The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany

by Guenter Lewy

Book Overview

"The subject matter of this book is controversial," Guenter Lewy states plainly in his preface. To show the German Catholic Church's congeniality with some of the goals of National Socialism and its gradual entrapment in Nazi policies and programs, Lewy describes the episcopate's support of Hitler's expansionist policies and its failures to speak out on the persecution of the Jews. To this tragic history Lewy brings new focus and research, illuminating...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306809311
• ISBN13: 9780306809316
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Historically Accurate

The subject matter is controversial; no doubt about it. But sometimes the truth hurts. We have to be honest about what occurred in the past so we do not repeat it. This is probably one of the most authoritative texts on the subject. Another good read is "Constantine's Sword". This is a very interesting, accurate and informative read, albeit a little dry at times. Books like these can actually help the Church to avoid repeating past mistakes. The purpose is not to "bash" the church, but to document what occurred. What occurred does not put the church in a positive light. Let's face it folks, with the church comes good, and bad. Keep both in perspective.

One of the first to tell the truth

Rightwing Catholics cannot stand any criticism of the machiavellian policy which is correctly identified with the Catholic Church. Prof. Lewy was one of the first to tell the awful truth. He is a pioneer. If I hear one more time that Pius XI or Cardinal Faulhaber defended Jews I will scream! The Pope attacked racialism to be sure, but not in any way meaningfully to retard the Nazi program or the enrolling of Catholics in the racist scheme. The Cardinal defended Old Testament Jews, which meant he had nothing to say about the living Jews being beaten or shipped off to death camps in his midst in Cologne. The Catholic Church destroyed the Zentrum in Germany which before 1933 was the strongest anti-Nazi force. Thereafter Catholics fearing being regarded as unpatriotic Germans flew into the arms of the Nazis with enthusiasm. The Church bears considerable responsibility for the weakness of the anti-Nazi resistance.

Worth reading

A balanced, fair, detailed and scholarly book that could be of interest to all except those who are irrevocably, rigidly and unalterably pro- or anti-Catholic.

Painfully Fair

The Christian contribution and response to the actions of Nazi Germany, in particular the Holocaust, is perhaps the most apalling event in the history of Western civilization. One reads Mr. Lewy's contribution to Holocaust scholarship with an ever growing sense of rage. One's rage is not directed at the Catholic Church in particular, because there were no corporate heroes in this tragic episode. There were individual acts of heroism, to be sure, but at best the Church (and by Church, I mean Protestant as well as Catholic)is guilty of massive self-interest and moral cowardice. This book is a case study in the behavior of one group. A sense of fairness and dry scholarship pervades this book. One will not find diatribes here; neither will one find the selective omission of facts favorable to the church mentioned by one reviewer. One will find the facts laid out by someone who has bent over backward to give the benefit of the doubt but who has also laid out the case against the Church with the skill of a brilliant and experienced prosecutor. Only occasionally do his outrage and passion shine through, and then only in summary and conclusion paragraphs. Is the author fair? He is at pains to describe the persecution of the Catholic Church by the Nazis. He leaves no doubt that throughout the Nazi period, the very existence of the Church as a moral force was endangered by Nazi arrogance, contempt, deceit, and betrayal. The Church was, indeed, a wounded church, dealing from a position of weakness, not strength. And yet. In its zeal to protect the institution, the Church abandoned, perhaps forever, any claim it may have ever had to moral legitimacy (my claim, not Lewy's). Better for the German Catholic Church to have died a martyr's death than to live as Hitler's more or less willing pawn. People are more precious in God's sight than institutions.