-5. Discussion at Rissmann, p. 191-197.
^ Steigmann-Gall 2003, p. 26
Hitler, Ian Kershaw, p. 373, 2008, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-103588-8
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, 1999, p. 65.
Shirer 1960, pp. 91–236 argues that Luther's essay was influential. This view was expounded by Lucy Dawidowicz. (Dawidowicz 1986, p. 23) Uwe Siemon-Netto disputes this conclusion (Siemon-Netto 1995, pp. 17–20).
The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945. First published 1975; this Bantam edition 1986, p.23. ISBN 978-0-553-34532-2
José M. Sánchez, Pius XII and the Holocaust; Understanding the Controversy (Washington, D.C: Catholic University of American Press, 2002), p. 70.
Speech in Nuremberg on 6 September 1938. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Volume 1 Edited by Norman Hepburn Baynes. University of Michigan Press, p. 396.
Rosenbaum, Ron p. xxxvii, p. 282 (citing Yehuda Bauer’s belief that Hitler’s racism is rooted in occult groups like Ostara), p 333, 1998 Random House
Toland, John p. 45, 1976 Anchor Books.
Goodrick-Clarke 1985, p. x
Toland 1992
Entry for "Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail" at the Internet Movie Database
Fest 1973, p. 320
Hitler 1926, ch. 12
Goodrick-Clarke 1985, p. 202
"We will not allow mystically-minded occult folk with a passion for exploring the secrets of the world beyond to steal into our Movement. Such folk are not National Socialists, but something else—in any case something which has nothing to do with us." (Speech in Nuremberg on 6 September 1938)
Gunther 1938, p. 10
^ Jackson Spielvogel and David Redles: Hitler's Racial Ideology: Content and Occult Sources, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, 1997
Lambert, Angela (2007). The lost life of Eva Braun. New York: Macmillan, pp. 453-454.

Bibliography

Angebert, Jean-Michel (1974), The Occult and the Third Reich, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-02-502150-1.
Baynes, Norman (1942), The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939, vol. 1, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-598-75893-4.
Carrier, Richard (2003), ""Hitler's Table Talk": Troubling Finds", German Studies Review, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 561–576, doi:10.2307/1432747.
Davies, Norman (1996), Europe: A History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-820171-7.
Dawidowicz, Lucy (1986), The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945, Bantam, ISBN 978-0-553-34532-2.
De George, Richard; Scanlan, James (1975), Marxism and religion in Eastern Europe: papers presented at the Banff International Slavic Conference, September 4–7, 1974, Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Fest, Joachim (1973), Hitler: Eine Biographie, Propyläen, ISBN 978-3-549-07301-8.
Fest, Joachim (2002), Hitler, Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-15-602754-0.
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (1985), The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935, Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press, ISBN 978-0-85030-402-2.
Gunther, John (1938), Inside Europe, New York: Harper & brothers.
Hart, Stephen; Hart, Russell; Hughes, Matthew (2000), The German soldier in World War II, Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI.
Hitler, Adolf (1926), Mein Kampf, vol. 2.
Irving, David (1978), The War Path: Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939, New York: Viking Press, ISBN 978-0-670-74971-3.
Kershaw, Ian (1987), The ‘Hitler Myth': Image and Reality in the Third Reich, Oxford University Press.
Kershaw, Ian (2000), Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris, London: W. W. Norton & Company (published 1999), ISBN 978-0-393-32035-0.
Miner, Steven (2003), Stalin's Holy War, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0-8078-2736-9.
Rissmann, Michael (2001), Hitlers Gott. Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewußtsein des deutschen Diktators, Zürich München: Pendo, pp. 94–96, ISBN 978-3-85842-421-1.
Sage, Steven (2006), Ibsen and Hitler: the playwright, the plagiarist, and the plot for the Third Reich, New York: Carroll & Graf, ISBN 978-0-7867-1713-2.
Shirer, William (1960), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, New York: Simon & Schuster, retrieved 2008-04-28.
Siemon-Netto, Uwe (1995), The Fabricated Luther: The Rise and Fall of the Shirer Myth, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, ISBN 978-0-570-04800-8.
Speer, Albert (1997), Inside the Third Reich, Orion, ISBN 978-1-85799-218-2.
Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003), The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-82371-5.
Thomsett, Michael (1997), The German opposition to Hitler: the resistance, the underground, and assassination plots, 1938-1945, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-0372-1.
Toland, John (1976), Adolf Hitler, Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-03724-2.
Toland, John (1992), Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography, New York: Anchor, ISBN 978-0-385-42053-2.
Westerlund, David; Ingvar, Svanberg (1999), Islam outside the Arab world, New York: St. Martin's Press.
Zipfel, Friedrich (1965), Kirchenkampf in Deutschland 1933-1945, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co..

External links

Mein Kampf - by Adolf Hitler
Mein Kampf - by Adolf Hitler (published by Hurst and Blackett, 1939)
Introduction to The Holy Reich - by Richard Steigmann-Gall
Review of Richard Steigmann-Gall's Holy Reich - by John S. Conway

Adolf Hitler

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Führer Headquarters	Berghof (Kehlsteinhaus) Reich Chancellery (Führerbunker / Vorbunker) Adlerhorst Anlage Süd Felsennest Tannenberg Werwolf Wolf's Lair Wolfsschlucht I Wolfsschlucht II Special train (Führersonderzug)
Civilian residences	Braunau am Inn Linz Vienna (Meldemannstraße dormitory) Munich (16 Prinzregentenplatz) Obersalzberg (Kampfhäusl)

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Leo Rudolf Raubal Jr. (half-nephew)
Geli Raubal (half-niece)
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