Evening star., 1941-01-06
Otto Says Nazis
Would DESTROY
Christianity
Austrian Pretender
Sees New Poeonism
Following Hitler

ArChduke Otto, the Austrian pre-
tender, told the large audience at
the opening Town Hall lecture here
last night that the Nazis seek de-
of the Christian religion.
Clarence STREET. the author OF
Union Now" a member of the
panel of questioners, added that
Nazi victory would mean the gen.
eral enthronement of a new pagan
doctrine.
Already Christianity has martyrs
to NazidOm. the Archduke said.
The young heir TO the non-eXistent
Hapsburg throne. which was wiped
out of existence by the first World
War, pleaded impassionedly with the
men and women hearing him at the
Shoreham Hotel for support Of the
British cause on the ground that 1t
means support of the Christian
cause.
The Archduke urged adherence to
the principles for peace enumerated
on Christmas Eve by Pope Plus
XII, but Rifat Tirana of Albania,
Mohammedan, who formerly was
secretary of the Financial Commit
tee of the League of Nations, who
also was on the panel, asked why the
Vatican became aware Of the Nazl
danger so late in the season. Otto
thought the Vatican was early
awake TO the Nazi menace.
Called DOctrinal War.
The war being fought TODAY. the
Archduke said, has the clear ten
dencies of a doctrinal war" similar
to the Christian war against the
spreading of Islam centuries ago.
Every Christian. he said can accept
the doctrines of the Allied front. No
Christian can accept the Nazi doc
trines, which rest on the supposltlon
Of the inequality of man from the
standpoint of race and which require
the subservience of the family to
the demands of the super state.
The modern Christian martyrs,
Otto said include the more than
200 Catholic Austrian priests and
the 700 Polish and Czech Catholic
priests in German concentration
camps. He said that there is a new
concentration camp in the Bavarlan
Alps for priests and ministers. The
number Of priests and ministers who
have been killed for abuse OF the
pulpit is great"
The German attack on Christian
ity is carried out in a more subtle
manner, he said, through the cap
ture of Youth" The NaZi school, he
said, is positively anti-religious.
He described a daily worship Ito
the German race in a sort of mass
where parts of 'Mein Kampf instead
of the Gospel are read In the
| Catholic country of Austria, Otto
reported. only one Catholic seminary
is left and there is none for Protest
ants.
Quotes From Nazi Leaders.
The Archduke quoted from Ger
man Nazi leaders, especially Alfred
Rosenberg. author of the Myth of
the Twentieth Century which is
described as the essence of the NaZi
racial philosophy, to support his
view that Christian thought IS in
compatible with the National So
cialist thought
Against the doctrines advocated
/ by the German nation and the Ger
man Army the Christian cannot be
neutral Archduke Otto said AN
abyss separates Christianity from
Nazi Germany
Otto told the story of a young
German flyer who was captured in
France last spring when he had been
mOrtally wounded. In the hospital
( he refused to see priest, but asked
only to be allowed to dictate letter,
| before he should die, to Hitler. In
| the letter he said he regretted losing
| the plane belonging to the German
nation, but that he was proud to
die for the furtherance of his race.
This pagan belief in a religion OF
/ race. then, Otto commented. is al
ready deeply rooted in at least a
part of the German youth.
! Nazis Most Feared.
The discussion which followed the
archduke's speech brought from
Herbert B. ElliSton. associate editor
of the Washington Post and a men,
ber of the panel, the question
whether Christianity really has not
more to fear from Communism than
from Nazi-lSm. He wondered wheth-
er out of the regions of Russia there
might not come some new Attila.
who in his day was feared as the
"scourge of God
The Nazi is the more to be feared.
OTTO replied. because the Nazi ap-
peal is to all persons with the proper
racial qualifications, while the Com
munists make class appeal which
renders theirs the less dynamic
philosophy.
After the war is ended. Otto OBJ
served, peace might be preserved
by the division of the smaller coun-
tries of Europe into set of fedora
tion-three. perhaps. in all, a CEN
trail Danubian federation. a Balkan
federation and a northern fedora
ton.
Former Secretary of Commerce
Roper a member of the audience,
asked whether there was any pros
pect of world federation, but Otto
could not envision it, Mr.. Roper was
invited to ask question by Huston
Thompson, president of the Board
of Trustees, Town Hall, who pre-
sided.