Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican at a formal ceremony in Rome on 20 July 1933. Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen sits at the left, Pacelli in the middle, and the Rudolf Buttmann sits at the right. The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and the Nazi government to the eyes of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world.
Catholic Bishops giving the Nazi salute in honor of Hitler. Note Joseph Goebbels (far right) and Wilhelm Frick (second from right)
Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, head of the Diplomatic Corps, attending the Nuremburg Party Rally in September 1933. According to Dr. Paul O'Shea, Orsenigo, as Dean of the Corps, it was the Nuncio's role to lead the Corps at all major government functions. After 1935 Orsenigo did not attend major government propaganda displays.
Welcome Celebration for Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing in the Sportpalast, Berlin, 8 Sept. 1935. Note the Catholic Chi-Rho Cross to the right of the Nazi flag. Chi and Rho are the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. The Chi Rho Cross, or warrior's cross, originated from the monogram of Roman Emperor Constantine. Following the death of Berlin's Bishop Bares, Pope Pius XI unexpectedly selects Konrad Graf von Preysing, a little-known Eichstatt bishop, as bishop of Berlin. Berlin, the region for which he is responsible, now also includes the center of the National Socialist power structure and so requires a high degree of political skill from its ecclesiastical leader.
Priests giving the Hitler salute at a Catholic youth rally in the Berlin-Neukölln stadium in August 1933.
Catholic Service for Nazis
Mass meeting of the German Christian Movement 13 Nov.1933 A radical wing of German Lutheranism and the main Protestant branch supporting Nazi ideology, the German Christian Movement reconciled Christian doctrine with German nationalism and antisemitism.
The Deutsche Christen (DC) became the voice of Nazi ideology within the Evangelical Church (the Religious Right of their day) and approved by Hitler. They proposed a church "Aryan paragraph" to prevent "non-Aryans" from becoming ministers or religious teachers. Most church leaders solidly supported the "Judenmission." Only a very few number of Christians opposed Nazism such as the "Confessing Christians" (a Church movement not recognized by the Protestant orthodoxy) headed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The support of Nazism by the majority of German Christians and German Christian leaders shows the danger of mixing religion with government.
SA storm troopers with placards of the "German Christians," Berlin, July 1933. On July 14, 1933, Hitler's government approves a new charter for the Protestant church. With massive intervention by the NSDAP, the church elections scheduled only a short time later result in a resounding victory for the "German Christians." Hitler himself appeals to all Protestant Christians in a radio speech on the eve of the election to vote for the "German Christians." With its slogan "church must remain church,"
National Bishop Friedrich Coch giving a Hitler greeting in Dresden, 10 December 1933 Dresden pastor Friedrich Coch is one of the leading men of the "German Christians" in Saxony. The NSDAP's Gau consultant for church matters since 1932, he is elected to the office of state bishop by the "Brown Synod" in August 1933.