SECTION V
Chapter 19 - Nazism

  "This cleaning up of our culture must extend to nearly all domains.
   Theater, art, literature, movies, the press, posters, and window
   displays must be cleaned of the symptoms of a rotting world and
   put into the service of a moral idea of state and culture.  Public
   life must be freed from the suffocating perfume of modern eroticism...
   It is the affair of the state...to prevent a people from being driven
   into the arms of spiritual lunacy."

                          --Adolf Hitler, MEIN KAMPF


  "They first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up--
  because I was not a communist.

   Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up--
   because I was not a Jew.

   Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up--
    because I was not a trade unionist.

   Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up--
   because I was a Protestant.

   Then they came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up."
             Pastor Martin Niemoeller
             (prisoner in Hitler's Nazi camps)


The Enlightenment in Germany

     The Germans had played an important role in the development of the
Enlightenment. It was Johanne Guttenberg's invention of movable type for the
printing press that was probably the most powerful force in spreading new
ideas and knowledge among the populace--breaking the monopoly of the Catholic
Church.  Germany also had its share of early scientists who were contemporaries
of Galileo and Newton. The brilliant Johann Kepler (1571-1630) was a German.
His observations on the motions of the planets helped disprove Ptolemaic
astronomy, and prepared the way for Isaac Newton's famous principal of
universal gravitation.  Likewise, the German physician Paracelsus (1493-1541)
set the precedent for using observation and experience to treat his patients--
as opposed to blindly following the teachings of the ancient authorities.

  During the seventeenth century, there was a demand for military engineers
to understand the new phenomenon of gunpowder and cannon balls shot from
guns. This, in turn, spurred interest in other scientific areas such as in the
understanding of vacuums and magnetism. In 1646, the German engineer Otto von
Guericke invented a vacuum pump which proved to be so strong, that to
everyone's amazement it could not be pulled apart-- even by a team of horses.

  It was Emperor Frederick the Great (1740-1786) who formally brought the
Enlightenment--and its ideals of rationalism and tolerance, to Germany.
Frederick, who had been a great fan  of Voltaire's, attempted to rule Prussia
as an all-powerful, but "enlightened" king.  He granted equality of rights
to all religions (including Judaism) and encouraged a "humane" restraint on
blood and gore in his numerous war campaigns.

  Gotthold Lessing (1729-81), a liberal dramatist and philosopher, argued that
spiritual truths could be found in all the great world religions--be one a
Christian, Jew, or Muslim.  He viewed these religions as steps along a
ladder that lead towards the spiritual evolution of mankind.  One of Lessing's
friends was Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), who urged his fellow Jews to view 
their religion as spiritually similar to other religions, and to join in with 
the movement of the Enlightenment.

   The influence from the Enlightenment reached into higher education, which
encouraged investigative research into the new sciences and technologies.
Germans founded technical high schools where German students were promoted
based on their ability, instead of their social class. (English aristocrats
were appalled at this development, and hoped it would not spread to England!) 
In such an environment, German industry excelled, especially in such areas 
as chemistry--leading to the growth and development of powerful 
pharmaceutical and dyestuff companies.

   Still, the Enlightenment was of much less importance in Germany, than it
was in either France or England.  After Frederick the Great died in 1786, he
was succeeded by Frederick William II, who stood opposed to the liberal ideals
of the Enlightenment.  Under Frederick William II, Prussia imposed an edict,
which forbade any school or university from teaching any doctrine that
deviated from Lutheran Protestantism.  (Immanuel Kant was censured under
these new rules for teaching his liberal philosophies.)

Rise of "Volk" Romanticism in Germany

   After Napoleon's forces had taken control over Germany, the Holy Roman
Empire was formally dissolved. Many Germans had reacted to this humiliation--
imposed by their French conquerors--by defining their nationalistic ideals
in direct OPPOSITION to the French. French liberal ideals--liberty, equality,
and fraternity--became especially despised, and pronounced "un-German".

   In its place, German writers began stirring up feelings of "Volk" culture
(roughly translated as folk culture, but signifying a cultural heritage and
outlook as a people). Increasingly, German intellectuals who had identified
with the ideals of the Enlightenment, became denounced as radical, left-wing
sympathizers of the French Revolution.  In its place, a new conservative form
of Romanticism, led by such German philosophers as Hegel, swept through the
German intellectual community.

  Hegel and other German philosophers began stressing the greatness of the
German national character.  They claimed that the State did NOT negatively
influence the individual, as liberals claimed.-- Instead they proclaimed
that the State was the source of spirituality and virtues, which could forge
the citizenry into a new world order!

  While the French had espoused views of equality of all men (even Jews)--Volk
culture spoke of the SUPERIORITY and STRENGTH of the German people to lead
the human race towards a new salvation.  For example, the philosopher Johann
Gottlieb Fichte, known as the father of German nationalism, wrote on his
fellow Germans:

  "...Among all modern peoples it is you in whom the seed of human
   perfection most decidedly lies, and on who are charged with progress
   in human development. If you perish in this your essential nature, then
   there perishes together with you every hope of the whole human race for
   salvation from the depths of its miseries." (Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
   REDEN AN DIE DEUTSCHE NATION (Berlin, 1808), p 488)

Jews Defined as the "Enemy" of the German "Volk"

  Jews had increased in numbers throughout Germany as a direct result of the 
new religious freedoms they had received in 1871. Because of the high value 
place by Jews on learning, a disproportionate number of them had become 
doctors and lawyers--thus drawing further attention to their presence--and 
making it easier for them to be blamed for Germany's problems.

  To the German people, the French were the EXTERNAL enemy of the "volk"--but
it was the Jews who were the INTERNAL enemy of the "volk".  Because the Jews
had benefited from the political environment under Napoleon, and later Bismark,
Jews were also identified in the German mind with the ideas and values of the 
French Revolution.  Jews were "outsiders" in Christian feudal Germany, and the 
Volk culture that was evolving kept the old religious hatreds-- now redirecting
them largely along nationalistic lines.

  This view can again be seen in the writings of Christian Friedrich Ruhs
(1781-1820), a history professor at the University of Berlin, who argued
that Jews should NOT enjoy the rights of German citizenship because,

  "a foreign people cannot obtain the rights which Germans enjoy partly
   through being Christians...Everything should be done to induce [the
   Jews]...to accept Christianity and through it to be led to a true
   acquisition of German ethnic characteristics and thus to effect the
   destruction of the Jewish people." (Adler, THE JEWS IN GERMANY, p 71
   as quoted by Lucy S. Dawidowicz, THE WAR AGAINST THE JEWS-- 1933-1945
   (Bantam Books, 1975,1986,p 28. Previous paragraph references her p 27-8)

   As the Romantic movement swept through Europe, German writers reacted by
romanticizing their past. There developed the "volkish" (Pan-German) view
that Germans had once belonged to an ancient superior race of men-- the Aryans.
They had FALLEN from a Golden Age because of the infiltration of their culture 
By foreign (Jewish) elements.

  Richard Wagner, the famous German composer, had been greatly influenced by
these romantic and racial views of Germany's past. Wagner wrote eerily
beautiful operas on the romanticized glorious past of the German people.
Rabidly anti-semitic, Wagner claimed the Jew was "the devil incarnate
of human decadence".  Only a blood purification would save Aryans in the
future.  Hitler, who was a devoted fan of Wagner's once said to a friend,
"Behind the absurd externals of the story, with its Christian embroidery
and its Good Friday mystification, something altogether different is
revealed as the true content...pure, noble blood, in the protection and
glorification of whose purity the brotherhood of the initiated have come
together."  (Sklar p 146)

Romantic Reaction to the Industrial Revolution in Germany--and the "Aryan"
  Ideal.

  European romanticists, who had inveighed against the new evils of the
technological industrial "revolution" had become excited with the new
translations of Eastern classics that spoke of glorious ancient civilizations
and traditions. After Napoleon's army had conquered Egypt in 1798, the French
had discovered the Rosetta Stone.  After Champollion solved the enigma of
hieroglyphic writing on the Rosetta Stone, stories and relics of ancient
Egyptian civilization became the rage throughout Europe. (A large number of
European museums today are filled with Egyptian mummies and other artifacts
which date back from around this time.)

  With the translation of ancient Sanskrit texts, Indian lore and folk legend
also became popularized by Romantics throughout Europe.  In the 1780s. Sir
William Jones, an Englishmen, decided after comparing the ancient languages
of Indian Sanskrit, Greek, Persian, Latin, Celtic and German--that they
were all related. From this he speculated that they had all evolved from some
"lost" mother tongue. He called this lost language "Aryan" after the Aryan
tribes who had invaded India and Persia. This view became greatly romanticized
over the next century, as many German intellectuals (though disagreeing on the
details) romanticized on what MUST HAVE BEEN (!) a glorious past.

  Muslim writing had spoken disparagingly of the Hindus--whom they considered
superstitious and barbaric.  But, conservative German romantics became
especially enamored with Indian philosophy and religion--and its views of a
glorious Golden age on earth. The philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder
(1744-1803) and others had romanticized that its gods of nature had moved
around the earth, directly involving themselves with the affairs of men. The
stories touched off a new spiritual view that each Volk (people's) culture was
animated by its own, unique spiritual force. Von Herder argued that the German
Volk culture had contributed more than any other culture to civilization. The
current state of despair and dejection of the Germans resulted from a fall
from an earlier glorious Golden Age on earth--one which could only be regain
through the spiritual reunification of the Germanic Aryan peoples.

   An important aspect of this theory involved its doctrine of the superiority
of white races over darker ones. In the mid 1800's German philologists theorized
that the Aryan ruling classes of India (which have light skin compared to the
dark skins of the lower castes) had originally been a Germanic tribe--and thus
the mystical symbols and gods of the Indians had at one time been shared by the
ancient Germans as well.

  Unlike the rest of Europe (which largely viewed the Renaissance as the
rebirth of Christian civilization from a dark age) German romantics hailed
the Middle Ages as their past golden age.  These times were viewed as a period
when mankind was in a simple, but purified relationship with God--when religion
and government had co-opted in a state of blissful unity. The strong hierarchy
with its kings and knights also appealed to their longing for authority and
structure. The Order of the Teutonic Knights from the twelfth century German
crusades, was especially revered because of their reported supernatural
powers and strength.

    German writers also saw this as a time when their ancestors had lived
in an idyllic relationship with nature--when spiritual FEELING had played
an integral part of living--and before the abuses of civilization and reason
had lead mankind towards his present dysfunctional and dejected state.
(Note the influence of Rousseau). Instead of reason, feeling was praised
as a source of illumination and natural powers. It was believed that ESP
(extra-sensory powers) could be used to communicate with great German
spirits-- who projected a presence that could be experienced by the living.

   Darwinism's survival of the fittest model became romantically adapted to
envision the Law of the Fittest as effected by a "Will"--which purposefully
directed the molding of human development apart from the lower animal kingdom.
From this, it was reasoned that the racially superior Aryan race must look to
strength in clawing its way to the top, as the rightful leaders over the
lower, inferior races.

   This was of course, a gross misrepresentation of Darwin's original theory.
Darwin had instead emphasized mankind's "lowly origin" because of his
relationship to the animal kingdom. For example, Darwin stated at one point:

  "Man...still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly
  origin".

German Volk writers took Darwin's theory, but dropped Darwin's interpretations--
substituting in its place, their "own" ideology (morality).

The Development of the Concept of the "Superior" Aryan Race

    A Frenchman named Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882) was one of the first
to write on the belief that RACE was the determining factor in the rise and
fall of great civilizations. Appalled by the "democritization" of liberal
French politics following the revolution, Gobineau developed an elitist
theory that envisioned Aryans as the superior race on earth. According to
Gobineau, it was after the racially pure Aryans had been bastardized by
intermarriage with foreign decadent elements, that the fall from the Golden
Age had occurred. In India, even the presence of the strict caste system had
not been sufficient to protect the ruling Aryans from being defiled by
their darker skinned, inferior races.  In Germany, per Gobineau, it was the
Jews--a product again of dark-skinned creatures, who caused the downfall of
Germany's greatness.

  A German anthropologist, professor Hans F.K. Gunther used his position as
a scientist to "prove" the superiority of the Nordic peoples. Gunther admitted
that Germany contained a mixture of many races, but believed that Germany
contained a HIGHER percentage of Nordic peoples than any other nation on
earth.  He wrote extensively on what made the Nordic race superior. For
example Gunther believed the Nordic race invented both soap and the hairbrush.
He wrote how the  Nordic race was extraordinarily brave, highly athletic, and
preferred the colors blue and pale green. Nordics were naturally more virtuous
that other races-- Gunther's "keen" observation skills even noted that Nordic
women were much more likely to keep their legs together when sitting down in
streetcars, than their nonNordic women counterparts.

  Views, such as those of Gobineau's, were popular with the aristocracy in
Germany, because its precepts served to combat the ideals of democracy and
freedom-- which they believed had become dangerously popular after the
French Revolution. Both Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche were strongly
influenced by Gobineau's views.

Fredrich Nietzsche's Atheist "Supermen"

  Some agnostics and atheists in Germany (including persecuted German Jews)
were attracted to liberal movements such as republicanism and socialism.
However other agnostic/atheists joined in with their religious counterparts
in embracing the new racist, superior Volk culture. Of these, Fredrich
Nietzsche was undoubtedly the most outrageous and controversial.

  Nietzsche (d 1900) showed the influence of the Romantic movement, and
its belief that man's "Will" could mystically mold his own destiny.  He
passionately believed that evolution would lead to a higher order of human
species-- the supermen (translated "Ubermensch" in German). Nietzsche
rejected the mindless, random element of Darwin's evolution. Per Nietzsche,

  "The influence of environment was grossly overrated in Darwin: the essential
   factor in the life process is precisely the tremendous inner power to
   shape and create forms which utilize and exploit 'external circumstances.'"

Nietzsche saw evolution as occurring more along Lamarck's theory. (Lamarck's
theory of evolution argued that giraffes acquired their long necks by
stretching for leaves on high branches, and passing this trait on to their
children).  Nietzsche likewise saw human intellectual ability as being
passed on to their offspring.

  In his THE WILL TO POWER, Nietzsche argued that there was a drive or
"will to power" which is the basic expression of man's vital energies.
This "will to power" was more than simply the will to survive--and instead
encompassed the desire to achieve one's full potential in life. Per Nietzsche,
"the strongest and highest Will to Life does not find expression in a miserable
struggle for existence, but in a Will to War.  A Will to Power, a Will to
Overcome."

   Historically, there developed two branches of morality-- the MASTER
morality and the SLAVE morality. The MASTER morality arose from "noble"
virtues such as strength, independence, and self-glorification. The noble
individual did not look for others for approval of this actions, but searched
only from within his innermost, noble drive. In contrast, the SLAVE morality
emerged from the lowest level of society--the weak and the oppressed.

  Per Nietzsche, Jewish and Christian ethics inverted the natural system--
so that the weak were given justification for denouncing the psychic
superiority of those who deserve to rule.  That is, the "herd mentality" of
Judaic-Christian ethics succeeded in overcoming the master morality of the
noble men by defining all strong qualities as vices, and all weak qualities
as virtues.

   Per Nietzsche, it was important to consider breeding "superior specimens"
of the human race, so as to attain the "cultivation of a stronger race". These
strong, superior men would in turn place a "yoke on all the less intelligent
forces" in society.  In his THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA (1883), Nietzsche seemed
to anticipate that many would view "themselves" as members of this "superior"
race.  Therefore Nietzsche reminded his readers that the supermen would emerge
in the FUTURE.  He asked everyone to bury themselves in their work, and
self-sacrifice themselves if necessary, in anticipation of the day when the
supermen were destined to arrive:

    "I love those who do not seek beyond the stars for a reason to perish
    and be sacrificed, but who sacrifice themselves to earth, in order that
    earth may some day become superman's..."

  Nietzsche opposed liberalism and socialism "because it dreams ingenuously
of 'goodness, truth, beauty, and equal rights' (anarchy pursues the same
ideal, but in a more brutal fashion.)" Nietzsche was also "opposed to
parliamentary government and the power of the press because they are
means by which the herds become masters." (Excerpts taken from Frederich
Nietzsche's THE WILL TO POWER (Notes, 1883-1888) and THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
(1883))

Reconciliation of Christianity to the Volk Superiority Movement

  It would seem difficult to understand how the racist superior view of
the Volk movement could possibly be reconciled with the gentle moral
teachings of Jesus--which after all extolled the virtues of the meek and the
poor!   However through the use of ALLEGORY (made easier from Romanticism's
mystical leanings)--ANYTHING WAS POSSIBLE!

  In 1815, Saul Aascher (a Jew) wrote bitterly of the successful merging
of the Volk movement within German Christendom:

  "Christianity and Germanness were soon melted into one, an easy task for
  transcendental idealists and identity philosophers.  They reasoned this
  way.  Germany could be saved only by means of oneness and identity of the
  people in the Idea.  Oneness and identity in religion expresses this
  requirement completely..."

   Some German writers sought to make Jesus into a "true" Aryan, through
asserting that Jesus' "real" views had become "corrupted" through the
influence of the Jews. The world population was seen to be a mixture of races.
Only the Jews and the Aryans remained as "pure" races in the West.

  According to Wagner's son in law--Houston Stewart Chamberlain--in his
popular 1899 work, FOUNDATIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, Jesus was "proven"
NOT to be a Jew as follows: His Galilean origins, and his difficulty in
pronouncing Aramaic gutturals, were "clear signs" that Jesus had "a large
proportion of non-Semitic blood."  The proof that he was "Aryan" was also
apparent from his moral and religious teachings--which were opposite to the
"materialism and abstract formalism" of Judaism.  It was the Jews who
corrupted Jesus' true sayings, by inserting moral concerns for the poor and
oppressed--(as they themselves were a downtrodden and oppressed people.)"

  It logically followed, that Jesus should become "the God of the young
Indo-European peoples overflowing with life," especially since "no other
people were so well equipped as the Teutonic to hear his divine voice. "
(William L. Shirer, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, (Touchstone,
1960,1990) p 107)

  Chamberlain believed that because Germans had inherited the best qualities
from both the ancient Greeks and the Indo-Aryans--this meant Germans had the
right to became the master race of the world. According to Chamberlain, "God
builds today upon the Germans alone." and "This is the knowledge, the
certain truth, that has filled my soul for years."

Belief in German Racial Superior among the Lower Classes

  The belief in German racial superiority became popular among the lower
classes of Germans, who were suffering economic and social hardships in
the aftermath of centuries of religious wars fought on German soil. As
Germany became increasingly authoritarian in government and religious
matters, the poor could fantasize that no matter how bad their situation
was in Germany--at least they were members of a superior race--and could
look down with disdain upon the lower elements that had infiltrated German
society. During this time, these nationalistic Volkish cults were still a
minority.--It would be another thirty years before a young man named Adolf
Hitler took over the German government whereby this would grow into a mass
movement that would take hold of the German "psych".

Intermingling of the Occult with "Science"

   Although during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Germans
were considered to be one of the most civilized nations on Earth-- the period
that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler, coincided with a massive growth in
popularity of the Occult.  Almost every pseudo-science then known-- astrology,
clairvoyance, hypnosis, and mesmerism-- flourished within German society.
Mesmer's animal magnetism was reportedly practiced by doctors in Germany
more than any other European country. Some believed the interaction of the
magnets on animal fluids could also enhance extrasensory powers. (The
interested reader on this subject is strongly urged to read Dusty Sklar's
THE NAZIS AND THE OCCULT, Dorset Press, New York, 1989)

   It is important to note that the popular interest in the occult was
also a strong force throughout Europe and the United States.  Spiritualism
had originated in the United States in 1848, (following claims by the Fox
sisters of spiritual rappings.) It later spread, borrowing the technique
of the Mesmeric trance, through which the medium now claimed they were in
"contact" with spiritual world.  Belief in astrology and psychic powers
also flourished during this time.  Even the popular novelist Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle (who created the fictitious character of the rational detective
Sherlock Holmes) personally embraced the irrational ideas of spiritualism
and the occult--leading him at one point to believe in the possible
existence of "fairies".

  Following the disillusionment with WWI, fascination with the occult became
especially pronounced in Germanic-speaking countries--as the search for more
"mysterious" elements of human living, became intertwined with the scientific
paradigm for learning and knowledge.

   The theories of the Viennese psychologist, Sigmund Freud provides an
interesting example of the synthesis of mysticism with science.  Influenced
early in his career with the Naturphilosophie of the Romantics, Freud's career
shows an interest in bringing occultist ideas (such as the mysterious dimension
of the unconscious, numerology, and telepathy) into the arena of science.
Throughout his career, Freud proposed a number of theories that were
to prove brilliant and insightful in the newly developing field of psychology--
on the other hand he showed a total disdain for the scientific method in its
insistence of "testing" theories to see which ones were really correct.
Freud dogmatically refused to question his own theories, asserting at one
point:

  "We must not be led astray by initial denials [of my diagnosis by
   patients].  If we keep firmly to what we have INFERRED, we shall in
   the end conquer every  resistance by emphasizing the UNSHAKABLE
   NATURE OF OUR CONVICTIONS." (emphasis mine. Quote taken from Allen
   Esterson's SEDUCTIVE MIRAGE:  AN EXPLORATION OF THE WORK OF SIGMUND FREUD,
   Open Court.)

  (Note:  See Robert Couzin, "Leibnitz, Freud and Kabbala", JOURNAL OF
THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES (October, 1970, pp 335ff, as referenced
by James Webb, THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1976,
1985, 1988, and 1991. pp 378. The author notes there are numerous examples
of incidental evidence to link Freud with interest in the occult--although
some would strongly disagree with this conclusion.  The interested reader is
urged to read Webb's book, as I have used only one illustrative example from
his book.)

  Freud became especially interested in the occult during his later career, for 
example exploring the occurrence of telepathic dreams.  At the same time, he 
began to feel outright hostility for the institution of "official science".  
This can be seen in a speech entitled "Psychoanalysis and Telepathy", delivered 
by Freud in 1921 to a small circle of close associates in the Harz mountains. 
According to Freud:

  "It no longer seems possible to keep away from the study of what
    are known as 'occult' phenomena...The impetus towards such an
    investigation seems irresistibly strong...It is a part expression
    of the loss of value by which everything has been affected since
    the world catastrophe of the Great War [World War I]...

  "It does not follow as a matter of course than an intensified interest
   in occultism must involve a danger to psycho-analysis.  We should,
   on the contrary, be prepared to find reciprocal sympathy between
   them.  They have both experienced the same contemptuous and arrogant
   treatment by official science. To this day, psycho-analysis is regarded
   as savoring of mysticism, and its unconscious is looked on as one of
   those things between heaven and earth which philosophy refuses to dream
   of... (Freud, "Psychoanalysis and Telepathy" in the Standard Edition,
   vol. 18 (London, 1955_, pp. 177, 178-81. as quoted by James Webb, THE
   OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1976, 1985, 1988,
   and 1991. pp 370-1)

  Later in his speech, Freud concluded from the above that the: "Alliance
  and cooperation between analysts and occultists might thus appear both
  plausible and promising."

   Because of his interest in the occult, Freud (who was Jewish) has been
accused by some biographers as "secularizing" certain mystical ideals, such
as those embodied in the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbala.

Development of German Racism along Mystical, Occult Lines

  According to the German historian (and former staff member of the liberal
newspaper THE FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG), it was easy for Hitler to propound the
racial superior mythology because the general public was already immersed
in occultism and mysticism:

  "the best of the [Germans] found refuge from the despair of their daily
   life in a perverse fanaticism...called 'the mysticism of a political
   movement'.

  "Germany was the perfect place for this development.  In almost no other
  country were so many 'miracles' performed, so many ghosts conjured, so
  many illnesses cured by magnetism, so many horoscopes read, between the
  two World Wars.  A veritable mania of superstition had seized the country,
  and all those who made a living by exploiting human stupidity thought the
  millennium had come." (Konrad Heiden, in his introduction to THE MEMOIRS OF
  DR. FELIX KERSTEN, as quoted by Sklar, op cit.,)

   The new envisioned racial history of Germany incorporated within it such
mystical concepts as "Reich" and "Volk"--along with the aforementioned revived
interest in the occult.  Secret cults based on these concepts sprouted up
within Germany, which had become increasing militant in its volk nationalism.
Cult leaders preached for a "strong man from above"--a messiah who would lead
the German master race (the "NEW" chosen people) towards their destiny as
leaders of a new golden age on earth. The swastika (or ancient sun symbol)
became the official symbol of the new movement.

Catholic Popes Lead Catholicism Towards the Far Right

  During the mid 1800's, the Vatican had lost the papal sates (which they
had held since the donation of Pepin in 756 AD) to nationalistic forces. In
1870, the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel II took control over the city of Rome,
which he incorporated into the kingdom of Italy.

  Following the annexation of Rome in 1871, Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) was
stripped of his temporal powers.  He refused to acknowledge the authority
of the new kingdom, and proclaimed a mass excommunication to everyone
that was involved in the takeover. Pius sat within the Vatican as if he
were inside a fortress surrounded by enemy territory.  (This image of the
Vatican as a fortress cut off from the rest of the world, would continue even
after the new fascist Italian government under Mussolini gave the Vatican
political control over Vatican City in the Lateran Treaty of 1929).

The Catholic Church in the Period Leading up to WW1
- The Doctrine of Papal Infallibility is Declared

  It is probably no coincidence that the pope instituted the doctrine of
papal infallibility during this period (1870), as strong nationalistic forces
were threatening the pope's claim to secular authority. This is an important
historic development, because even to this day--it is an article of faith for
all practicing Catholics to believe that the Pope CANNOT MAKE AN ERROR when
he officially speaks before the universal Church on Catholic dogma!

   Interestingly, it was Pope Pius IX who laid down another important
Catholic doctrine.  Earlier in 1854, he had issued the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception. That is, it became an article of Catholic faith to
believe that Mary's MOTHER was ALSO a virgin, so that Mary would not have
been born into Original Sin.  It was only AFTER the reign of Pope Pius IX,
that both the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Doctrine of
Papal Infallibility have been professed by believing Catholics.

 Successive Popes Turn Even More Towards Ultra-Conservatism

   Following Pius IX's reign, the papacy moved even further towards the 
far right on its policies and dictates.  Leo, the successor to Pope Pius 
reaffirmed the policy that only the Church had authority from God to pass 
judgment regarding salvation and other religious doctrine.  Leo XIII took 
this one step further, imploring all faithful Catholics to penetrate State 
power, where possible, and then redirect their allegiance to the Catholic 
"true Church":

  "All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements in daily
  political life in the countries where they live.  They must penetrate,
  wherever possible, in the administration of civil affairs; must constantly
  exert the utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty from
  going beyond the limits fixed by God's law.  All Catholics should do all in
  their power to cause the constitutions of states and legislation to be
  modeled on the principles of the true Church." (Encyclical, IMMORTALE DEI,
  1885)

   Pope Leo XIII denounced the "rage of innovation" which included
freedom of speech and writing. In 1893, Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical
PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEI, proclaimed the INERRENCY of all biblical documents:

  "All those books ...which the church regards as sacred and canonical were
  written with all their parts under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
  Now, far from admitting the coexistence of error, Divine inspiration by
  itself excludes all error, and that also of necessity, since God, the
  Supreme Truth must be incapable of teaching error."

  The implications were subtle to the general public, but the pope had
effectively forbidden critical scholarship of biblical materials.

    Pope Leo however DID officially condemn slavery in 1888--some twenty
years after the U.S. Civil War had abolished slavery, and shortly after
slavery had also been abolished in Brazil.  With this condemnation, the
Catholic Church was brought up to date with the prevailing public opinion
that slavery was morally wrong.

   In 1903, Pope Leo was succeeded by Pius X who determined to stamp out all
evil--be it republicanism, democracy, science, modern biblical scholarship,
atheism, deism, communism or ANY other doctrine that was clearly not Church
directed. Protestantism was viewed as a stepping stone towards atheism.
Whereas  Leo had mainly threatened, Pius X followed up with harsh measures--
excommunicating Catholics, especially in seminaries-- from around the world
that were perceived as too liberal. For example, Father George Tyrrell, a
Jesuit and Thomist scholar was condemned because he upheld "the right of each
age to adjust the historical-philosophical expression of Christianity to
contemporary certainties, and thus to put an end to this utterly needless
conflict between faith and science which is a mere theological bogey."

  The danger of the Catholic Church taking a determined position against
republican government meant that it was, technically-speaking, against the
republican form of government established in the United States of America!
John Ireland, Archbishop of St Paul assured American Protestants that he
believed that "the principles of the church are in thorough harmony with the
interest of the republic."  Still, American Catholic leaders greatly feared
that the Vatican would condemn "Americanism" as a modern "error". (Johnson,
op cit., p 469) Many Americans were alarmed at the position taken by the
Vatican. Protestants spread the alarm that no Catholic must be allowed to
ever become President of the United States. (This was still a concern by some,
when the Catholic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy won the U.S.
election and became President in the 1960's).

Leadership of the Catholic Church in the Period Leading up to WW II

  The First World War set a new precedent, in that affiliations were made
for the first time primarily on NATIONALIST grounds, as opposed to RELIGIOUS
ones. Thus Catholics and Protestants did not fight on opposing sides, as in
the old religious wars centuries earlier.  Instead, aligned on the losing
side was Protestant Germany, Catholic Austria, Orthodox Bulgaria, and Moslem
Turkey.  On the victorious side was Protestant Britain and the U.S., Catholic
France and Italy, and Orthodox Russia.

  After World War I, there was a discernable mood of pessimism and uncertainty
among groups who had earlier envisioned a reconciliation and a new world order
of Christianity. The reaction of the Catholic leadership in Rome was to elect
Achille Ratti as Pope Pius XI in 1922.  Piux XI considered socialism and
communism to be the supreme threats to Christianity. Even Christian socialist
movements who backed labor were viewed suspiciously as Marxists.  The pope's
fear of Marxists would lead him to clearly embrace the Nazis--even after
the Nazis had CLEARLY manifested anti-Christian policies.

Climate in Germany after WW I

  The German people had believed that World War I would cure all their
mounting economic and social problems.  With the collapse of Kaiser Wilhelm
II's regime, the Germans found themselves a defeated nation. As punishment,
they were forced to pay heavy reparations under a new German democratic
(republic) government imposed by the governments of England, France, and the
United States. Unlike previous German regimes-- which had emphasized authority,
order, and stability--the new democratic Weimar Republic was now characterized
by bitter divisions and in-fighting.

  Both Europe and the U.S. entered into a deep depression after this time.
(The U.S. stock market crashed in 1929, which signaled the beginning of a
major depression.) By the end of 1931, more than 6 million Germans were
out of work. This increased to 8 million in 1938. Inflation had grown so bad
in Germany, that the country was on the verge of national bankruptcy in 1932.
On top of this, the victorious Allies forced Germans to pay back heavy
reparations for their role in WW I.  These reparations were considered by
Germans as a great humiliation--especially to a country they were told had a
great and glorious German past. Many Germans yearned for a strong authority to
lead the nation out of its problems. Against this background, Hitler came to
be viewed as a deliverer who could lead the country back into a new era of
greatness.

   The Weimar republic that had been set up in Germany following WW I, was
hated by both Protestants and Catholics alike. Although the Weimar republic
had stopped the political repression against Catholics, still most bishops in
Germany despised its republicanism. They hated democracy and liberalism, and
looked with interest at a politician named Adolf Hitler who promised to bring
back Germany's glorious past and strong moral values under a strong, 
authoritarian leader. Protestants likewise hated the Weimar Constitution and
its democratic principles, because it mandated the separation of church vs
state, meaning that the Lutheran church lost its status as the official State
church.

  R.P. Ericksen, in his book, THEOLOGIANS UNDER HITLER, studied a number
of German theologians during the period before the rise of Hitler. The study
showed that, in general, most theologians shared the general public's view that
the new atmosphere of democracy in the Weimar republic was undermining German
society.

  Typical was the theologian Emanuel Hirsch, who supported the Nazis government
because he believed he saw God's hand in setting Hitler up as an authoritative
figure who would bring a halt to this disastrous climate of open debate.
(G.A. Wells RELIGIOUS POSTURES, p 196). According to Hirsch: "Human history
can ... only be understood by those who see its metaphysical core and its
religious connection". He determined that "reason and freedom" would ultimately
lead only to the "all-encompassing debate about everything". (R.P. Ericksen,
THEOLOGIANS UNDER HITLER, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985,
pp 129,151).

Christian Support for Hitler After His Rise to Power

   Hitler, who was nominally a Catholic, had been astute enough to identify
Nazism with Christianity in his early writings.  In his book, MEIN KAMPF
(translated as "My Fight") he stated that his party demanded "liberty for
all religious denominations in the State so far as they are not a danger
to ... the moral feelings of the Germany race.  The party stands for
positive Christianity." In his March 23, 1933 speech in dismissing the
legislative body of the Reichstag, Hitler praised Christianity as necessary
"for safeguarding the soul of the German people" and declared that his
"ambition" in office was "a peaceful accord between Church and State".
Some four months later, Hitler concluded a concordat with the Vatican in
Rome which guaranteed Catholic churches "to regulate her own affairs."

  According to Karl Barth, the Church "almost unanimously welcomed the Hitler 
regime, with real confidence, indeed with the highest hopes." (James Bentley, 
"British and German High Churchmen in the Struggle Against Hitler" JOURNAL OF 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY (1972)). Adolf Stocker, for example, viewed Hitler as 
the person who would nationally enforce Germany's spiritual power and strength 
onto the nation.  He viewed Hitler as a savior with Martin Luther as his "John 
the Baptist" who had paved the way for him.  Right wing Lutherans were 
especially enamored with Hitler's anti-semitic statements and his hatred 
of democracy.

    On April 3, 1933, the first National Conference of the Faith Movement
passed the following resolution favoring Hitler: "For a German, the church 
is the community of believers who are under an obligation to fight for a 
Christian Germany... Adolf Hitler's state appeals to the church, the church 
must obey the appeal."  Jewish businesses were soon boycotted in accordance 
with "complete law and order."

  During Protestant Church elections, German Christians won a landslide
victory with the motto: "The Swastika on our breasts, the Cross in our
hearts." Many pastors dressed in Nazi uniforms and Nazi hymns were sung at
services. Bishops (handpicked by Hitler himself) spoke in glowing terms of
Hitler and the Nazi Party as a "present from God".

Hitler's Hatred of any Symbols of the Enlightenment

   Hitler despised the Enlightenment with its emphasis on reason and humanism--
promoting instead the romanticized view of the glorious Aryan super race.  The
German and Italian Fascist desecrated any symbols of the Enlightenment they
could find.  For example, a statue of Voltaire erected in Paris to commemorate
his contribution to liberty and justice was melted down by the German Nazis
during their occupation of Paris. Likewise, the Fascists under Mussolini
destroyed the former National Association of Freethought "Giordano Bruno"
headquarters in Rome--whose building was just opposite the Vatican. (There
were, of course, no attacks made against the Vatican.)

  To Hitler, the despised Jews--with their emphasis on intellect and humanity
were representative of the equally hated Age of Reason--which he would
overthrow with the new "magical" era of the Third Reich. Sayings by Hitler
on this subject, include:

  *  "We are at the end of the Age of Reason.  The intellect has grown
  autocratic, and has become a disease of life..."

  * "Conscience is a Jewish invention.  It is a blemish, like circumcision."

  * "A new age of Magic interpretation of the world is coming, of interpretation
in terms of the Will and not the intelligence."

  * "There is no such thing as truth, either in the moral or in the scientific
sense.  The new man will be the antithesis of the Jew."

 (as quoted by Dusty Sklar, THE NAZIS AND THE OCCULT, Dorset Press, 1989, p 57)

Hitler's MEIN KAMPF

  Hitler's book MEIN KAMPF laid down the ideology for the German Nazi party.
In it, he borrowed heavily from the early Volk culture on Aryan racial
supremacy:

  "If Nature does not desire the mating of weaker with stronger individuals,
  even less does she desire that a superior race should mingle their blood with
  that of an inferior race, since in such a case all her work through hundreds
  of thousands of years to establish a higher stage of being could be ruined.

  "History provides innumerable proofs of this.  It shows with frightful
  clarity that every mingling of Aryan blood with that of inferior peoples
  resulted in the downfall of the cultured people...

  "The results of miscegenation, therefore, are always the following:

  (1) Lowering the level of the superior race;
  (2) Physical and mental degeneration, leading to a slow but sure
      decline in health and vitality.

  To bring about such a development, then, is nothing less than to sin
   against the will of the eternal Creator..."

  Although Hitler believed that German's contained a high proportion of
Aryan blood, making them the people of a "master race", he did not seem
to notice any contradiction of terms when ALSO writing at times, on the
general low intelligence of the [German] "masses". Some quotes:

 * "What luck for the rulers that men do not think."

 *"[Since] the receptive capacity of the masses is very limited, their
   understanding meager, and their forgetfulness enormous...all effective
   propaganda must stick to a few essential points, driven home by slogans,
   until even the last person understands what is meant by a particular term..."

  *"Propaganda must be confined to a few points, which are repeated over
   and over."

  *"The function of propaganda is not...to weigh and pass judgment on
   conflicting rights, giving each side its due, but exclusively to emphasize
   the single right which we are asserting.  Its task is not to make an
   objective study of the truth and, in so far as it favors the other side,
   present it to the masses in all honesty; its task is to present only that
   aspect of the truth that favors our side."

  *"The broad masses of a nation are not made up of diplomats or professors
   of public law, nor even of persons capable of making a reasoned judgment,
   but only of grown-up children constantly wavering between one idea and
   another.

   If our propaganda even once accords the glimmer of truth to the other side,
   a basis for doubt is laid concerning our own cause.  The masses cannot
   distinguish where the error of the other side ends and our own begins.
   In such a case they become hesitant and suspicious, especially if the
   enemy does not make the same mistake but heaps all the blame on his
   adversary...

  "The great majority of a nation is ... ruled by sentiment and emotion
   rather than by sober reasoning. Its sentiment, however, is not complicated
   but simple and consistent.  Devoid of multiple shadings, it has only
   negative and positive notions: love and hate, right and wrong, truth
   and falsehood; never half this or half that..."

And of course, Hitler's famous observation that the masses would believe in
a big lie, before they would a little lie:

  *"The great masses of the people...will more easily fall victims to a great
    lie than a small one."

   Hitler knew that the skill of a political leader lay in his ability
to focus the nation's hatred against ONE enemy. (Hitler, MEIN KAMPF, vol.
1, near end of chapter 3; 97th edition, Munich: Franz Eher, 1934, p 129)
He identified the Jews as the source of all of mankind's ills--from Marxism,
social democracy, to international capitalism.

  Hitler knew that targeting Jews would gain him German Christian support.
"As for the Jews", he once told Bishop Berning of Osnabruch in April 1933,
"I am just carrying on with the same policy which the Catholic church had
adopted for 1500 years." (Ibid, p 490).

  The result finally culminated in a massive onslaught against the Jews
known as the "Final Solution" in the form of concentration camps, gas 
chambers, and horrific medical experiments. Historians estimate that 
roughly 2/3s of all Jews living in Germany were exterminated during
Hitler's third reich.

Nazi Occultism

    The Nazis promoted the pseudo-sciences--astrology, clairvoyance,
spiritualism, and other "magical" forces--in the belief that these could
help them understand the supernatural powers that control the destinies
of men. SS training classes stressed such mystical subjects as the Holy
Grail, knighthood, and alchemy. (That is, George Lucas' did not make up the
Nazi's fascination with the Holy Grail and other mystical objects when he
wrote INDIANA JONES AND THE HOLY GRAIL). As one German astrological
magazine described it: "Awareness of one's national heritage and blood ties
with the Aryan race are inevitably bound up with astrological science."
(Sklar, p 116)

  Hans Hoerbiger was a favorite of Hitler.  His  "world-ice" theory held
that the earth's gravity had captured four moons made of gigantic cosmic
ice.-- The collision of the first ice moon had created the Legend of the
great flood. A collision of the second moon on the earth had destroyed
Atlantis (German volkish occult groups had already speculated that the
original home of the Aryan master race could be traced to Atlantis). The
third collision created an Ice Age that destroyed a wondrous Aryan
civilization-- the Twilight of the Gods. The last moon (ie the one in the
sky today) was believed to crash on earth, some billions of years in the
future.

  Appearing as a prophet complete with a long flowing beard, Hoerbiger
preached the evils of reason, warning that "objective science is a pernicious
invention, a totem of decadence." He wanted to replace the "uselessness" of
mathematics and science with the cosmic "knowing" of the mysteries. In 1925,
Hoerbiger had grown so powerful and successful under Hitler, that he issued
the following ultimatum to Austrian and German scientists:

  "You must choose, and right now, whether you want to be with us, or
  against us.  While Hitler cleans up politics, Hans Hoerbiger will take care
  of the false sciences.  The doctrine of the eternal ice will herald the
  regeneration of the German people.  Watch out! Come over to our side
  before it is too late." (Sklar, p 76)

  Nazi Storm Troopers gave Hoerbiger's views the power of force.  Astronomy
meetings were interrupted with cries of "Down with orthodox scientists!"
Scientists were handed leaflets in the street which threatened, "When we
have won, you and your like will be begging in the gutter." Businessmen
were warned, "Either you will learn to believe in me, or you will be
treated as an enemy."  Employees were urged to sign a statement stating
"I swear that I believe in the theory of eternal ice."
(Ibid, p 77)

  Under such conditions, the natural sciences (in which Germany had
excelled in earlier generations) took a nose dive.  Many of those who
remained, now applied Nazi ideology into their science. University professors
began to emphasize the "GERMAN" way of physics, of chemistry, even of
mathematics.

  This ideology can clearly be seen in the writings of many Nazi Germans
professors. According to Professor Philipp Lenard of Heidelberg University
(one of the most respected scientists of the Third Reich),"science, like
every other human product, is racial and conditioned by blood."  According
to Professor Rudolphe Tomaschek (director of the Institute of Physics at
Dresden), "Modern Physics is an instrument of [world] Jewry for the
destruction of Nordic science... True physics is the creation of the
German spirit...In fact, all European science is the fruit of Aryan, or,
better, German thought." To Professor Lenard, "the Jew conspicuously lacks
understanding for the truth...being in this respect in contrast to the
Aryan research scientist with his careful and serious will to truth...
Jewish physics is thus a phantom and a phenomenon of degeneration of
fundamental German Physics." (William L.Shirer, op. cit., p 250-1)

   The majority of university professors were just as anti-democratic and
anti-semitic as their religious counterparts! Although, roughly one fourth
of Germany's professors and instructors were dismissed during the first five
years of Nazism--still fewer than this actually lost their posts.  Only a
small minority chose to emigrate from Germany to Switzerland, Holland, England,
and America--these included some of Germany's greatest intellectuals-- Albert
Einstein, Karl Jaspers, E. I. Gumbel, Theodor Litt, Karl Barth, Julius
Ebbinghaus, among others). There were some world famous academicians who
remained in Nazi Germany--notably Heidegger, the existential philosopher,
Pinder, the art historian, and Professor Sauerbruch, a famous surgeon.

  Regarding the large number of German professionals and academicians who
did NOT speak out against the tyranny of Nazism, Professor Julius Egginghaus
perhaps summarized this best when, he reflected on 1945 wartorn Germany:

  "The German universities failed, while there was still time, to oppose
   publicly with all their power the destruction of knowledge and of the
   democratic state.  They failed to keep the beacon of freedom and right
   burning during the night of tyranny." (William L. Shirer, op cit, p 251)

Occultism Led Hitler to Make Serious Mistakes.

  Hitler's belief in occult theories (such as Hoerbiger's magical ice
theories) caused him to make major strategic errors. Because Hitler feared
that a rocket in space might alter the delicate balance between fire and
ice in the sky, he repeatedly delayed the German rocket program. Walter
Dornberger, head of German's military rocket division wrote after the war
that the program was also delayed because Hitler had "dreamed" that the
V-2 rockets would not reach England--and he was treating these visions
very seriously. (Sklar, p 79)

  Dr. Heinz Fischer (a Nazi infrared expert who immigrated to the U.S. after
the war and helped it develop the H-bomb) complained that Hitler's zany 
beliefs in pseudo-scientific theories had diverted him and other serious 
scientists from doing any meaningful research under the Nazis.

  At the height of the war, German scientists were heavily involved in
cultish research projects--including fathoming the secrets of Rosicrucianism
and Freemasonry, plus expensive archeological digs to look for the ancient
Aryan race.  Mathematicians and scientists were paired with mystics --
astrologers, spiritualist mediums, and and practitioners of Tattwa (an Indian
pendulum mysticism)--to try to unlock the secrets of supernatural forces that
could help them in the war effort.  For example, a German named Ludwig
Straniak was employed to hold a pendulum over a map so that he could divine
the location of British subs and destroyers. (The results were apparently NOT
impressive). (Sklar p 102)

  Perhaps the most bizarre display of Hitler's mystical views, though, can
be seen in his attitude towards German troops fighting on the Eastern
front in the Russian campaign during the dead of winter. Hitler virtually
ignored the history of Napoleon's great military blunder from attacking
Russia. Instead, told by the Hoerbigerians that he could expect a mild
winter, Hitler did not feel it necessary to provide his troops with even
basic warm clothing. The Hoerbigerian myth had spoken of a winter, afterwhich
time the world being chained in ice, would regenerate a race that would
initiate the new age. The disaster that followed was Germany's most serious
military crisis-- and marked the turning point when Germany began losing the
war. (Sklar, op cit., p 80)

  Interestingly, British Intelligence recognized Hitler's weakness for the
occult.--During the war, they hired an astrologer (not for themselves!) but
to try to predict what Hitler's Nazis astrologers were probably advising
him to do.

Lack of Any Significant Religious Criticism to Hitler's Third Reich

  Hitler was brought up as a Catholic, and indeed is said to have taken
part in Communion during the 1914-1918 war. After this time, he slowly
abandoned Catholic belief and practice after what he termed a "hard struggle".
Although he admired Jesus for his gifts as a propagandist, he detested the 
way he believed Christianity had been infiltrated by the Jewish "effeminate 
pity ethic."  Although no longer a Christian, Hitler believed in the importance 
of religion to instill "true" moral values in the people.

   Publicly, Hitler spoke of his support of faith vis-à-vis reason.  In
a speech made on April 26, 1933, Hitler stated:

  "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no
   religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without religious
   foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and
   religion must be derived from faith...Faith transcends reason, and
   too much reasoning can destroy faith... We need a believing people."

  Although, Hitler wanted his German subjects to be religious, PRIVATELY
he spoke of his desire to replace Christianity with an Aryan pagan religion:

  "The peasant will be told what the Church has destroyed for him: the
  whole of the secret knowledge of nature, of the divine, the shapeless, the
  demonic...We shall wash off the Christian veneer and bring out a religion
  peculiar to our race.  And this is where we must begin.  Not in the great
  cities...There we shall only lose ourselves in the stupid godless
  propaganda of the Marxists: free sex in nature and that sort of bad taste.
  The urban masses are empty.  Where all is extinguished, nothing can be
  aroused.  But our peasantry still lives in heathen beliefs and values."
  (Sklar p 147)

  Again, in PUBLIC, the Nazis denied charges of being hostile to the Church--
although their speeches show how they were trying to shift from Christianity
into a nationalistic, patriotic religion. For example, Hitler's handpicked
Minister for Church Affairs, Hans Kerrl had this to say about the party's
attitude toward Christianity in 1937:

  "The party stands on the basis of Positive Christianity, and Positive
  Christianity is National Socialism...National Socialism is the doing
  of God's will...God's will reveals itself in German blood...Dr. Zoellner
  and Count Galen have tried to make clear to me that Christianity consists
  in faith in Christ as the Son of God.  That makes me laugh...No,
  Christianity is not dependent upon the Apostle's Creed...True Christianity '
  is represented by the party, and the German people are now called by the
  party and especially by the Fuehrer to a real Christianity...The Fuehrer
  is the herald of a new revelation."

Christian Support for Hitler's Regime.

    Hitler had always been politically astute enough to NEVER publicly 
confront Christian churches.  Upon coming into power, Hitler signed his 
first international treaty with the Vatican, which promised that (1) Germany 
would protect the Germany clergy, (2) the government would not push for a 
Protestant state religion, and (3) (last but not least), the State tax agency 
would collect taxes for the church.   In return, the Vatican muted its 
criticism of Nazi policies, and encouraged its clergy to stay out of German 
politics.

    The fact is that the churches, for the most part, had almost from the
beginning, shown sympathy with German volkish ideas--and their "shared" hatred
for Jews and communists.  Still, it seems amazing, in looking back, how MOST
of the major Christian denominations went along with Hitler--even giving
enthusiastic support of Hitler throughout his regime.  In addition, there
was an embarrassing lack of SIGNIFICANT resistance by German religious
leaders to the Nazis throughout the war. (Indeed, after WWII was over, it
was through Church networks that many Nazis war criminals received assistance 
in secretly leaving Germany for Brazil.)   

  One important exception to the above was the Jehovah's Witnesses. Identifying 
Hitler's regime as evil almost from the start, they refused to co-operate with 
the German Nazis--often paying the consequences by being sent to concentration
camps and being executed.

  Another exception were roughly four thousand Protestant ministers.  They 
formed the Confessing Church which, in 1934, declared that no human FUHRER 
could hold a higher place than the Word of God.  Hitler quietly shut down the 
Confessing Church--appropriating its properties, and impressing many of the 
clergy into the war effort. One of its leaders, a Lutheran pastor named Martin 
Niemoeller (who had originally supported Hitler and the Nazis), bravely refused 
to capitulate to the Nazis-- and was sent to a concentration camp.  (He was 
freed by Allied troops in 1945 towards the end of WW II. A quote from Niemoeller 
appears at the beginning of this chapter.)

      Among Catholics, only one bishop was expelled from his diocese during
Hitler's regime, while another bishop received a short prison term for
violating currency laws. Only seven Catholics throughout WW II refused to
engage in military service. Overall, there was little resistance from the
Catholics, including from the current pope, Pius XII.

   Before being elected pope in 1939, Pius XII participated in the encyclical
MIT BRENNENDER SORGER (With Burning Sorrow), which attacked Hitler for
"aspirations to divinity...placing himself on the same level as Christ"
and calling him "a mad prophet possessed of repulsive arrogance".

  However, Hitler shrewdly ignored the references. Less than a year after
Pius XII was elected pope in 1939, Hitler abolished all religious schools in
Germany. Pius XI did not take a stand against Hitler's actions, presumably
because he felt it was better to compromise still with the Nazis, in order
to combat the "worse" evil of socialism/communism.)  When Czechoslovakia was
taken over (which would mean the Catholic schools there would be closed too),
the pope described this as one of many "historical processes in which, from
the political point of view, the church is not interested." During the same
year, both Catholic and Protestant church bells rang in celebration of Hitler's
birthday.

   In all, only a small percentage of religious leaders ever stood up to Hitler.
By 1938, the vast majority of Protestant clergymen and Catholic priests had
taken an oath of allegiance to the Fuhrer.

  Even up until the very end of the war, the mainline Churches supported
Hitler's regime. In January 1945, Archbishop Jager, calling on the German
Catholic community for support, defined Germany's two greatest enemies as
"liberalism and individualism [ie, republicanism] on the one side, collectivism
[ie socialism/communism] on the other." There was never any condemnation--
never any excommunications, on the part of the pope towards Catholics fighting
on the side of the Nazis, or even working in the concentration camps. In fact,
there was no significant Christian protest regarding the extermination of the
Jews at the concentration camps. Most religious leaders simply told their
followers to obey Hitler. (Paul Johnson, op. cit, p 490)

  Pope Pius XII decried the horrors of war, which he attributed largely
to nationalistic forces (ie in contrast to obeying spiritual authorities).
He advised Catholics (who fought on both sides in WW II) to "fight with
valour and charity", regardless of which side they found themselves on.

  Only AFTER the Germans had surrendered, and Hitler had committed suicide,
did Pope Pius XII begin publicly condemning the Nazis.--But by then, he was
just confirming what everyone else already knew.  In a speech dated June 1945,
made before the College of Cardinals, Pope Pius XII now described Nazism as

  "a satanic spectre...the arrogant apostasy from Jesus Christ, the denial
   of his doctrine and of his work of redemption, the cult of violence, the
   idolatry of race and blood, the overthrow of human liberty and dignity."

  Again, supporters of the pope have countered that Pius XII was not in a
position to protest the Nazis, as this would only have AGGRAVATED a bad
situation. Others have pointed out that Pius XII believed he had to CHOOSE
between the TWO EVILS of socialism/communism AND nazism.--He targeted
communism as the WORST of these two evils, which made him only APPEAR to be
relatively friendly to the Nazis.

   As for Pope Pius XII himself, he defined the causes of World War II, to be
largely the result of the secular world's ABANDONMENT of Catholic leadership
in the Vatican. He personally made NO reference to his earlier policy, which
for the most part, "appeared" pro-Nazi. Also, he never hinted at an apology
to the Jews--or any other victims of Nazis atrocities.

                             *  *  *


  One result of the fascism on the right, was to drive some moderate 
republicans over to the extreme far left.  The polarization of Europe into
fascist and socialist camps had already begun by the mid-nineteenth century.
During this time, an emerging radical left-wing group, known as communists
began to gain supporters at the expense of more moderate groups--who were
opposed to the growing fascist movement on the right.  Successful in
overthrowing the Russian czarist government in 1917, the communist party
in Russia determined to set up an absolutist state-- dedicated according to
the principles of Karl Marx's vision of a new utopia for the working class.

  Both the Nazi and the communist revolutions had envisioned the creation of a
new world order. There was however one basic, fundamental difference between
the two movements.--While the Nazi revolution was primarily RACIAL in nature
(ie emphasizing the superiority of the Aryan race over all other races on
earth), the communist revolution was a CLASS struggle--aimed at freeing
the exploited workers of the Industrial Revolution from their "bourgeois,
capitalistic" masters.