Neudeutschland, German Catholic Students, 1919-1939 Neudeutschland, German Catholic Students 19 19-1939

NEUDEUTSCHLAND, GERMAN CATHOLIC STUDENTS, 1919-1939 NEUDEUTSCHLAND, GERMAN CATHOLIC STUDENTS 19 19-1939 by RONALD WARLOSKI MAR TINUS NIJHOFF I THE HAGUE I 1970 ISBN 978-94-015-0260-3 ISBN 978-94-015-0781-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-0781-3 © 1970 by Martinus NijhojJ, The Hague, Netherlands All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form Ta my wife TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS TABLE IX INTRODUCTION XI Preface XV I. The Establishment ofNeudeutschland I II. Growth and Deve1opment, 1920-1922 24 III. Schism and Rupture, 1922-1924 47 IV. APeriod ofCalm, 1925-1929 87 V. Crisis and Change, 1930-1933 112 VI. The Initial Reaction to the Nazi State VII. The Onslaught and Resistance, 1934-I 935 VIII. The Last Phase, 1936-1939 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX ABBREVIATIONS used frequently in the text and footnotes DCAA Documents ofthe Cologne Archdiocesan Archives DJBN Dreissig Jahre Bund Neudeutschland (bibliography) EP Esch Papers (bibliography) FDJ Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) HJ Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) KJD Katholischer Jungmännerverband Deutschlands and later, Katholische Jugend Deutschlands (Catholic Young Men's Association ofGer many, and Catholic YouthofGermany) NBA Neudeutschland Bund Archives (bibliography) ND Neudeutschland INTRODUCTION This study is of a modest segment of Germany's experience in the Weimar and Nazi periods. Its purpose is to throw light on one small part of that experience in order to add it to the larger puzzle. It is a study of Neudeutschland, a German Catholic youth organization for students. The membership of the Bund, as it was known, is primarily from the German secondary schools, those which are equivalent to the last two grades of grade school, plus high school and two years of college in the United States. Two ancillary sections ofthe organization are the Jungvolk, the segment for the youngsters of pre-secondary school age, and the Älterenbund, for those who have graduated and are pur suing careers in business, the university, and such. The organization was founded in 1919. Its course was relatively stormy until 1924, after which a short respite occurred in which an attempt was made at a unique synthesis. That synthesis can be sum marized in the phrase, "Catholic youth movement." Neudeutschland sought to catholicize the "healthy" aspects ofthe German youth move ment which had grown after 1900 and which had swept through the secondary schools of Protestant northern Germany prior to the First World War. After the war, the impetus towards youth movement - greatly enhanced by the shattering of the old, restricting authority - spread among the Catholic students in the secondary schools. Conse quently, it was decided by those leaders ofCatholic life who dealt with youth that it was necessary to act to protect Catholic students from in fluence by the undesirable aspects of the youth movement. This was accomplished by subtracting those elements of the original youth movement which were considered "healthy", and utilizing them in a synthesis with traditional Catholic practices. Those aspects of the youth movement which were judged healthy included the less ideolo gical and idealistic forms such as wandering, camping, and naturalness XII INTRODUCTION ofyouth. However, the context in which these forms were developed was considerably different from that of the original in that this youth movement was Catholic. For Neudeutschland, this meant the utiliza tion of Catholicism as it had deve10ped in Germany as a fundamental foundation. The accomplishment of Neudeutschland was that it sought and, in the eyes of the organization leadership, achieved a synthesis between these two: Catholicism and youth movement. The existence ofNeudeutschland as a Catholic youth movement had barely been able to consolidate itselfwhen another factor - National So cialism - entered its history, as it entered the history ofall things German. The period 1930 to 1933 was one in which Neudeutschland sought to retain its identity and its mode ofoperation in a Germany daily becoming more polarized. After 1933, this struggle became even more difficult and ultimate1y impossible. The one-sided contest lasted officially until 1939 when the Bund Neudeutschland - by then a hollow shell, however - was officially dissolved by the triumphant National Socialist State. This study attempts to trace the development of Neudeutschland through these phases: establishment in 1919, a search for synthesis from 1919 to 1924, implementation ofthat synthesis from 1925 to 1930, the radicalization period of 1930-1933, and, finally, the Nazi era from 1933 to 1939. Although the Bund itself reappeared in 1948 and conti nues to flourish; this study ends in 1939. Several problems present themselves in this deve1opment. The first is related to the religious expression of Catholicism - a religion that claims universality for itself - within a national setting. The author must be frank and admit that he believes it highly unlike1y, or at least very difficult, to determine which factor - Catholic or German - was more crucial in any given instance. Only a cross-cultural study com paring religion and nationality in their influence on youth organizations would provide what the author would accept as adequate data from which to generalize. Consequently, any generalization put forward on this point is tentative. It is my opinion that, by and large, the German influence predominated in the practice of Neudeutschland, and that Catholicism predominated in the ideology. A second issue involved is the problem of the youth movement as a whole in Germany. This work makes no pretence ofhaving exhaustively studied the entire youth movement experience. However, after having made a serious effort, I have concluded that the major thrust of the youth movement did not playa primary role in the history of Neu deutschland. This is not to suggest that it was not important. The im- INTRODUCTION XIII portance, however, rests in the fact that the youth movement impulse was very much apart of the motives for Neudeutschland's establish ment and deve1opment, particularly in the first years. However, the influence of clerical authority, which played such a critical role in the organization, was oriented towards the protection of Catholic youth from the errors which they saw dominant in the rest of Germany. This Kulturkampf mentality in the end proved stronger than the youth movement impulse in the creation of the dominant attitude in Neu deutschland. The last basic issue which is involved in this study is the relationship of Neudeutschland with National Socialism. This inflammable issue is plagued by the question of German and Catholic mentioned earlier. The author, indeed, finds it difficult to think in terms of Catholicism and National Socialism. That relationship was between German Catholicism and National Socialism, which is another matter. More over, the immediate question ofNeudeutschland involved a particular social group - Catholic students. This fact is also important in the con c1usion which has been reached, name1y that an unbridgeable gap existed between German Catholic (including Catholic student) and National Socialist in both ends and means. I would like to suggest to those readers who are familiar with the background of 19th century Catholic experience in Germany to skip the Preface Chapter. There is nothing there that has not been said better e1sewhere. Several individuals deserve to be mentioned and given recognition for help tendered. My thanks to Pater Josef Pöppinghaus, S.]., the head of Neudeutschland in 1962-63, when the primary research was done. He opened the archives to me, offered valuable insights, and he1ped in many small ways in pIe asant conversations on Neudeutsch land's development. The former Diocesan Director for Youth in Cologne, Pater Enge1bert I ppendorf, opened many doors for me. His kind introduction opened the Diocesan Archives ofCologne. Both Dr. Felix Raabe, ofthe central headquarters of the Catholic Youth of Germany, and Dr. Rudolf Morsey granted me of their valuable time to discuss German Catholicism and its history, as well as youth organizations. To Dr. Richard N. Hunt of the University of Pittsburgh goes the author's thanks for his patience and guidance when this was the core of a doctoral dissertation. Certainly, none of the errors or fact or in terpretation are attributable to any ofthese people; they are exc1usive1y myown. PREFACE Anyone utilizing Catholic youth organizations to study the history of the Catholic segment of the German population in the twentieth century must first analyze German Catholic social history prior to World War 1.1 This is due primarily to the simple fact that the bulk of Catholic youth organizations - in particular the youth organization chosen to be the focus ofthis study, Neudeutschland-deve1opedfollow ing the war. Consequently, an adequate appreciation of the back ground factors which were ever present in the development of Neu deutschland requires an understanding of what attitudes and techni ques had originally been deve10ped in the experience of organized Catholicism2 in the 19th century, and an understanding ofthe alter ations which resulted from the experiences ofWorld War 1. Those factors affecting German history in the 19th century in general also had their impact on organized Catholicism. First and foremost among these is the political division which was characteristic of Germany from the Iniddle ages to 1870. For Catholics that political division had held peculiar ramifications, as one of the types of state that existed until the first years of the 19th century had been the ecc1esiastical state in which the ruling spiritual authority, the bishop, possessed in addition to his spiritual power, temporal power. Another general trend of German history affecting Catholics was the separation of Protestants in the north from the Catholics in the south and west, with neither understanding the other. This ex c1usion was exacerbated by the intellectual union in the 19th century 1 For arecent general treatment of organized Catholicism in the 19th century, see: Karl Buchheim, Ultramontanismus und Demokratie.

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