History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

Headline: Catholic Church Hits Back at Nazis With Bold Sermons After Months of Persecution
Sub-Headline: Conflict With Gestapo May Reach a Showdown Soon--Bishop Assails Killing of the Insane and Cripples by Reich

Publication Date: Sunday, September 28, 1941
Historical Event: German Bishop Condemns The Killing Of People With Disabilities
This database includes 241 articles about this event
Tags: Gannett full page downloadable; Deportation and Mass Murder; Resistance; Anti-Nazi Protest and Activism; Eugenics and People with Disabilities
Article Type: News Article
Newspaper: The Commercial Appeal
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Page Section and Number: 4
Author/Byline: Chicago Daily News-The Commercial Appeal
Article Text: SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE, Sept. 27.—The Roman Catholic Church once again has collided headon with the S. S. (Hitler Elite Guard) and the Gestapo in the conflict which may develop into a showdown in the Reich.

It must immediately be emphasized that the dispute involved no church pronouncement on Nazi foreign policy of the war with Russia and England, but is confined exclusively to internal affairs. It has the most far-reaching implications, however.

Continued persecutions of church institutions forms the background. Convents, monasteries, and schools have been closed and their membership scattered and restrictions have been placed on religious festivals. The church, for a long time relatively silent, is now striking back.

The leader is Count von Galen, bishop of Muenster and representative of an old, aristocratic Westphalian family. Whether the movement stems from a joint decision of German church leaders or the individual determination of the bishop to accept martyrdom is unknown. It is believed hardly possible that he is acting without the sanction of his superiors.

Believed Divine Punishment
An historical accident contributed to make Muenster the center of the outbreak. During the Thirty Years' War, the city was threatened with destruction by fire, but saved by a fortuitous wind, the anniversary, celebrated annually with solemn religious festival, was banned this year. That night British bombers again fired the city. The devout saw this as divine punishment for failure to observe the rites.

Bishop Galen subsequently preached three powerful sermons and addressed personal protests to ranking members of the Nazi regime, including Hitler. Only Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers, head of the Reich Chancellery, replied, saying merely that the protest had been referred to the "competent official"—Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler. The bishop returned to Dr. Lammers a full report on Gestapo and S. S. activities insisting that they be called to account.

His first sermon on July 13 likewise dealt with Gestapo persecutions and mentioned the dread secret police by name. Its directness astounded listeners. The bishop noted the large part the church had played in the historical development of Germany and accused Himmler's organizations of disrupting the national community.

Bishop Galen drew heavily from the socalled[sic] Fuldaer, or Pastoral Letter, dated one week earlier, in which the German bishops without specific reference to the Nazis had said that forces in the Reich were again attacking the church. They had hoped, said the letter, that the "crusade" against Russia would mean a respite for German churches, but "with great sorrow" they had found this to be untrue. The issues involved, said the letter, included the very existence of the church.

Must Make Choice
"Recently," the letter continued, "a book has been prepared which expresses the opinion that we Germans today must elect between Christ and the German Volk. With flaming indignation, we German Catholics deny that any such choice is necessary. We love our German people and serve them, if necessary, to death. But at the same time we live and die for Christ and will remain bound to him now and for all eternity."

Bishop Galen's second sermon, July 27, is reported to have been a beautifully worded, powerful elaboration on a similar theme, again mentioning names which few clergymen previously had dared.

"We Christians," said Galen, "are the anvil, the others are the hammer, and the anvil never yet gave out first.

His third sermon, on Aug. 3, opened one of the sorest spots in internal German affairs, the killing of the insane, hopelessly ill and crippled. This practice which first became known in the Reich years ago, apparently has no legal foundation beyond the theories of the most extreme party elements, and has at least the tacit approval of Hitler.

Bishop Galen cited the law against murder and the statute making guilty any persons knowing in advance of a crime and failing to report to the authorities. Reciting the number of persons taken away "the day before yesterday" in Westphalia, the Bishop said in effect:

"I am now reporting to the competent authorities that these people have been taken away with intent to dispose of them. I am jointly guilty if I fail in this duty."

Excesses Feared
Bishop Galen said that the victims were determined by irresponsible groups, a practice which might lead to untold excesses. He argued that the German people would soon distrust their own doctors, a weapon which might be used to wipe out whole elements of the population. Most of the victims, he said, had relative on the Russian front, fighting to preserve the nation.

"Where," he asked, "is our national community."

These sermons were mimeographed in thousands and circulated throughout the entire Reich, according to reports. Many have been sent in the army post to soldiers at the front where they have been widely read. They have created a sensation unlike any similar occurrence within the Reich in years.

The church so far appears to hold the temporary advantage. Persecutions of church institutions are reported to have ben[sic] halted early in August. Galen was at first officially urged to travel "for his health," preferably outside the Reich. He replied that his health was good and that he required no vacation. he is now said to be under house arrest though otherwise unharmed to the amazement, of parisioners[sic] in the rest of Germany.

This coincides with the new report that Dr. Martin Niemoeller is no longer in solitary confinement at Sachsenhausen, but has been transferred to Dachau, where he shares three cells with two Catholic priests, giving him the opportunity for the first time in four years to speak to others except during the rare visits of his wife.
History Unfolded Contributor: Joyce R.
Location of Research: Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)

Euthanasia Program (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
Nazi Persecution of the Disabled: “Murder of the Unfit”
Bishop of Muenster Protests Killings

Bibliography

Aly, Götz, Peter Chroust, and Christian Pross. Cleansing the Fatherland: Nazi Medicine and Racial Hygiene. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Burleigh, Michael. Death and Deliverance: "Euthanasia" in Germany c. 1900-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Friedlander, Henry. The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

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