Twisted Cross

by Bergen, Doris L.

• ISBN13: 9780807845608
• ISBN10: 0807845604
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

How did Germany's Christians respond to Nazism? In Twisted Cross, Doris Bergen addresses one important element of this response by focusing on the 600,000 self-described 'German Christians,' who sought to expunge all Jewish elements from the Christian church. In a process that became more daring as Nazi plans for genocide unfolded, this group of Protestant lay people and clergy rejected the Old Testament, ousted people defined as non-Aryans from their congregations, denied the Jewish ancestry of Jesus, and removed Hebrew words like 'Hallelujah' from hymns. Bergen refutes the notion that the German Christians were a marginal group and demonstrates that members occupied key positions within the Protestant church even after their agenda was rejected by the Nazi leadership. Extending her analysis into the postwar period, Bergen shows how the German Christians were relatively easily reincorporated into mainstream church life after 1945. Throughout Twisted Cross, Bergen reveals the important role played by women and by the ideology of spiritual motherhood amid the German Christians' glorification of a 'manly' church.

Author Biography

Doris L. Bergen is assistant professor of history at the University of Vermont.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. viii
Preface	p. xi
One Reich, One People, One Church!	p. 1
the Anti-Jewish Church	p. 21
the Antidoctrinal Church	p. 44
the Manly Church	p. 61
Non-Aryans in the People's Church	p. 82
Catholics, Protestants, and Dreams of Confessional Union	p. 101
Women in the Manly Movement	p. 119
the Ecclesiastical Final Solution	p. 142
the Church Without Rules	p. 172
the Bride of Christ at War	p. 192
Postwar Echoes	p. 206
Conclusion	p. 228
Notes	p. 231
Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 331
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