| Part ofthe Religion series on the |
| German Faith Movement |
|---|
 |
| Religion portal |
 | This articlemay need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia'squality standards.You can help. Thetalk page may contain suggestions.(January 2022) |
TheGerman Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung) was a religious movement inNazi Germany that existed between 1933 and 1945, closely associated withUniversity of Tübingen professorJakob Wilhelm Hauer. The movement sought to move Germany away fromChristianity towardsa religion that was based onGermanic paganism andNazi ideas.[1]
In 1933, Germany's population of almost 60 million belonged to either the Catholic Church (20 million members) or the Protestant Church (40 million members).[2] Many Christians were initially drawn to supporting Nazism due to the emphasis on "positive Christianity," noted in Article 24 of the 1920National Socialist Program.[2] However, two distinct Protestant factions emerged as Christians in Germany were divided along political lines. The "German Christians" (Deutsche Christen) emerged from the German Evangelical Church, adhering closely to the nationalistic and racial teachings of the Nazis and ultimately deferring to the Führer's authority. The second faction was the "Confessing Church", which opposed the "German Christians" and swore allegiance to "God and scripture, not a worldly Führer."[2] The Confessing Church moved to counteract the Nazis' grouping of all German people into a singular Protestant church (German Christians) in order to "de-Judaize" Christianity.[3]
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer founded the German Faith Movement in response to the Nazi government's intended indoctrination of children with Christianity and attempting to outlaw all critiques of the faith.[3] He was initially not an obvious supporter ofAdolf Hitler and had earlier started the Köngener Bund, a German Protestant youth movement, which attracted many young Germans due to its opposition toNazism as well as toantisemitism.[3] His allegiance changed however, joining the Combat League for German Culture (Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur) in May 1933. Hauer then joined the Hitler Youth later that year, in December. The once liberal anti-nationalist was then inducted into theSS andSD in August 1934.[3] Hauer became theFührer of the German Faith Movement when it was constituted in May 1934.[3] His reign was short-lived, stepping down on April 1, 1936.[3]
Hauer was a critic of traditional Christianity but was compelled to create the German Faith Movement as a way to preserve freedom of conscience.[3]
The movement initially invited various different groups, including religious free-thinkers (at first even including Jews), racialists, and political opponents of the Nazis, to join a group that was seemingly antagonistic to the Nazi Church.[4] However, racialists, including Hauer, did not believe Jews should be included in the movement, thus leaving only racialists and those who had abandoned German Christianity (i.e. unconventional) to compose the German Faith Movement.[4]
The movement's ceremonies involved sermons,German classical music and political hymns. The movement had around 200,000 followers at its height (less than 0.3% of the population). Following the Nazi accession to power, it obtained rights of civil tolerance fromRudolf Hess, but never the preferential treatment from the Nazi state for which Hauer campaigned. However, in the years that followed Hauer's abdication of his title asFührer of the Movement, the Movement largely served as aNSDAP appendage.[3]
The development of the German Faith Movement revolved around:
Similar movements have remained active in Germany since 1945 outside mainstream educational and social structures.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
