One of the most interesting yet most neglected aspects of the Holocaust that few people seem to take note of is the fact that the Christian German populace acquiesced to the mass murder of the Jewish population in Germany. People seem to think that the Nazi “Final Solution” originated from Hitler and the Nazi party yet what must be understood is that evolution of the “Final Solution” started not directly from Hitler and the Nazi regime but rather from the teachings of the German church.
In the article “The Holocaust, The Church Struggle and some Christian Reflections” Alice Eckardt presents the idea of the Holocaust is the result of several distinct factors, namely: that it was the culmination of the church’s teaching of contempt and that it was the culmination of the church’s absolute theology (Eckardt, 1987).
Eckardt posits this compelling question in order to indicate church culpability in the Holocaust: “how was it the Holocaust able to come about when it was carried out by a nation that was considered to be highly civilized, with 95% of its population having been baptized and with the German population continuing to maintain its church affiliation within the heart of a predominantly Christian Europe?” (Eckardt, 1987).
She answers this question by suggesting that it was religious zealotry taught by the church to the German population that planted the initial seeds of the Holocaust. Eckardt indicates how before the start of the Nazi regime the German church had embarked on a campaign to vilify the Jewish religion which conforms to her notion of the church’s “teachings of contempt” (Eckardt, 1987).
During the 1920s to the early 1930s, the German Protestant church had released numerous church “weeklies” (newsletters) which portrayed the Jewish population as being a “wicked and corrupting force” within the German Christian nation. Religious sermons given by pastors, priests, bishops or archbishops all contained a similar message indicating that the Jews were the murders of Jesus Christ and that they had cursed themselves upon his crucifixion.
In fact, in 1936 a Protestant bishop was quoted as saying that the Jewish people were a “divinely ordained scourge for all nations which lead to hatred and persecution” (Eckardt, 1987). Based on the facts presented it can be seen that the initial stages of the “Final Solution” did not begin with Hitler and the Nazi regime but rather with German church itself. Hitler and the Nazi part merely built upon an already present growing resentment in the German population directed against the Jews.
Evolution of the Final Solution
What must be understood is that Hitler had risen to power under the platform of creating a strong Aryan nation and giving back Germany its pride (Kennedy, 2010). To further cement his platform, he focused on the already existing resentment of the German Christian population against the Jews to further build upon his popularity. As a result of these successive actions, Hitler was able to rise to become the head of state of Germany.
When the Nazi party was able to achieve power in Germany by 1933, they continued to build upon the platform of the development of a strong Aryan nation whose tenets included racial purity and the elimination of “undesirable” elements in the population (Kennedy, 2010).
This resulted in the creation of systematic state-sponsored racism against the Jewish population resulting in the creation of several anti-Jewish legislation, economic boycotts and the subsequent isolation of the Jews from mainstream society.
By the start of World War 2 Germany’s policy for the treatment of the Jewish population had escalated towards further isolation and control through the establishment of various ghettos within Generalgouvernement and Warthegau where Jews were subject to unsanitary conditions and overcrowding (USHMM, 2011).
It must be noted though that while the basis of the original command given by Hitler for the subsequent extermination of the Jewish population has been lost to history it can be assumed the connotation of the Jews as being a “problem” could be due to the fact that the resources needed to guard and maintain their various ghettos could be better used elsewhere for the war effort.
Furthermore, the Jews also presented themselves as a potential problem for the war effort itself, when the order was given in 1941 for the subsequent genocide of the Jewish population the war effort was already turning against Germany (McFee, 1999).
Due to the onset of early Russian winter and the entry of America in the war Germany in effect lost its ability to successfully pull off its blitzkrieg strategy and instead, the war became a war of attrition with the Allies steadily gaining ground.
As a result, it can be assumed that the complete genocide of the Jewish population was a way to prevent the allies from possibly gaining more troops from the detained Jews in the ghettos who would be all too eager to fight the Germans.
Carrying out the Final Solution
The “Final Solution” itself was carried out by SS (equivalent to the CIA and KGB) chief Heinrich Himmler, Himmler and his contemporaries such as German General Odilo Globocnik conceived of and implemented a plan to systematically eliminate the Jewish population through the creation of 3 killing centers namely Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka (USHMM, 2011).
The most infamous of the killing centers after the creation of the original 3 was the Auschwitz 2 II center created in 1942 which killed approximately 1 million Jews during the time of its operation. In total, nearly 2,700,000 Jews were killed as a direct result of the actions of the Nazi regime which forever changed the face of European Judaism due to 2/3rds of the Jewish population being effectively wiped out (USHMM, 2011).
Insights into the Holocaust
There have been many interpretations over the cause of the Holocaust, Eckardt’s view is but one of many however it is unique in that it uses religious teachings as the basis for its explanations. For Eckardt, the German church and its teachings were an important aspect towards establishing the mindset needed to cause a population to accept the atrocities that were done to the Jewish community in the name of creating a master race free from the stain of Judaism.
In assessing Eckardt’s view, it seems that her description of Christian culpability in the Holocaust goes far enough in that it creates enough compelling evidence to argue that Christian teachings by the German church were in part the reason behind the atrocities committed. It is based on the facts she presented and various historical precedents as seen in the recorded history of the church where it has been religious zealotry that was taught to various populations that have been the cause of numerous bloody conflicts and acts of inhumane cruelty.
From the Crusades to the Salem witch hunts and various other historical incidences it has been religious zealotry, the Christian feeling of spiritual superiority and the claims of the church to possess the only sure means of forgiveness, grace, and salvation that such incidents happened in the first place. For me, the popular view that it was mainly Hitler that was responsible for the Holocaust has been forever changed.
I know now that the German population itself was culpable in the Holocaust since it was through the church’s teachings of contempt at the time that allowed it to happen. While the German Christian church will probably never admit it, I now know exactly how they contributed to beginning one of the worst massacres in human history.
Reference List
Eckardt, A. (1987). “The Holocaust, the Church struggle, and some Christian reflections”. Faith and Freedom.Great Britain, Perigamon Press. Pp. 31 – 44.
Kennedy, P. (2010). History from the Middle: The Case of the Second World War. Journal of Military History, 74(1), 35-51. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
McFee, Gord. (1999). When did hitler decide on the final solution? Web.
USHMM. (2011). “final solution”: overview. Web.