Christian Germany 1933–1945

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Christian Germany 1933–1945 was a series of publications with selected documents from the time of the church struggle , which was published by a working group of Catholic and Protestant Christians in the Herder (Stuttgart) and Furche (Tübingen) publishing houses from 1945 to 1950 .

Outline of the series

Catholic series (Verlag Herder)

Konrad Hofmann was in charge of the editing of the "Catholic Series" and was also the main editor . Eight issues appeared:

  • Book 1: With burning concern . The papal circular against National Socialism and its consequences in Germany , ed. by Simon Hirt, 1946.
  • Book 2: Testimony and Struggle of the German Episcopate. Joint pastoral letters and memoranda , ed. by Konrad Hofmann, 1946.
  • Volume 3: Bishop Count von Galen speaks! An Apostolic Controversy and Its Echo , ed. by Heinrich Portmann , 1946.
  • Booklet 4: Franz Büchner : The oath of Hippocrates. The basic laws of medical ethics. Public lecture given at the University of Freiburg i.Br. on November 18, 1941 , 1947.
  • Book 5: Max Müller : The Christian view of man and the world views of the modern age. Two lectures, given in the Catholic student chaplaincy in Freiburg im Breisgau on June 30 and July 5, 1939 , 1945.
  • Booklet 6: Philipp Dessauer: The bionome image of history. Backgrounds and consequences of an ideology of history. [Lecture given in Heidelberg in July 1943] , 1946.
  • Book 7: Shepherds' calls from Archbishop Gröber in time , ed. by Konrad Hofmann, 1947.
  • Booklet 8: Highlights. Evidence and pictures from the fight against the church , ed. by Konrad Hofmann, 1947.
  • Book 9: Wendelin Rauch : Problems of eugenics in the light of Christian ethics. [Lecture on July 6, 1933] , 1948.

From the preface for the "Catholic series":

Documents and testimonies are to be collected in this series from the spiritual struggle that the Catholic Church and the entire German Catholicism had to wage in the years 1933-1945 against the threatening storm surge of the anti-Christian, political and cultural movement that would undermine all Christian foundations of our people become. Not to sing a heroic song of this struggle of the recent past, which by no means only showed something uplifting, but also an infinite amount of weakness, failure and guilt in ourselves, but rather to show the line that is unbroken despite everything, which must be courageously carried on into the future . The aim is to show how, even in this dark epoch, the real tradition as the ground for the future was not lost, but instead was preserved and creatively developed in a wide variety of ways.
Preservation and continuation of this tradition was initially carried out by the voice of the church itself, which could not be silenced . Therefore, the series is opened by booklets that contain the word of the supreme shepherd, the Pope, the word of the German episcopate, the word of Bishop Graf von Galen (Münster) and Archbishop Dr. Conrad Gröber (Freiburg), as it spoke into the future, preserving memory.
The witness of the church members follows the word of the church leadership . The aim is to report on the brave efforts, even deaths, of people who went their way against all the powers of this time. At the same time, a picture of Christian life and work should emerge, as despite all difficulties it created living and working space.
Finally, in addition to these testimonies, there are also lectures that at that time dared to try to pass on Christian heritage and Christian attitude and even to advance the Christian question in the distress of the time into new, deeper dimensions. In every struggle the weak and irrelevant are lost and what is really valid and essential asserts itself. Reflection on this really valid and essential Catholic Christianity in the testimony of spoken word and lived life wants to convey this series as a whole. "

Evangelical series (Furche-Verlag)

In the “Evangelical Series”, six issues appeared under the heading “Testimonies of the Confessing Church”; Erik Wolf was the editor :

  • Book 1: But we are not of them who give way (Hebrews 10:39). The struggle for the church , 1946.
  • Book 2: Justice is loved in the kingdom of this king (Psalm 99: 4). The Struggle of the Confessing Church for Justice , 1946.
  • Book 3: Let the children come to me and do not forbid them (Matthew 19:14). The fight of the Confessing Church for the youth , 1948.
  • Book 4: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me (John 14: 6). The fight of the Confessing Church against neo-paganism , 1947.
  • Volume 5: Look for the city's best! (Jeremiah 29: 7). Words of the Confessing Church to the State , 1948.
  • Book 6: Remember the teachers who told you the word of God (Hebrews 13: 7). Votes from the church for their spiritual leaders , 1947.

Four more booklets followed with the following lectures and notes:

  • Booklet 7: Arthur Goldschmidt : History of the Protestant Congregation Theresienstadt 1942–1945 , 1948.
  • Booklet 8: Constantin von Dietze : Economics and Theology. Lecture given to the “Society for Protestant Theology” in Alpirsbach, June 1941. With appendix: Economic and social order. Principles, elaborated in a working group in Freiburg i.Br., autumn 1942 , 1947.
  • Book 9: Gustav Mie : The divine order in nature. Three essays , 1946.
    • The divine order in nature , first in: Ethik , 14th vol. Issue 1, Halle (Saale) 1938.
    • Causality and Spirit , first in: Wartburg , special issue: Naturwissenschaft und Christianentum , Volume 40, Issue 6, 1941.
    • The miracle , from: The way of thinking in physics and its influence on the mental attitude of today's man , Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke 2nd edition 1937.
  • Issue 10: Edmund Schlink : Confessing Church and World. Lectures and sermons from the years 1934 to 1945 , 1947, therein:
    • The question of the recognizability of divine action in history , 1934
    • Duty and temptation of Christian confession , 1934
    • The Church of Jesus Christ and Contestation , 1938
    • The Church's Annunciation during the War , 1940
    • Death as our past , 1941
    • Our Denial , 1942
    • The Passion of Jesus Christ and the World , 1943
    • Christ loosens the seals , 1943
    • Woe to us! , 1943
    • The Heavenly Liturgy , 1944
    • Grace in God's judgment , 1945

From the foreword for the "Evangelical Series":

“This series is intended to give a picture of the spiritual struggle that the Confessing Church waged against the demonies of neo-paganism , the de-Christianization of youth, the destruction of the law and the striving for political power in the area of ​​the German Evangelical Church . Testimonials are selected that either could not be printed at all, but were often copied from hand to hand in large numbers, or were private prints that the Confessing Church produced for its members, mostly only in small editions; Furthermore, publications in magazines that have been suppressed by confiscation or that have been hindered from being distributed in any other way. Our endeavor is to make what remains visible in the historically unique and to preserve the knowledge that was fought for as a guideline for an evangelical-Christian way of life . Therefore, in addition to basic declarations, messages and elaborations, we also bring reports, letters, defense speeches, sermons, calls to the congregations and voices from the congregation to the hearing. Because the unity of faith that was so exhilarating at the time and the resulting bridging of the differences in the confession of Lutherans and Reformed , the insight into viable constitutional foundations of the church, the gradually growing willingness to better understand the life of faith of our Roman Catholic brothers, not least of all, the common front of all Christians in Germany against neo-paganism - all of this cannot be separated from the contemporary historical distress in which our German Evangelical Church has been increasingly placed since 1933. This severe challenge has nevertheless become a blessing for our church, despite the fact that its visible form almost shattered under it. The testimonies that we present here suggest something of this. From the beginning it was clear to the confessional church that God had ordained the struggle for the church for repentance and not for glory. If we let the testimonies of this test time come to light today, it happens in the same spirit: without bitterness, without pretension and without self-reassurance. The view is not directed backwards but forwards. The goal is to strengthen and equip for the tasks ahead.
In addition to some booklets to be designed together with the Catholic friends, first booklets with documentary confessions and second booklets that contain individual lectures by important personalities are planned.
Each of the documentary booklets combines the most important and currently available evidence on a particular question of the Christian way of life. We are guided by the intention of letting voices from the various phases of the development of the church struggle from 1933 to 1944 speak.
The lectures will include speeches that have been given at theological conferences, in church working groups, as part of university teaching or for the support of students during the war, lectures by historians, lawyers, men of business and artistic life, by naturalists and doctors. "

Joint series (Verlag Herder and Furche-Verlag)

Issue 1: Konrad Hofmann / Reinhold Schneider / Erik Wolf (eds.): Winner in fetters. Testimonies of Christ from camps and prisons , 1947. With contributions from:

Book 2: Werner Kohlschmidt / Johannes Maaßen (ed.): Our song should also be a witness. Christian interpretation of time in the poem , 1950.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biogram of Philipp Dessauer (online at erzbistum-muenchen.de)
  2. ↑ Second cover page, Community Series, Issue 1
  3. ↑ Issue 5 also contains the memorandum of the German Evangelical Church to Reich Chancellor Hitler in a long version (pp. 25–35) and states 1937 as the year of publication. However, the original memorandum dates from May 28, 1936 (online at geschichte-bk-sh.de) . The long version is printed (with the date “Spring 1936” and without appendices) in: Joachim Beckmann (Ed.): Kirchliches Jahrbuch 1933–1944 , 1948, 2nd edition 1976, pp. 132 ff. The complete appendices can be found in : Kurt Dietrich Schmidt (ed.): Documents des Kirchenkampf II / 1 , 1964, pp. 703–719.
  4. ↑ Second cover page, Evangelical Series, No. 9