Nazism Rejected—By Whom?
“HEIL Hitler!” was the required form of greeting during Hitler’s Third Reich. But, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, many people “combined mythical, even religious, conceptions with the person of the Führer.” Thus the greeting took on a meaning far beyond that of the respect properly shown a ruler.—See Romans 13:7.
Also, Hitler boasted that “the National Socialist Reich will endure a thousand years.” He thereby put himself into competition with the Messiah about whom the Bible speaks, for Jesus Christ had promised a government that would rule the earth for a thousand years.—See Revelation 20:4, 6.
In Hitler’s police state it was dangerous to express disagreement with Nazi goals publicly. Only when the regime’s policies and excesses became apparent, and especially when it became obvious that the war was lost, did disagreement turn into opposition.
That opposition climaxed on July 20, 1944, with an attempt on Hitler’s life. Some of those involved had originally sympathized with Nazism or had actively supported it. Exactly 40 years later, on July 20, 1984, Hitler was once again thrust into the headlines when the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany spoke at a ceremony honoring those executed or otherwise victimized after the unsuccessful assassination attempt.
What About Clergy Opposition?
What about the religious leaders in Germany at that time? Did they oppose Hitler and Nazism? What was the attitude of the Catholic clergy? Regarding Catholic Bishop Konrad Graf Preysing of Berlin, newspaperman Klaus Scholder explains: “Graf Preysing, at that time still bishop in Eichstätt, was one of the very few who, from its very beginning, saw in the Third Reich a disastrous and criminal regime.” (Italics ours.) His opposition was open. But others in the German Conference of Catholic Bishops, including its president, cardinal Bertram, were unwilling to speak out against Nazism. Instead, they gave it their support. Thus, Scholder continues: “In retrospect, a person may find this loyalty [to Hitler and Nazism] unexplainable, yes, even intolerable.”
Among Protestants, pastor Martin Niemöller is often pointed to as a staunch opponent of the Nazi regime. But author H. S. Brebeck says that “the single question separating him from Hitler’s political goals was: ‘Who governs the Church? The Church itself or the Party?’ Politically, however, his support was without reservation.” On the occasion of Niemöller’s death in 1984, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung commented: “Like almost all Protestant leaders in Germany, he originally welcomed the German rebirth yearned for under Hitler’s leadership.”
Equally enlightening is a report by the Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt (reprinted in English in The German Tribune) about the conference of the European Baptists Federation held in Hamburg, Germany, in 1984. It states: “For the first time words of clarification were spoken on the behaviour of the Baptist Church during the Third Reich. Up to now, the parishes had been unwilling to tackle this sensitive problem. At the congress, however, the head of the national section had a ‘confession’ to make . . . : ‘We did not publicly join in the struggle [against Nazism] . . . and thus failed to unambiguously resist the violations of God’s commandments. We are ashamed that our German section succumbed to the ideological temptation of the day and did not demonstrate greater courage to fight for truth and justice.’”
The facts prove that only a small minority of clergymen came out in rejection of Hitler’s regime. And even those who did were usually motivated by disillusionment or by ecclesiastical politics rather than by purely Biblical reasons. The truth is that the majority of them saw no contradiction in trying to adhere to the Messiahship of Jesus Christ on the one hand and shouting “Heil” to a counterfeit political messiah and his “thousand-year reign” on the other. The miserable, ungodly, and unscriptural example they gave was followed by their parishioners—to their common sorrow.—Compare Matthew 15:14.
Those Who Did Not Compromise
However, there was one group in Germany that courageously championed Christian principles. That group was Jehovah’s Witnesses. Unlike the clergy and their followers, the Witnesses refused to compromise with Hitler and the Nazis. They refused to violate God’s commandments. They would not break their Christian neutrality in political affairs. (See Isaiah 2:2-4; John 17:16; James 4:4.) They did not attribute Heil, or salvation, to Hitler, as did the overwhelming majority of the clergy and their flocks.
Instead, Jehovah’s Witnesses joined with the apostle Peter in saying of Jesus Christ: “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (Acts 4:12; see also Psalm 118:8, 9; 146:3.) None of them bloodied their hands in military action for Hitler, since they refused to serve in his armed forces.—John 13:35; 1 John 3:10-12.
Because of their uncompromising stand against Hitler and Nazism, Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted and sent by the thousands to the concentration camps. Their strong faith and integrity in the face of inhuman brutality is commented on by Anna Pawełczyńska, Polish sociologist and survivor of the infamous Auschwitz death camp. Writing in her book Values and Violence in Auschwitz, she stated that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “a solid ideological force and they won their battle against Nazism.” She called them an “island of unflagging resistance existing in the bosom of a terrorized nation.” She added: “In that same undismayed spirit they functioned in the camp at Auschwitz. They managed to win the respect of their fellow-prisoners . . . , of prisoner-functionaries, and even of the SS officers. Everyone knew that no Jehovah’s Witness would perform a command contrary to his religious belief and convictions.” She concluded: “Jehovah’s Witnesses waged passive resistance for their belief, which opposed all war and violence.”
No, Jehovah’s Witnesses did not compromise with Hitler and his Third Reich. They did not put their trust and hope in Nazism or in any other political system of this world. They rejected man-rule for something better. Thus, unlike the clergy and their followers, they did not become the spiritual victims of Nazism.
Something Far Better
Likewise today, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not put their trust and hope in political ideologies of any kind. They reject these ideologies for something far better that God has promised: a government of his making that will usher in a righteous new system, one that will solve all mankind’s problems. That one government for all the earth is God’s Kingdom, already established in the heavens under his Messiah, Christ Jesus.—Matthew 6:9, 10; 2 Peter 3:13.
On February 1, 1933, Hitler delivered his first radio address. Boasting about how he would change Germany, he concluded by appealing to his listeners to give him and his party time and then judge them by the results. Twelve years later, his “thousand-year reign” ended in disgrace. Judgment had been passed against his rule: It was a disaster, for by the end of the war it had left his people, his country, and the world deeply scarred, almost beyond recognition.
How different from the Thousand Year Reign of the Bible’s Messiah, Christ Jesus! At its end, humans and the earth—when compared to their degenerate condition today—will be hard to recognize. Read for yourself the description of it in the Bible at Revelation 21:4, 5. Then picture in your mind perfect people enjoying life to the full on a paradise earth, completely free from any terrorist attack, war, hurtful ideology, or anything else that could mar their happiness! Then realize that you, too, can be one of those in that wonderful scene!—Isaiah 35:1-7; 65:17-25; 1 John 2:17.
[Blurb on page 9]
Most Catholic and Protestant clergymen were unwilling to speak out against Nazism
[Blurb on page 12]
The true Thousand Year Reign will be by God’s Kingdom
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The clergy bloodied their hands in support of Hitler
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Thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses (including Johannes Harms, shown above) were sent to concentration camps for not compromising with Nazism, and many died, as evidenced by this death certificate
Chief Attorney of the Reich’s Military Court
Johannes Harms . . . was on 11/7/1940 tried by the Military Court of the Reich for demoralization of the Armed Forces and sentenced to death . . . The sentence was executed on 1/8/1941.
Seal of the Military Court of the Reich