German Catholics and Hitler's Wars

German Catholics and Hitler's Wars A STUDY IN SOCIAL CONTROL by Gordon C. Zahn SHEED AND WARD - NEW YORK @ SHEED & WARD, INC., 1962 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PART 1 1. HISTORYAND METHODOLOGYOF THE STUDY 2. THE SOCIAL-CONTROLDIMENSION 3. THEVALUE-SELECTION DIMENSION 4. A QUESTIONOF JUDGMENT PART 2 5. STATEMENTOF THE PROBLEM 6. THEBISHOPS 7. CLEMENTAUGUST VON GALEN 8. MICHAELCARDINAL FAULHABER 9. CONRADGROBER 10. FRANZJOSEF RARKOWSKI vi Contents PART 3 1 1. ANALYSISAND INTERPRETATION 12. SOCIOTHEOLOGICALIMPLICATIONS Bibliographical Note German Catholics and Hitler's Wars CHAPTER 1 History and Methodology of the Study WHENTHE WRITER left for Germany it was his intention to discover, if possible, what had happened to the German Catholic peace movement and its participants during the years of Nazi domination and, of course, during World War 11. Such a movement had been formed shortly after the conclusion of the First World War and by the time Hitler came to power had achieved a remarkable degree of strength and standing. Under the leadership of the Friedensbund deutscher Katholiken (German Catholic Peace Union) and its principal founder and theorist, Franziskus Stratmann, O.P., the movement's impact led Catholics in other nations as well to begin giving new and serious consideration to the pacsst implications of their Faith. True, the German movement was not the sole source of such interest and concern; the horrors of World War I and its aftermath of almost complete disillusionment had inspired many similar move- ments, non-Catholic as well as Catholic, in other European nations. But few could claim the membership attained by the Friedensbund or the "official" tone given to it by its participation in the annuaI Katholikentag gatherings. In a letter to the writer, Father Stratmann recalled that the Friedensbund had 40,000 members at one point in its history. This 4 German Catholics and Hitler's Wars figure approximates the 41,000 quoted in the 1932 volume of a liberal Catholic periodical, vom frohen Leben. Both estimates included as "corporate members" the membership of Kolping Society groups which had affiliated with the Friedensbund* Of greater importance than its actual membership totals is the standing of the movement as reflected in the official encouragement and support it received from prominent members of the German Catholic hierarchy. Here, too, exact figures are not available; but one informant claimed that thirteen bishops were active members of the Friedensbund or had associated themselves with its program. A Berlin pastor, another of the organization's founders, named Cardinals Bertram (Breslau) and Faulhaber (Munich) and Bish- ops Schreiber (Berlin) and Sproll (Rottenburg) as prominent patrons. The writer's own research added Bishop Grober (then of Meissen) to his list and sample. The existence of so strong and respected a Catholic peace movement led to the formulation of the original research problem, which can be expressed in two questions: Was it possible for the movement to continue its work for peace after Hitler came to power? Was it, or were its adherents, able to keep alive any remnant of its pacifist and war-resisting activities once Nazi Germany embarked upon its military adventures? As was expected, both questions were answered in the negative. But the negative was so complete and so immediately accomplished that it was obviously quite pointless to continue the type of research inquiry originally planned. In point of fact, the Friedensbund earned the distinction of being one of the very first organizations singled out to suffer the full brunt of Nazi oppression.** Several of * It is interesting to note that the journal of the Kolping Society reported as early as 1940 that one thud of its readers were under arms and that 32 members of the Society had already lost their lives in battle. (Miinchener Katholische Kirchenzeitung, Jan. 14, 1940, p. 8.) ** Even after its suppression, the Catholic peace movement remained on the list of recognized enemies of the Third Reich. Applicants for government jobs were required to sign statements certifying nonmembership in Masonic lodges, organizations similar to such lodges, or membership in ersatz organizations like the Schlaraffia or the Friedensbund deutscher Kath- History and Methodology of the Study 5 the former Friedensbund leaders furnished the writer with the story of the dramatic events of those days. The organization was offi- cially dissolved by the Nazis on July 1, 1933, and one informant described how 36 men suddenly descended upon the Frankfurt central office of the Friedensbund and carried off great packing cases filled with records and other materials. Another informant told of a frantic afternoon spent in burning all possibly incriminat- ing Friedensbund literature and letters in his possession. Several of the leaders were arrested and later subjected to showcase trials (on charges of profiteering in international currency transactions, a favorite charge employed by the Nazis against the Catholic Church and its affiliated organizations). Many, including its cofounder and spiritual leader, Father Stratmann, spent part or all of the Nazi war years in exile or in hiding. At any rate, with its Ieadership scattered or imprisoned, its records confiscated or destroyed, the movement disappeared leaving no traces other than those recorded in the memories of individuals who had been associated with it. Yet the very fact of its total disappearance raised the new and even more challenging sociological problem: How could a movement be so strong and boast of such extensive and respected support one year, only to be effectively annihilated the next? Still more, how can we explain the fact that its dedicated opposition to war on grounds of Christian morality could be so completely stilled that even its leaders were unable to report any definite instances known to them of members openly refusing to serve in Hitler's wars of aggression? Ideally, of course, this new problem should have been limited to those individuals who had formally associated themselves with the Catholic peace movement; but the destruction of all membership records (not to mention the technical impossibility of interviewing a sufficient sample of such members had the records been available) eliminated this as a research approach. It was necessary, therefore, to broaden the scope of analysis in order to consider the oliken! The fact that this organization was considered worthy of being one of the two specifically named "subversive" groups may be taken as a tribute to its energetic work for peace in the pre-Hitler years. 6 German Catholics and Hitler's Wars behavior of German Catholics in general and the evidence that their almost total conformity to the war demands of the Nazi regime gave of an effectively operating system of social controls, and of the selection between the competing values of Catholicism and Nazism. And, although the value-selection dimension loses some of its clar- ity in the more general application to the Catholic population, it assumes heightened significance when the traditional Catholic teach- ings concerning the "just war" are considered in the speciiic context of the wars initiated by the Third Reich. At this point it is advisable to describe some of the methodologi- cal procedures employed and the problems encountered in this study so that the reader may make his own evaluation of the sources used and the manner in which they were used. In the original phase of the research project-that is, while the post-1933 history of the Catholic peace movement was still the contemplated focus of study-the approach to the problem de- pended mainly upon interviews with individuals who had been associated with the Friedensbund deutscher Katholiken or who were likely to possess some significant information concerning that organization, its membership, and its activities. In all, approxi- mately one hundred persons in various parts of West Germany (including Berlin) were interviewed, and these included pacifists and nonpacifists from many walks of life-government officials and political leaders; professors and research scientists; bishops, theo- logians, and pastors; journalists, editors and publishers; social workers and many others. The interview usually took the form of a social visit preceded by a written request in which the purpose of the study was outlined in most general terms. The social aspect of the visit was achieved at the expense of surrendering any attempt to structure the interview, although a few set questions touching upon the extent of support a would-be Catholic conscientious objector to military service in the German army might have expected from his spiritual leaders and fellow communicants were included along with specific requests for the names and other information concerning Catholics who might actually have taken such a stand. History and Methodology of the Study 7 For the most part, however, the principal purpose behind even such set questions was to provide an initial area of discussion upon which the informant could then focus his personal reminiscences and projections.* The selection of people to be interviewed was based, for the most part, upon direct requests for suggestions and the probing of leads presented in the course of the earlier interviews. American friends who had had some previous familiarity with the movement had furnished the researcher with a preliminary list of former Friedens- bund members and officials, and the selection of informants spread out from this central core. An illustration of how this worked in actual practice is offered by one of the most profitable interview- sequences to develop during the months of research. The first informant, a former Friedensbund official, gave the researcher the name and address of Josef Fleischer, the only known conscientious objector to survive the war, as well as some of this man's pub- lished writings.

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