Evening star., 1937-03-21
COMPLETE NAX VICTORY
ISBARRED BY CHURCHES
Open Rebellion Against National So.
cialism Is Order of Day in Religious
Circles of Reich.
BY LOUIS r. LOCHNER,

victory in Germany today
- were 1t not for the churches
of both fatths-ProteStant and Roman
Catholic.
The nations armed force, the labor
movement, the die-hard conserva tiveS,
the captains Of industry-all OF them
potential centers of counter-move-
ments-have fallen in line with ma
tional Socialist thought and practice
While undoubtedly there are malcon-
tents in all these groups, they are,
nevertheless, conforming to Nazi
standards.
In the church, alone, open rebellion
against National Socialist philosophy
Is the order of the day.
Three major phases are discernible
in the relations between church and
state:
/. The period of attempted force
and coercion to compel the churches
to accept Nazi leadership in matters
spiritual.
2. The period of applying moral
suaSlon" IN the hope Of overcoming
church opposition by friendly argu-
ment.
3. The period of disinterestedness
OF the state in church matters,
prompted by the expectation that the
established churches will ole of at
triton as a new generation grows up.
First Phase.
German Protestant leaders say the
country is at least tWo-thirds Prot
estant, with Lutheranism dominating,
Hence the first objective of the Nazis
hlter selzlng power was to capture
the leadership Of the German Evan
gellcal Church, with its three SUBJ
divisions, the Lutheran, the Reformed,
or Calvinist, and the United, or Inter-
confessional, Churches.
Hitler, reared in the Catholic Church,
showed little knowledge of the princi-
pies upon which professionalism was
founded. His course indicated he
thought the leadership principle could
be introduced there in all other Ger
man life.
On April 26, 1898, he selected a
hltherto obscure army chaplain, Rev.
LudWlg Mueller, an early convert to
deputy Tor evangelical church mat
ters, with instructions to organize the
church on the leadership principle.
Mueller struck a snag. The real
church folk, lie, the people who ac-
tually attended church and were ac-
= tive in church life, pointed out that it
was contrary to the whole concept of |
protestantisln to rule the church from
the top down.
Church Built From Bottom.
On the contrary, they pointed out, |
the Evangelical Church is founded |
from the bottom up That is, a num- |
ber of people of like faith band them |
selves together as a congregation, then |
choose their pastor by democratic elec- |
ton. The various individual congre-
cations in turn group themselves to-
gether voluntarily in a synod, together !
defray the expenses of theological |
schools, missions and other projects of |
common endeayor, and, as there must !
be some one to conduct this joint busi-
ness, elect bishop.
This bishop. however. does not lord |
1t over the rest, but is simply "primus
inter pares the first one among
equals. They elected such a bishop in
VIC HpISOII u iNN'. : AE1I XII Won bO- |
delschWingh, noted settlement |
worker
Mueller, realizing that a demo- !
cratic coating must be given to his ac- |
tions, bethought himself of the fact !
that in Germany, where, under the |
Kaiser, the EVangelical Church was a !
state church, millions of citizens were
still technically members of the |
church, although they never saw the |
inside of a house of worship except !
for baptisns, combinations, weddings !
and buriaIs All of these millions, |
however, still had the right to vote.
Church Elections Ordered
Mueller, therefore, ordered church /
elections for July %, 1888, on the /
grounds that the present composition !
of the church governing bodies no
longer represented popular sentiment.
BodelSchWingh was declared MONACO |
ceptable to Hitler. Orders went out |
to all Nazis to be sure to cast their |
ballots.
The -church-going Nazis far
outnumbered the active church men, |
bers, with the result that the election
brought thirds Nazi victory.
The national synod which opened !
soon thereafter at Wittenberg was
packed with NaZis, and by September
27, 1888, Mueller found himself en-
throned as Reichs bishop of the Evan
gelical Church of Germany.
Mueller organized a church cabinet
whose strong man was legal mind,
DR.. August F. Jaeger. Vigorous tao
tics were the order of the day. Nom
conforming clergymen were arrested
or run out of their parishes. Decree
after decree was issued abolishing one
democratic privilege after another and
vesttng all power in the new Prot
estant Pope" as Mueller was called
by the opposition.
These coercive measures had the op-
posite effect from that expected.
Stagnant life in the Protestant world
became active. A leader arose in the
person of a submarine commander who
had achieved high honor in the World
War, and whose patriotism and ma
tlonallSm was not questioned-Rev.
Martin Niemoeller of the Berlin Bor-
ough of Dahlem.
Federation Formed.
Niemoeller rallied about him hun
dreds of pastors who like himself had
done their bit with distinction in the
war, and formed the Pastors Emer-
gency Federation. Arrested time and
again, Niemoeuer stuck to his guns.
denouncing Mueller and his support
ers as un-Lutheran, and continued to
preach, although suspended by the
Reichs bishop. Hundreds of other
pastors did likewise.
All of them had crowded churches
each Sunday. When Lutheran Bishop
Hans Meiser of Munich was forbidden
to 60 to his church, to preach his
caruranotin hIad the nnllrt=