What Did American Faith Communities Stand For? PROGRAM GUIDE The rise of National Socialism in Germany and the ensuing terror raised profound theological and ethical questions for people of all faiths. This program explores the varying responses of American faith leaders and communities to the rise of National Socialism in Germany, ranging from who was complicit with Nazi Germany and who spoke out against Nazi Germany. It also highlights how some faith leaders inspired members in their communities and beyond. VISUAL SLIDE # DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND NOTES I. SCENE SETTING: AMERICA IN 1930S-40S AND THE RESPONSES OF AMERICAN FAITH GROUPS TO THE NAZIS IMAGE 1: Title Slide 1) What was the mood of the country in the 1930s? IMAGE 2: Military • The Great War left Americans wary of international entanglements/military Cemetery 1918 intervention. IMAGE 3: Soup • Great Depression/25% unemployment Kitchen 1930 • America was a divided, racist society. IMAGE 4: KKK Rally • Xenophobia was prevalent against foreigners/immigrants 1927 • Antisemitism was strong. Jews were associated with Communism and represented a threat to the American way of life. IMAGES 5: Antisemitic boycotts 1930s 2) What were the responses to the rise of National Socialism in the early 1930s from the different Jewish denominations in America? IMAGE 6: American • From 1933, prominent American Jews were alarmed and appealed to FDR, Jewish Congress Congress and American public in different ways but hey had little political clout organized Anti-Hitler or influence. march in NYC 1933 • In 1933, the American Jewish Congress organized mass demonstrations against IMAGE 7: Jewish Hitler in New York and other major cities. War Veterans urge • In 1933, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA urged a nationwide boycott of boycott of German German goods. goods 1933 • Jewish newspapers publicized the antisemitic discrimination in Europe and individual Jews donated funds assistance to European Jews. 3) How did the Vatican’s response to Nazi Germany influence American Catholic Churches? IMAGE 8: Pope Pius • Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) did not publicly condemn the Nazis. While he was XII the leader, Vatican City pursued a policy of neutrality during World War II but it also organized extensive humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the conflict. IMAGE 9: Concordat • He signed the Concordat between Nazi Germany and Holy See (Reichskonkordat) between Nazi in 1933 before he became the Pope. The Holy See became the first legal Germany and the partner to Hitler’s regime. It guarantees the rights of the Roman Catholic Church Holy See 1933 in Germany but it forces clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. It was the Nazis effort to eliminate the Church’s influence by restricting its organizations to purely religious activities. Some described it as giving moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime soon after Hitler came to power. It served as guidepost for American Catholic Churches. II. INDIVIDUAL AMERICAN FAITH LEADERS AND THEIR OUTREACH TO AMERICANS 1) Some American religious leaders transcended their places of worship and even their local communities to capture the country’s attention during Hitler’s rise to power and after America entered WWII. IMAGE 10: Father Coughlin 2) Tell us about the well-known Catholic priest, Father Charles E. Coughlin. VIDEO 11: Newsreel • Father Coughlin used various tools to share his views with the public that Jews of Father Coughlin in and communists controlled the banks and posed a threat to the common man. NYC 1935 • He reached 20-30 million Americans every week through his radio broadcasts and was referred to as the “Radio Priest.” Length: 42 seconds Last scene: • Father Coughlin also spoke to large groups in public settings. In this1935 “….restore America to newsreel, he addressed over +18,000 in NYC and urged them “to restore the Americans” America to the Americans”. followed by cheers • He also reached Americans through his publications. In 1936, he founded Social Justice, a national weekly to promote his antisemitic, anti-capitalist populist IMAGE 12: “Social ideology. Justice” cover 1939 • Jewish leaders spoke out against Father Coughlin. IMAGE 13: The Tidings newspaper, Jewish leaders 2 condemn Father Coughlin 1938 3) Jewish leaders spoke out on behalf of European Jews in different ways. How IMAGE 14: Rabbi did they share their messages with the American public? Stephen Wise • Rabbi Stephen Wise was the Head of the American Jewish Committee and The IMAGE 15: Rabbi President of World Jewish Congress to fight Nazis (1936). He helped raised Wise United Jewish money for the United Jewish War Effort and spoke out against the Nazi War Effort persecution of Germany Jews. IMAGE 16: Rabbi’s • “The Rabbis March” consisted of 400 Orthodox Rabbis who marched in March in Washington, Washington, DC in 1943 to urge the Roosevelt Administration to allow more DC 1943 Jews to enter into the US. VIDEO 17: Orthodox • “We Will Never Die” was a theatrical production that included 200 Rabbis and 200 Rabbi’s March in Cantors who invoked religious prayers on the stage. It was performed in 1943 at Washington, DC 1943 Madison Square Garden in New York to an audience of 40,000 people, the (note there is no Hollywood Bowl and other cities in America. sound for the first eleven seconds as the Rabbis march) Length: 1 minute, 6 seconds Last scene: “Amen. Amen.” IMAGE 18: We Will Never Die Flyer 1943 IMAGE 19: We Will Never Die LA performance 1943 IMAGE 20: Reinhold Niebuhr Time Cover 4) Who was Reinhold Niebuhr and how did he represent Protestant views to the and Photo American public? IMAGE 21: • He was a Protestant leader and an influential theologian. Christianity and Crisis • He favored American intervention in WWII. article, “Antisemitism • He was the main editorial voice of the bi-weekly Christian journal, Christianity and is Treason Againt Crisis which included articles such as “Antisemitism is Treason Against God”; God” 1941 “The Jewish Problem” is a Christian Problem”, and “Jewish Problem and Its Solution.” Other topics included Nazi persecution of the Jews, the fate of Poland, coverage of the Berlin Olympics, etc. 3 IMAGE 22: Christianity and Crisis, “The Jewish Problem is a Christian problem” and “The Jewish Problem and Its Solution” 1942 III. IMPACT OF AMERICAN FAITH LEADERS ON ORDINARY AMERICANS 1) One way to measure the impact of the message of faith leaders is to see how ordinary Americans and American organizations responded to the growing Nazi threat. What were American Jews doing in the name of their religion? • Jewish men voluntarily enlisted in the US military (8% in uniform) • 340,000 Jewish women served as nurses; some were officers. • The 1944 War Refugees Board worked with Jewish organizations and others to rescue Jews from occupied territories and provide relief to Jews in hiding and in concentration camps. It saved as many as 200,000 Jews from across Europe. IMAGE 23: Ruth • Ruth Gruber was a journalist and accompanied a group of about a thousand Gruber (mostly Jewish) refugees from Italy who came to the US through the War Refugees Board. 2) American individuals acted to rescue European Jews in the name of their faith. Highlight a few who have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations (an honor bestowed by Yad Vashem Museum in Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives at no benefit to themselves) IMAGE 24: Lois • Lois Gunden was a young religious Mennonite who went to Europe with an Gunden American Mennonite organization to run a home for Spanish and Jewish refugee children - Ville St. Christophe for Jewish Children - in southern France. IMAGE 25: Ville St. She prevented French police from searching the home which saved the Christophe for Jewish children’s lives. She later became a prisoner of war after Germany invaded Children France and was held in Nazi Germany until early 1944. She was returned to the US on a prisoner exchange. • IMAGE 26: Martha Waitstill Sharp - a Unitarian minister – and his wife, Martha, left their children in the US to aid Jews who were persecuted by the Nazi regime. In 1939, they moved and Waitstill Sharp to Prague as representatives of the American Unitarian Association and helped hundreds of refugees find safe passage and scholarships in the United States. 4 IV. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH RESPONSE TO THE HOLOCAUST AND THE OPENING OF THE VATICAN ARCHIVES IN 2020 1) Explain how Cardinal Aloisius Munch represented the complexity of the Roman Catholic Church in America and its response the Holocaust. IMAGE 27: Cardinal Alosius Muench • He was a Bishop from Fargo, North Dakota during the Holocaust and later became a Cardinal in post-war Germany from 1946-1959. Although he condemned Nazi racism, he failed to condemn antisemitism or Father Coughlin specifically. 2) What is the significance of the Vatican’s announcement to open the archival record of Pope Pius XII and allow for in-depth scholarly study in March 2020? IMAGE 28: US Holocaust Memorial • The full history of the Holocaust is still unwritten until scholars can examine Pope Museum statement Pius XII materials from 1939-1958. welcomes the • Hopefully, having access to this information will provide insight and answers about Vatican’s commitment the role of the Vatican and Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust. This is important to open archives to the survivors of the Holocaust and to ensure historical accuracy. IMAGE 29: Americans and the • To learn more about this and other topics about America’s role in the Holocaust Special Holocaust, see the Americans and the Holocaust Exhibition in Exhibition Washington, DC and/or visit the Americans and the Holocaust Online IMAGE 30: Exhibition. Americans and the Holocaust Online Exhibition 5 .