Evening star., 1937-06-21
THOUSANDS LEAVE
AS NAz|S DISSOLVE
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
Order Making Them Secular
Institutions Follows Ba.
varian Election.
UNFAIRNESS CHARGED
IN POLL OF PARENTS
Priests Removed as Teachers in
966 Church Schools in One
Sector of State.

BACKGROUND
Ndzi regime, after four years OF
control OF Germany, finds itself in
groUing conflict NTH church ouer
determination OF destinies of the
German people. Anti-semitisn1 has
been basic tenet OF Naziism:
the struggle ,Dith the Roman Cath
olic Church has long persisted, and
Professionalism has suffered drastic
restrictions.
Evidence OF 0ro,Ding Catholic
hostility to Nazi rule has come
torward in increasing measure in
recent months.
b. the Associated Press.
MUNICH. Germany. June al
Hundreds Of thousands OF Catholic
school children quit their parochial
schools all over predominantly-Ca -Catho-
lie Bavaria today in obedience to a
Nazi government order which dissolved
the schools and made them secular in
stitut:ors.
In Munich and Upper Babaria alone,
the decree converted 966 confessional
schools into secular institutions. Only
100 secular schools had existed here
tofore in this area.
Authorities insisted they closed the
Catholic schools with the parents
consent"
Elections Held in Districts.
This ic f1,o ka~~nro.I.
Elections, in which parents were
asked to choose between parochial
and secular schools, were held in
various provincial districts Such
elections have been held recently in
other parts OF Germany and have
resulted in the secularization of
schools The Bavarian result, the
authorities announced, showed from
IS to SO per cent in favor of secular
schools. But Catholics have contend
ed the elections were unfairly and
hastily conducted, and that parents
in many cases did not have a chance
to vote their real sentiment.
The mayors and district leaders in
Bavaria compiled the election figures
and presented them to the state GOV
ernment. The abolition Of the paro-
chial or confessional schools vas the
result throughout Bavaria.
Adolf Wagner. minister OF interior
OF Bavaria, signed the decree replacing
$40 clerical teachers with laymen.
Wagner outlined his sweeping move,
affecting thousands Of children, to H.
900 Nazi political leaders last night
at Garmish.
The secularization, he declared. had
been done Saturday at the Joint re-
quest Of all the mayors Of Upper
Bavarian towns
Proud of Triumph.
I'm proud of this triumph in my
province, which is overwhelmingly
Catholic and one of the. Oldest Naz
strongholds, the interior minister told
the district party meeting.
He emphatically denied the dissolu-
ton of the Catholic schools violated
the concordat between the Nazis and
the Vatican, which, in part, guaran-
teed the continued operation Of the
Catholic institutions.
He declared that his decision was
we'll within the law as no public
schools were affected.
"Conventual schools are private" he
declared land have held permission to
teach from the state only, permission
which could be withdrawn at any
time"
One reason for the quick decision,
he added, was the prevalence of i'm
morality cases in the schools. The ban
was declared to have fallen on schools
operated by the orders of Marists,
Pallatines. Augustines. Eremites and
Brethren Of the Christian School for
that reason in particular.