page_title: Catholic Church and Nazi Germany
section_title: The Reichskonkordat
hierarchical_section_title: Catholic Church and Nazi Germany / History / The Reichskonkordat
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Konkordatsunterzeichnung in Rom. - Am 20. Juli 1933 wurde zwischen dem Deutschen Reich und dem Heiligen Stuhl in Rom das Reichskonkordat unterzeichnet, durch das zum erstenmal in der Geschichte für das ganze deutsche Reich die Beziehungen der katholischen Kirche zum Staat geregelt werden. Die Unterzeichnung vollzog für Deutschland der Vizekanzler Franz von Papen, für den Heiligen Stuhl der Kardinal Staatssekretär Eugenio Pacelli. Von links nach rechts: Vizekanzler Franz von Papen, (2.v.l.) Kardinal Staatssekretär Eugenio Pacelli und Ministerialdirektor Dr. Buttmann während des Unterzeichnungsaktes. 25935-33
context_page_description: Popes Pius XI and Pius XII led the Catholic Church during the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Around a third of Germans were Catholic in the 1930s, generally in southern Germany; Protestants dominated the north. Although the German Catholic church had opposed the Nazi Party, the Catholic-aligned Centre Party capitulated in 1933. In the 1933 elections, the percentage of Catholics voting for the Nazi Party was lower than the national average. Adolf Hitler and several other key Nazis had been raised Catholic, but became hostile to the church in adulthood; Article 24 of the NSDAP party platform called for conditional toleration of Christian denominations and the 1933 Reichskonkordat treaty with the Vatican purportedly guaranteed religious freedom for Catholics, but the Nazis were essentially hostile to Catholicism. Catholic press, schools, and youth organizations were closed, property was confiscated, and about one-third of its clergy faced reprisals from authorities; Catholic lay leaders were targeted during the Night of the Long Knives.
context_section_description: The church concluded eighteen concordats, beginning in the 1920s, under Pius XI to safeguard its institutional rights. Peter Hebblethwaite noted that the treaties were unsuccessful: "Europe was entering a period in which such agreements were regarded as mere scraps of paper". The Reichskonkordat was signed on 20 July 1933, and ratified in September of that year; it remains in force. The agreement was an extension of existing concordats with Prussia and Bavaria by nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, including a 1924 state-level concordat with Bavaria. It was "more like a surrender than anything else: it involved the suicide of the Centre Party ...". Signed by Hindenburg and Papen, it realized a church desire since the early Weimar Republic to secure a nationwide concordat. German breaches of the treaty began almost immediately; although the church repeatedly protested, it preserved diplomatic ties with the Nazi government.
  From 1930 to 1933, the church had limited success negotiating with successive German governments; a federal treaty, however, was elusive. Centre Party politicians had pushed for a concordat with the Weimar Republic. Pacelli became the Vatican Secretary of State responsible for the church's global foreign policy in February 1930, and continued working toward the "great goal" of a treaty with Germany. The Vatican was anxious to reach an agreement with the new government despite "continuing molestation of Catholic clergy, and other outrages committed by Nazis against the Church and its organisations". When Papen and Ambassador Diego von Bergen met Pacelli in late June 1933, they found him "visibly influenced" by reports of actions against German Catholic interests. Hitler wanted to end all Catholic political life; the church wanted protection of its schools and organisations, recognition of canon law regarding marriage, and the papal right to select bishops. Papen was chosen by the new government to negotiate with the Vatican, and the bishops announced on 6 April that negotiations on a concordat would begin in Rome. Some Catholic critics of the Nazis emigrated, including Waldemar Gurian, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Hans Ansgar Reinhold. Hitler began enacting laws restricting the movement of funds (making it impossible for German Catholics to send money to missionaries), restricting religious institutions and education, and mandating attendance at Sunday-morning Hitler Youth functions.
  Papen went to Rome on 8 April. Outgoing Centre Party chair Ludwig Kaas, who arrived in Rome shortly before him, negotiated a draft with him on behalf of Pacelli. The concordat prolonged Kaas' stay in Rome, leaving his party without a chairman; he resigned his post on 5 May, and the party elected Heinrich Brüning under increasing pressure from the Nazi campaign of Gleichschaltung. The bishops saw a 30 May 1933 draft as they assembled for a joint meeting of the Fulda (led by Breslau's Cardinal Bertram) and Bavarian conferences (led by Munich's Michael von Faulhaber). Wilhelm Berning of Osnabrück and Archbishop Conrad Grober of Freiburg presented the document to the bishops. Weeks of escalating anti-Catholic violence had preceded the conference, and many bishops feared for the safety of the church if Hitler's demands were not met. The strongest critics of the concordat were Cologne's Cardinal Karl Schulte and Eichstätt's Bishop Konrad von Preysing. They noted that the Enabling Act established a quasi-dictatorship, and the church lacked legal recourse if Hitler decided to disregard the concordat. The bishops approved the draft, and delegated Grober to present their concerns to Pacelli and Kaas.
  On 14 July 1933, the Weimar government accepted the Reichskonkordat. It was signed six days later by Pacelli for the Vatican and von Papen for Germany; Hindenburg then signed, and it was ratified in September. Article 16 required bishops to take an oath of loyalty to the state; Article 31 acknowledged that although the church would continue to sponsor charitable organisations, it would not support political organisations or causes. Article 32 gave Hi
caption: Eugenio Pacelli (seated, centre) at the signing of the Reichskonkordat in Rome (left to right) Ludwig Kaas, Franz von Papen, Giuseppe Pizzardo, Alfredo Ottaviani, and Rudolf Buttmann
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