Canadian Christian Responses to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews 1938-1939
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies Legacy Theses 2011 "Will No One Heed Their Cry?" Canadian Christian Responses to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews 1938-1939 Durance, Jonathan J. Durance, J. J. (2011). "Will No One Heed Their Cry?" Canadian Christian Responses to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews 1938-1939 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/14217 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48767 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY ―Will No One Heed Their Cry?‖ Canadian Christian Responses to the Nazi Persecution of the Jews 1938-1939 by Jonathan J. Durance A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2011 © Jonathan J. Durance 2011 The author of this thesis has granted the University of Calgary a non-exclusive license to reproduce and distribute copies of this thesis to users of the University of Calgary Archives. Copyright remains with the author. Theses and dissertations available in the University of Calgary Institutional Repository are solely for the purpose of private study and research. They may not be copied or reproduced, except as permitted by copyright laws, without written authority of the copyright owner. Any commercial use or re-publication is strictly prohibited. The original Partial Copyright License attesting to these terms and signed by the author of this thesis may be found in the original print version of the thesis, held by the University of Calgary Archives. Please contact the University of Calgary Archives for further information: E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (403) 220-7271 Website: http://archives.ucalgary.ca ABSTRACT The Kristallnacht pogrom in early November 1938 demanded a response from people across the globe. Historians assessing the Canadian Christian response to the refugee crisis that resulted from this persecution have characterized it as inexcusably silent, an assessment this thesis challenges. Using the records of non-ecclesiastical organizations and published texts in leading newspapers, this thesis catalogues the development of a sustained, variegated protest movement between Kristallnacht and the beginning of the Second World War. It was a movement of concerned Christians led by clergy and prominent lay people who forcefully protested the government‘s inaction and actively sought to intervene on behalf of Jewish refugees. While these involved Christians found the lack of official denominational action reprehensible, their involvement modifies the silence theory and points to a privatization of the religious expression in Canadian culture which upheld the belief that Christianity was a necessary moral and social compass for Canada. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my graduate program advisor, Dr. David Marshall, whose wisdom and experience were essential in helping me see issues more clearly. His guidance in my reading course and his support during my other course work helped me successfully finish a gruelling first year in my two year program and his encouragement, insights, and corrections were invaluable during the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank the other members on my examining committee, Dr. Douglas Shantz and Dr. Paul Stortz, for their valuable comments and insights. Despite his inability to attend the defense due to a family emergency, Dr. Stortz made the effort to provide me with his comments and suggestions. I would like to say a special thank you to Dr. Francine Michaud as well for allowing me to be her Teaching Assistant and being a friend during my two years in the department. Without the financial assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Alberta Government, and the University of Calgary, I would have been unable to enrol in the program or pursue the thesis. I am profoundly grateful for their generous financial contributions that allowed me to stay focused and complete this project. My family also played a critical role in the writing of this thesis. Both my mother and father read the thesis carefully for errors, but my father, George Durance, in particular, spent many hours reading and made numerous recommendations that greatly strengthened this thesis. Above all, I want to thank my dear wife, Ruth Anne, my constant companion, faithful friend, and life‘s love, who always believed and who stood unwaveringly beside me. iii DEDICATION For the one who said I could do it, Ruth Anne iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………..iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….......iv Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………….……...v Introduction: The Canadian Contextualization of Kristallnacht….………………………….1 Ch. 1: Outrage and Indignation…………………………………………………………….24 Ch. 2: Organizational Foundations in the CNCR..................................................................54 Ch. 3: The Politics of Protest……………………………………………………………….86 Ch. 4: Opposition and Perseverance……………………………………………………….115 Conclusion: The Tragedy of Expediency and Fruit of Resolution………………………...138 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….…….146 v 1 Introduction The Canadian Contextualization of Kristallnacht The ―night of the broken glass‖ occurred on November 9 and 10, 1938. It was a night filled with violence, bloodshed, looting, and destruction. Jewish property was confiscated and their holy places desecrated. Rather than just another occurrence in a long series of antisemitic incidents in Nazi Germany, it was an event that helped to define the Nazis‘ Jewish policy and permanently change the world‘s perception of the dangers faced by Jews in Germany during this period. The incident that preceded the outbreak of violence on the night of November 9 received international attention, including in Canada where the story appeared in newspapers across the country. On November 7, a young Jewish man named Herschel Grynspan attempted to kill the Legation Secretary of the German embassy in Paris, Ernst vom Rath.1 The chain reaction created by his action proved to have wide-ranging and disastrous consequences for the Jewish people, primarily because leading members of the Nazi party saw in it an opportunity to implement a change in Germany‘s policy towards Jews. Reich Minister Hermann Goering, for example, believed the attempted assassination provided him with a way to resolve an economic problem he faced. His commitment to fulfill the Four-Year Plan led him to believe that he required new revenue and the prospect of seizing Jewish assets seemed ideally suited to his purposes.2 Ironically, Goering‘s manipulation of the events surrounding 1 See Peter Longerich, Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 110 for a description of the precipitating events. 2 Ibid., 107. 2 Kristallnacht exacerbated his problem. So many Jews were deported as a result of his actions that a labour shortage developed, which served to further jeopardised the plan.3 Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels also sought to make the most of Grynspan‘s attempt to assassinate Vom Rath. His desire to become involved in the Nazi party‘s ―Jewish policies‖ led him to foster a virulent public response to Grynspan‘s attack.4 Goebbels helped to turn what could have remained a localized incident into an occasion for an antisemitic frenzy that engulfed the country. Fostering a negative Jewish sentiment in Germany at this time was a relatively easy task for Goebbels. Alan Steinweis believes that the number of German ―participants‖ on that night of violence was ―significantly larger than is often assumed‖ and that the ―circle of participants‖ should include the many Germans who merely heckled from the sidewalks, doorways, and storefronts.5 What these Germans witnessed and participated in was the death of dozens, the destruction of tens of millions of Reichmarks worth of property, and the arrest of 30,000 Jews whom the Nazis deported to the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps.6 The atrocities committed during these two days were tragically significant for all involved, but the long-term repercussions made the event an ominous marker on the road to the Holocaust.7 Steinweis argues that the Nazis‘ greatest objective in manipulating the events surrounding Kristallnacht was to ―compel the Jews to leave Germany, preferably with as little 3 George Mosse, Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 213. After the fact, Mosse argues that Goering ―saw millions of marks worth of usable property destroyed.‖ Furthermore, this damaging economic consequence is testimony to the depth of brutality unleashed by the pogrom. 4 Ibid., 212. 5 Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938 (Cambridge Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009), 3-4, 7. 6 Mosse, Toward the Final Solution, 212; Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938, 1; Longerich, Holocaust, 113. Steinweis notes that at least 300 more died in the concentration