[Athena]

The actions of Nazis was very intertwined with protestantism in Germany.

Protestant Churhes in the Third Reich In 1917, German Protestants celebrated the 400th anniversary of the posting of Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Although the intention was to revive interest in the church, this event became the vehicle for an idolatry of Luther as a German hero, and as an incarnation of the German spirit. Later, when Hitler gained national prominence, some saw him as an heir of Luther. This comparison was helped by Luther's own severe anti-Semitism that he revealed late in his life. Indeed, when Hitler wrote Mien Camp, he listed Luther as one of Germany's great reformers. Luther's 1543 book On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther advocated the burning of synagogues and schools, the deportation of Jews, and other measures that closely resemble the actions taken by the Nazis. Regard this excerpt from On the Jews and Their Lies: Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire... Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted... Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country... Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it. (http://members.icanect.net/~zardoz/luther.htm) When Hitler's German Workers' Party (the predecessors of the Nazis) adopted a manifesto in 1920 that was explicitly anti-Semitic and seems to promise the curtailing of religious freedom, it was not opposed by the Protestant establishment. The twenty fourth point of the manifesto advocates the institution of a "positive" Christianity: “We demand the freedom of all religious denominations in the State insofar as they do not endanger its existence or violate the ethical and moral feelings of the Germanic race. The Party as such takes its stand on a positive Christianity but does not tie itself in the matter of confession to any particular denomination. It fights the spirit of Jewish materialism inside and outside ourselves and it is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only come from within and on the basis of the principle that the common good comes before the selfish good.” ( Rhum von Oppen, 25) The church began to respond the Nazis only when its autonomy was repeatedly threatened by the National Socialist government