Part 1 (1/2)
The Grey Book.
by Johan M. Snoek.
INTRODUCTION (by Uriel Tal)
The protests of the non-Roman Catholic Churches against the persecution and extermination of the Jews during the n.a.z.i period, carefully compiled and amply doc.u.mented in this volume, possess a significance that is not confined to the history of Christian-Jewish relations. They const.i.tute an important chapter in the history of Christianity itself in that they reveal the deeper aspects of the Church's antagonism to the anti-religious and hence anti-Christian character of n.a.z.i anti-semitism.
The well-attested facts presented to us in this volume are a clear confirmation of the Church's reputation of n.a.z.i doctrines, not only when these doctrines were directed against the Jews but, first and foremost, when they threatened the very existence of the Church itself, both as a system of theological doctrines and beliefs and as an historical inst.i.tution.
The Church regarded freedom, freedom of man as well as its own, as an inalienable right rooted in the nature of man as a rational being created in G.o.d's image. Hence, when the Church was deprived at the right of self-determination, it felt its very existence endangered, and it was then that it recognized the full symbolic import of Jewish persecution. This view was plainly set forth at the beginning of the persecution of the Jews by the n.a.z.i-regime in Holland, by D. J. Slotemaker de Bruine, Protestant pastor and Minister of State, who declared:
”...Freedom of the spirit is our life-blood. By that I mean freedom in questions of the spirit, freedom of conscience, freedom of the Church, freedom of instruction, freedom of the Word of G.o.d, freedom to bear witness...” [1]
This was made clear already in the early days of the Third Reich by ”Die Geistlichen Mitglieder der Vorlaufigen Leitung der Evangelischen Kirche” who, in a memorandum (Denkschrift) addressed to the Fuehrer (May 1936), accuse Hitler of pursuing a policy that is not only directed against the Church but which is designed ”to de-Christianize the German people” (das deutsche Volk zu entchristlichen), quoting, among other things, the words of Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Robert Ley:
”The Party lays total claim to the soul of the German people...and hence we demand the last German, whether Protestant or Catholic...” [2]
To those Church circles that raised their voices in protest this totalitarian structure of the n.a.z.i regime presented a double threat to the very existence of the Church. First, the pseudo-religious and pseudomessianic character of n.a.z.ism was calculated to weaken the Church from within and to mislead the Christian community, especially its youth. It became increasingly clear to these circles that the n.a.z.i racial doctrine - which Hitler and also the ”Deutsche Christen” had called positive Christianity in their first formulation as early as 5 May 1932 - const.i.tuted a kind of additional gospel of messianic redemption that ostensibly strengthened Christianity as an inst.i.tution and as a religion of revelation. Secondly, this pseudo- messianic and pseudo-religious authority that the n.a.z.i regime arrogated to itself was able by means of its repressive measures to curtail the influence of the Church and even to reduce it to silence. This danger was perceived at an early date by the ”Bekenntnissynode der Deutschen Evangelischen Kirche” in its Botschaft (Part I, par 2, 5) adopted by the Conference held in Berlin- Dahlem 19-20 October 1934, which stated:”The National Church that the Reich's bishop has in view under the slogan: One State - one People - one Church, simply means that the Gospel is no longer valid for the German Evangelical Church and that the mission of the Church is delivered to the powers of this world.... The introduction of the Fuehrer principle into the Church and the demand of unconditional obedience based upon this principle are contrary to the Word of Scripture and bind the officials of the Church to the Church regiment instead of to Christ... [3]
Towards the end of the period that is dealt with in the sources collected in this volume, in the year 1943, we also meet with a clear expression of the Church's opposition to this pseudo-religious and pseudo-messianic character of n.a.z.ism in the ”Pastoral concerning National Socialist Philosophy” that was sent in Holland:
... to parochial church councillors to give them the necessary basis for their opposition in the struggle against National Socialist ideology, and especially against the intangible, but all the more dangerous religious ideas and expressions of National Socialism which will exercise an influence even after the war.”
In its penetrating a.n.a.lysis of the totalitarian character of n.a.z.ism this Pastoral observes:
”...It is not surprising that National Socialism has the power to become the religion of the ma.s.ses, and its a.s.semblies to take the form of a kind of popular wors.h.i.+p in which a great deal of latent religious emotion is released.... In carrying out its ministry the Church must therefore make its work in this connection even more definite in character, and must tell its members very clearly and resolutely that what is at stake here is the first commandment: Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds besides me...!” [4]
This pseudo-religious and pseudo-messianic character of n.a.z.ism was by no means accidental or the product of ma.s.s hysteria induced by some skilful propagandists. It was rather an ideological structure that was consciously given definite patterns and developed within a conceptual system in accordance with its own laws of logic. In this development the traditional theological concepts of Christianity were retained but given an altogether different meaning. Values that had previously been regarded as relative in the culture of Christianity and of the West now became absolute; and values that had formerly been considered absolute, being interpreted as metaphorical or visionary, became relative. Phenomena with an imminent historical essence were lifted to a meta-historical plane. Means were converted to ends, and ends were endowed with absolute authority in so far as they sanctified the means.
In this manner the fundamental concepts of religion were not invalidated nor the integrative functions served by these concepts impaired, such as those cohesive factors that hold together the social structure and ensure its normal functioning. The n.a.z.is retained these concepts and their functions as a legitimate part of their racial theory and, after depriving them of their authentic historical content, turned them into political expedients to be used in their attack against humanism, religion and Christian values.
Basic theological concepts such as G.o.d, redemption, sin and revelation were now used as anthropological and political concepts. G.o.d became man, but not in the theological Christian sense of the incarnation of the Word: ”...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” (John 1. 14) or in the Pauline conception of the incarnation of G.o.d in Christ in whom ”the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2. 9).
In the new conception G.o.d becomes man in a political sense as a member of the Aryan race whose highest representative on earth is the Fuehrer.
This change in the essential meaning of the concepts G.o.d-man is, from the standpoint of cognition, effected by converting the relative into the absolute and, from the standpoint of theology, by transferring the Pauline conception (Ephesians 4. 24; Colossians 3. 10) from the plane of metaphysics and eschatology to that of nationality rind politics.
It was this radical change from Christian doctrines to pagan myths that aroused the Churches to express their protest against n.a.z.ism, and also against the persecution of the Jews, in the above Pastoral of the year 1943:
”And there is now a return to the wors.h.i.+p of life and power by accepting and exalting the old Adam as the original and eternal MAN. There is an attempt at self-salvation - the old Adam is not crucified with Christ (Rom. 6. 6) but by his very own inmost strength achieves a new life and a heightened vitality...” [5]
Similarly, the theological concepts of sin and redemption were transferred to a legal category of administrative regulations that demanded outer conformity and inner obedience. The traditional conception of sin and redemption that was common to all currents of Christian thought held that man's redemption, and hence eschatological existence, depends on his faith: ”the righteousness of G.o.d through faith in Jesus Christ... since all have sinned and... they are justified by grace... through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus...”(Rom. 3. 22-24). In the totalitarian n.a.z.i regime the concepts sin and redemption were used as means by the State or the Party to convert man into a loyal subject whose allegiance is a.s.sured by his constant fear not only of violating some concrete ordinance or governmental decree but simply of just deviating from the official ideology. The Christian belief that man could be saved through faith in the forgiveness of Jesus who died for his sins, ”so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin” (Rom. 6.6), was transferred from the theological to the secular, political plane. Even the comforting a.s.surance of the believer that his sins shall be forgiven and that he shall be found worthy of the purifying influences of grace could now be gained only by the individual's complete identification with the State, the Party and the superior Aryan race.
An instructive ill.u.s.tration of this s.h.i.+ft from theology to ideology is to be found in the circular letters (Rundschreiben) and in the speeches of the Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Robert Ley, for example in his words of 26. June 1935:
”Strength through joy (Kraft durch Freude) is the embodiment of National Socialism.
<v> Over against sin we put discipline, over against penitence pride! Over against the weak and their infirmities we put strength... ” [6]
This doctrine was not mere Aryan propaganda; it became an integral part of school studies and was systematically inculcated into the minds of the young.
The following is an example of a dictation given in 1934 to the third grade of an elementary school:
”Just as Jesus redeemed mankind from sin and h.e.l.l, so did Hitler rescue the German people from destruction. Jesus and Hitler were persecuted; but whereas Jesus was crucified, Hitler rose to be Chancellor... Jesus worked for heaven, Hitler for the German soil...” [7]
This same pattern of reversing meanings was also applied by the totalitarian n.a.z.i regime to the basic concepts of western culture. Nationalism as an historical phenomenon of a people with a common language and culture and with the consciousness of a common destiny was raised to a mythical, meta-historical plane. The essence of national unity was discovered to reside in race and soil; the cultural and spiritual creations of the nation were attributed to man's biological resources. Similarly, the State became an end in itself, an ideal meta-historical ent.i.ty that was identical with the national spirit. [8]
This view was critically described by the Dutch Church as follows:
”... The whole cult of National Socialism finds its most powerful manifestation in a State which claims to support, lead and fill in the material and spiritual, educational, cultural and religious spheres, the whole life of its subjects. Not only does the State order the life of the individual, but it takes a creative part in it. It becomes the founder of the true religion and the dispenser of the true philosophy; it furnishes the data for knowledge...” [9]
<vi> Mythical nationality in the totalitarian regime thus developed a monolithic structure which functioned as the only ontological framework in which the individual may acquire his own ident.i.ty, his selfknowledge and understanding.
While in a different, non-totalitarian civilization man establishes his inner freedom by means of intellectual autonomy, the n.a.z.i regime made the actual biological belonging to the Aryan race into the ultimate condition for the self-realization of Man.
Hence one who could not belong to the Aryan race, the prototype of whom was the Jew, was doomed to be completely alienated, deprived not only of all rights, but of the very justification to exist. It was this reversal of the status of the individual which prepared the ground for subsequent developments against which the Church protested, such as forced labour, the repression of independent thought, the indoctrination of the young by the State and their estrangement from their parents, teachers and preachers. An example of this tendency towards the total dehumanization of the individual, as reflected in the persecution of the Jews, and that provoked the Church to protest, was the decree authorizing sterilization. The stand of the Church in this matter was stated in the ”Letter on the Question of Sterilization”
that was sent in May 1943 by the Protestant and Catholic Churches in Holland to the officials of the Reich and in which, among other things, we find the following: