The Holy Reich, Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945.pdf

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THE HOLY REICH

Analyzing the previously unexplored religious views of the Nazi elite, Richard

Steigmann-Gall argues against the consensus that Nazism as a whole was either

unrelated to Christianity or actively opposed to it. He demonstrates that many par-

ticipants in the Nazi movement believed that the contours of their ideology were

based on a Christian understanding of Germany's ills and their cure. A program

usually regarded as secular in inspiration - the creation of a racialist "peoples' com-

munity" embracing antisemitism, antiliberalism, and anti-Marxism - was, for these

Nazis, conceived in explicitly Christian terms. His examination centers on the con-

cept of "positive Christianity," a religion espoused by many members of the party

leadership. He also explores the struggle the "positive Christians" waged with the

party's paganists - those who rejected Christianity

in toto

as foreign and corrupting-

and demonstrates that this was a conflict not just over religion, but over the very

meaning of Nazi ideology itself.

Richard Steigmann-Gall is Assistant Professor of History at Kent State University.

He has earned fellowships and awards from institutions in Germany, Israel, and

Canada, and he has published articles in

Central European History, German History,

Social History,

and

Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte.

The Neue Wache during the Third Reich. The Cross was added

the Nazis after the Seizure of

Power. Source:

Die Jugend des Fuhrers Adolf Hitler: Bildbuch uber die grossdeutsche Judend,

edited

the

Reichsjugendfuhrung der NSDAP (Leipzig,

1942).

THE HOLY REICH

Nazi Conceptions of Christianity,

1919-1945

RICHARD STEIGMANN-GALL

."~,,

CAMBRIDGE

:::

UNIVERSITY PRESS