Fascism Vs. Church
1. Catholic Sub-culture as Opponent of Nazism
Ian Kershaw in his Popular and Political Dissent in the Third Reich points out that since late twenties the Nazi Party was quickly gaining popularity in Protestant districts of the North and North-East of Germany, but had difficulties in making its way in Catholic Bavaria. Prior to the July, 1932, elections the NSDAP lagged not only behind the leader, the Bavarian People's Party, but also behind Leftist parties. The Nazi Party managed to secure its first election victory in this federal Land only in March, 1933, after Hitler had come to power. Why couldn't the NSDAP win sympathies of Bavarian Catholics for such a long time?
To answer this question I will review the attitude of the Bavarian Catholic Church towards the NSDAP (1.1) and the reaction of Catholic population on growth of the Nazi movement (1.2)
1.1. Attitude of Bavarian Catholic Church towards National-Socialism before 1933
Before 1930 the Bavarian Catholic Church leadership didn't pay attention to the Nazi movement. They noticed the NSDAP only after the September, 1930, elections, when Hitler's supporters won 107 seats in the Reichstag, almost nine times more, than at the previous elections. In this relation, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, and the matter-of-fact head of the Bavarian Catholic Church, summoned the Conference of Bavarian bishops in Freising, which in February, 1931, adopted the declaration on how the clergy and laity should treat that political movement.
The prelates were presented an abstract made by theology professor A. Scharnagl on the ideology and political aims of the National-Socialism. ÐвÑÐ¾Ñ ÑÑавнил 24 пÑÐ½ÐºÑ Ð½Ð°ÑиÑÑÑкой пÑогÑÐ°Ð¼Ð¼Ñ Ð' ÑÑом докÑменÑе Weltanschauung наÑизма бÑл...
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