Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor.

University of British Columbia

Newsletter no 8 – September 1995

Contents

1. Conferences

2. Books

Dear Friends,

Most of you will now have started the new semester/term in the northern hemisphere, so I trust you will still have time to read the enclosed, which comes with best wishes for the new academic year.

I am glad to say that, at the 18th International Historical Congress in Montreal (see below) I was able to recruit some new friends for our Arbeitsgemeinschaft. I believe it would be very helpful to use one issue of this Newsletter to give an outline of Work in Progress, so that we can all become better acquainted with each other’s interests.

So may I ask each of you to send me a short statement, which I will collate together for this purpose, and will post whenever a sufficient number have been received. This is your Newsletter, so please find the time to send me something which may be of interest to us all.

 

1. Conferences

The 18th International Congress of Historical Sciences held in the Congress Centre, downtown Montreal from August 26th to Sept 3rd brought together some 2000 historians from Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia. Virtually absent were any representatives from China, Africa and the rest of Asia. Since all possible subjects were covered, there wasn’t much on our special interests, though Kyle Jantzen outlined his preliminary findings about three Evang. parishes in the Third Reich. We look forward to hearing more from him. A general discussion of present Holocaust research was interesting for its inclusive character, when the other victims of the Nazi mass murder programme were suitably remembered. In fact, it was notable that one distinguished Holocaust historian made the point that “too much emphasis has been placed on Christian antisemitism as a root cause of the Holocaust”. We can expect that this topic will be taken up further at subsequent conferences.

Forthcoming conferences:

7th International Bonhoeffer Congress, Cape Town, South Africa, January 7-12th 1996, under the auspices of Prof John de Gruchy, JDEG@socsci.uct.ac.za

26th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, March 3rd-5th 1996, University of St Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota, organiser: Karen Schierman, 2260 Summit Ave, St Paul, Minn 55105. Topics include: The Holocaust and the Vatican, Educating the Clergy,Perpetrators Bystanders Victims Rescuers Survivors and much more

Commission Internationale d’Histoire Ecclesiastique Comparee (CIHEC) Regional meeting, Lublin, Poland, 2-6th Sept 1996 under the auspices of Prof Jerzy Kloczowski, whom I first met at the Oxford CIHEC meeting in 1974, and who one of the leading lights when CIHEC held its 1978 regional meeting in Warsaw in 1978. Was anyone else on our list there?

The title for 1996 is: Christianity in East Central Europe and its relations with the West and the East. There are to be six sections: Antiquity,The Middle Ages,Modern Times (6th-18th Century),The Nineteenth Century, The 20th Century, Atlas of Christianity. The programme looks most interesting, and more details can be obtained from Institute of East Central Europe, Czartoryski Palace, Plac Litewski 2, Lublin 20-080, Poland.

E-mail: europasw@golem.umcs.lublin.pl

 

2. Books

Although it is not new, I can recommend Gordon Horwitz, In the Shadow of Death, 1991, which is a study of the concentration camp of Mauthausen near Linz, Austria. I have seldom read a more desolate or terrifying study of brutality, hatred and murder. Actually Horwitz’s aim was to study the reactions of the people who lived around this camp and its dependencies, but the widespead amnesia or indifference meant that his surviving witnesses had little to report that was uplifting. In essence, his story depicts the appalling conditions and sufferings inflicted on the inmates, and the sad absence and/or incapability of the local population to do anything against the Nazi terrorism. A profoundly depressing book.

Alison Owings, Frauen: German Women recall the Third Reich, Penguin Books 1993.

This series of interviews with German women has much of interest, since Owings has been able to gather interviews from the whole spectrum including some still fervent admirers of Hitler. The role of the churches is a repeated theme, by no means all of it glorious. And although serious scholars may doubt how far Owings’s understanding of the Third Reich extends, the book has many insights which will be of interest to krchlicher Zeitgeschichtler.

On a personal note: to fill the time during my extended air trip to Montreal and back, I read Oscar Maria Graf’s Das Leben meiner Mutter, a wonderfully insightful account of the Bavarian countryside around the southern end of the Starnbergersee at the end of the last century. Particularly good were his observations on the religious practices and attitudes of the local peasantry, with their intense Catholic devotion, mixed with archetypal superstition and bigotry. I especially liked his pointing out that in 1866 on the occasion of the Prussian-Austrian war, provoked by Bismarck: “In jenen Jahren naemlich beteten die Leute in allen bayrischen Kirchen, der Allmachtige moege ihr Land vor diesem ‘finsteren, grundfalschen, verderbten luthrischen Antichrist’ gnadigst bewahren”. Alas, they lost.

Do please send me any short items you may want to, about your reading and/or experiences over the summer. I look forward to hearing from you all, especially about your research interests.

Yours sincerely
John S.Conway
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor.

University of British Columbia

Newsletter no. 7 – August 1995

Contents

1. Enquiry

2. H-Net.

3. Book Notices

a) Kurt Nowak and Gerard Raulet eds., Protestantismus und Anitsemitismus in der Weimarer Republik, Campus, Frankfurt 1994.

b) Roman Bleistein, Alfred Delp, Knecht, Frankfurt 1989, and Michael Pope, Alfred Delp S.J. im Kreisauer Kreis. Die rechts- und sozial-philosophischen Grundlagen in seinen Konzeptionen fuer eine Neuordnung Deutschlands. Veroff. d. Komm. fur Zeitgeschichte, Reihe B. Forschungen Bd 63, Mathias Grunewald, Mainz 1994 Reviewed by Michael Phayer.

c) Jacques Semelin, Unarmed against Hitler. Civilian resistance in Europe 1939-1945, Praeger, Westport Conn./London 1993.

d) Henri Fabre, L’eglise catholique face au fascisme at au nazisme. Les outrages a la verite, Brussels 1994, and Anthony Rhodes, The Vatican in the age of the Cold War, London 1992.

e) Hans-Dieter Schutt, Anna Rosmus – die ‘Hexe’ von Passau, Dietz, Berlin 1994.

f) Jerusalem

Dear Friends,

Welcome back – especially for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and I hope you have all enjoyed a period of rest and /or research before the beginning of the new term. This Newsletter will be somewhat longer, because of the large number of new books which have appeared, or which deserve notice. Many thanks to those of you who have sent in contributions. These are always welcome, in order to make this Newsletter as reciprocal as possible.

 

1. Enquiry:

Frank Baron, University of Kansas would like to have more information about a Professor Hans Schwerte. He writes: “An article appeared in the N.Y.Times on June 1st about the prominent Germanist Hans Schwerte who turns out to have been a former SS-officer. I am interested in his earlier history. Although he denies having taken part in medical matters, there is evidence that he had something to do with experimentations performed in Dachau. Can anyone provide more details?”

 

2. H-Net.

As most of you will be aware, one of the recent developments on the academic Internet is the institution of book reviews. H- German is now doing these twice a month. They will be of the same quality and comprehensiveness as those appearing in scholarly journals, and presumably by equally qualified reviewers. The great advantage to readers, authors and publishers is that they will appear months, even years, before the equivalent review in a printed journal. Indeed one can foresee the end of that genre before long.

Unfortunately German journals, with the exception of the Historische Zeitschrift, don’t do many book reviews (though Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte is trying hard!) Consequently German publishers don’t send out many review copies, and N. American journal editors have not always been able to get copies easily into the hands of reviewers. Theological publishers are even slower in responding to requests for review copies. And given the snail-like acceptance of computerization and hence E-mail in Germany, we may be a while before the kind of books of interest to our Arbeitsgemeinschaft will be so treated. But the possibilities might be worth exploring. Does anyone have connections with publishers such as Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Gottingen, or Chr.Kaiser in Gutersloh?

 

3. Book Notices

A flood of recent books in our area would seem to indicate that our particular field is flourishing. Here are brief notices of those to hand.

a) Kurt Nowak and Gerard Raulet eds., Protestantismus und Anitsemitismus in der Weimarer Republik, Campus, Frankfurt 1994.

This selection of essays is the result of Franco-German collaboration in a series of conferences, and concentrates on the reactions within German Protestantism to the so-called “Jewish question” in the period of the first world war and its aftermath. As the editors point out, the debate was actually part of the wider repercussions within the church to what was perceived as the crisis of modernization. Conservatives from Treitschke onwards were ready to see Jews as sinister agents of change, a view greatly enhanced by the disasters of the first world war. Liberal Protestants were trying to find a suitable theological response, but the result was often cacophony and confusion. This was reflected in their attitudes towards Judaism. In particular the irreconcilable gulf between the advocates of assimilation to a German nationalist consensus, and those who tentatively argued for religious and social pluralism only widened in the 1920s. Some Protestant theologians were ready to accept a broader participation in society for assimilated Jews, and hence adopted a more open stance between the faiths in the constitutional, legal and employment fields. Nevertheless virtually no German theologian argued for a pro-semitic attitude in theology. Adolf von Harnack’s well-known belief that Judaism was destined to be replaced by the more modern presence of Christianity lingered long in liberal minds, since it fitted so well with their view of social, political as well as theological evolution. For their part, many German Jews were attracted by the individualism of Protestantism, and its openness to liberal debate and democratic reforms.

The chapters of Leo Baeck, Walter Rathenau and Ernst Troeltsch show their affinity, politically and intellectually. But the only Christian scholars to take Judaism seriously, who contributed significant works attacking the popular kind of vulgar antisemitism, were all supporters of Mission to the Jews and believed the Jews would sooner or later recognise that their due destiny lay in conversion. Wolfgang Wiefel presents as excellent chapter on the various N.T. scholars who dug deeply into its Jewish roots, but sadly admits that communication with Jewish scholars was non-existent. Instead we find the most prominent Tubingen N.T. scholar, Gerhard Kittel, giving his full support to the Nazi regime and drawing a line between ancient Israel and modern Jewry. The ambiguities of this unfortunate legacy are still reverberating today.

 

b) Roman Bleistein, Alfred Delp, Knecht, Frankfurt 1989. (contributed by Michael Phayer, Marquette U., Milwaukee)

This well researched exhaustive biography is well worth the time of those interested in resistance. Bleistein covers a great deal of ground: the Jesuit resistance circle in Munich and its relationship to the Kreisau Kreis; their efforts to get the bishops involved with the Kreis or at least to collaborate with it; Delp’s contacts with other resistors like the Scholls (meeting planned but they were already executed by that time) and with Stauffenberg. Delp differed from other Jesuits and bishops in that he did not oppose killing Hitler. Bleistein suspects this is because Delp knew what the Nazis were doing to the Jews. Did Delp know that Stauffenberg intended to plant a bomb at Hitler’s feet? Delp maintained at his trial that he did not know (but he was executed anyway in January 1945). Bleistein concludes that Delp and Stauffenberg had discussed the morality of assassination in general terms only. The book includes an interview with the prison guard who was assigned the duty of beating Delp with a spiked board to get him to divulge information.

Michael Pope, Alfred Delp S.J. im Kreisauer Kreis. Die rechts- und sozial-philosophischen Grundlagen in seinen Konzeptionen fuer eine Neuordnung Deutschlands. Veroff. d. Komm. fur Zeitgeschichte, Reihe B. Forschungen Bd 63, Mathias Grunewald, Mainz 1994

Michael Pope’s dissertation gives a comprehensive view of Delp’s contributions to the Kreisau Circle. It is not uncritical. He notes that many of Delp’s ideas were drawn from his earlier involvement in Catholic youth groups with their romantic idealization of Germany’s Catholic traditions. He was still in 1944 pursuing an organic view of society which had numerous anti-democratic and anti-pluralist overtones, and which now appear as utopian or even reactionary. Nevertheless he was a fearless defender of Catholic viewpoints who rightly rejected the allurements of Nazism as well as the shameful compromises of some of his Catholic colleagues and superiors. As such he is rightly honoured among the noble army of martyrs

 

c) Jacques Semelin, Unarmed against Hitler. Civilian resistance in Europe 1939-1945, Praeger, Westport Conn./London 1993

This essay by a French sociologist discusses the political limitations of non-violent opposition and non-compliance by civilians for “civilian” i.e. non-military reasons against Nazism. Semelin makes clear that there are wide variations in the concept of resistance and in the particular settings in each country. Nevertheless he affirms that the churches played a significant role, in such matters as the protest against the Nazi euthanasia decrees, whereby their mobilization of a “protective screen” could be deployed for moral reasons. But in the case of the murder of the Jews, such a tactic came to play in far fewer circumstances, revealing the fact that as a whole the Christian churches manifested contradictory attitudes which prevented adequate resistance or deterrent measures against the Nazis’ systematic and deliberate use of violence.

 

d) Henri Fabre, L’eglise catholique face au fascisme at au nazisme. Les outrages a la verite, Brussels 1994

Henri Fabre’s blockbuster is a splendid piece of polemic, which takes aim at the Catholic Church, the Vatican and Pope Pius XII in a tone of exasperation and vituperation for over 500,pages. As a rational atheist, he has no use for the hypocrisy, self-serving or prevarication which he believes characterized the church’s officials in their response to the Fascist and Nazi dictators. In particular he is dismayed by their perversion of the truth about the Catholic reactions to the Holocaust. He examines minutely the record not only of the Holy See, but also of the Church in various European countries, in order to demonstrate that the Church failed miserably to stand up for the Jews. He especially analyses the 11 volumes of Vatican documents, put out in response to the earlier charges made by Hochhuth and others. Here he seeks to expose the “outrages” against the truth, and to accuse the Jesuit editors of these volumes of gross hypocrisy. Needless to say, he has no sympathy whatsoever for the self-imposed silence of Pius XII about war-time atrocities, and instead denounces the Papacy for not protesting the Nazis’ crimes against the Jews on every possible occasion. His assumption that, had such a prophetic stance been adopted, more Jews would be alive today not only overestimates the potential power of the Papacy, but comes rather oddly from one who derides the institution with such acrimony. But he has certainly done his homework in subjecting the Vatican documents to a fine- toothcomb analysis.

Anthony Rhodes, The Vatican in the age of the Cold War, London 1992

By contrast, Anthony Rhodes’s sequel to two previous studies of the Vatican in this century is positive and affirmative. He accepts at face value the Vatican’s own view of its policies, overlooks or excuses its glaring failures, and sees the Papacy as a valiant champion of the free world in face of the Communist threat. He is well-informed but dispenses with footnotes. As well, his story stops short at the end of the 1960s, and fails to take the story up to its more fitting ending in 1989-90. But he does include chapters on Latin America which are an interesting innovation.

 

e) Passau:

Anyone who enjoyed the film “The Nasty Girl”, with its satirical portrait of the difficulties confronting researchers into recent German history, may want to note the appearance of the small book by Hans-Dieter Schutt, Anna Rosmus – die ‘Hexe’ von Passau, Dietz, Berlin 1994. This is an extended interview in which Ms Rosmus explains her reasons for wanting to expose the hypocrisy and break the taboos about the Nazi period which characterized the elite of Passau, including the clergy and professoriate. As a modern Savonarola, she is suffering much the same fate, and was last heard of in New York. A lively picture of an uncompromising searcher for truth.

 

f) Jerusalem:

Even though Jerusalem does not figure largely in the debates of contemporary church history, many of us will have been there. All, I believe, will not have failed to see how deeply the atmosphere of the city has been imprinted upon by the legacy of earlier disputes, not least amongst the various Christian denominations. One such legacy is to be found in the so-called “Garden Tomb”, that delightfully pleasant green oasis just north of the Damascus Gate. Its history and the resultant controversy is well described by Sarah Kuchev “The Search for a Protestant Holy Sepulchre. The Garden Tomb in 19th century Jerusalem”, J. of Ecclesiastical History, Vol 46, no 2, April 1995, pp 278ff.

This Newsletter has already grown like Topsy, so I will send it off now, and will continue with more book reviews and notes next month. Don’t hesistate to let me know what you have “discovered” this summer.

With best wishes to you all,

John Conway,
Dept of History, University of B.C.,Vancouver
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor.

University of British Columbia

Newsletter no 6 – July 1995

Contents

1. Conferences

2. Book Notices

 

1. Conferences

As most of you know, the initiative for our coming together stems from the German group, organized by Professor Gerhard Besier, now of Heidelberg (Wissenschaftlich-Theologisches Seminar, Kisselgasse 1, 69117, Heidelberg), which began to hold its annual conferences in 1989, and publishes the splendid journal twice a year, Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte.

The 1995 conference will be held in Heidelberg itself, from August 25th-27th, on the theme “The Churches, Southern Africa and the Political Context”. Several representatives of the new S.Africa will attend, to give special reference to the role of the churches and of theology in the present situation. In addition several of our German friends, such as Besier and A.Boyens, will present their views and reflect on the significance of the S.African experience for the wider context of contemporary church history. It is certainly to be welcomed that, for the first time, this conference has adopted a non-European theme. The papers should appear in Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, 1996 vol. 1.

 

2. Book notices

Jacques Picard, Die Schweiz und die Juden 1933-1945, Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1995 (Ronald Webster, York University, Toronto, has kindly supplied this short notice, as a prelude to his longer review in Holocaust and Genocide Studies)

The Swiss historian J.Picard has undertaken to provide both an encyclopedic and in-depth analysis of the war-time dilemmas and tragedies of the Swiss Jews and their involvement in Switzerland’s role as the pivotal point in the rescue of Jews in World War II.

The main themes are:

1) The horrible dilemma of Swiss Jews caught between the constant demands to provide their bona fides at home while feeling an active sympathy for the fate of Europe’s Jews under Nazi domination.

2) The role that Switzerland and its Jewish leaders played in disseminating news of the unfolding Holocaust, especially through the efforts of the Swiss Red Cross and the various Swiss legations in Nazi-occupied Europe.

3) The frustrating negotiations between the authorities and the Jewish leaders over the very restrictive Swiss immigration policies. Picard analyses here the questionable role of the Swiss police chief, Heinrich Rothmund, in initiating with the Germans in 1938 the notorious “J” stamped in the passports of both Swiss and German Jews.

4) The role of Sally Mayer, head of the SIG (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund). While Picard criticizes Mayer for his increasingly authoritarian leadership style, nevertheless he sees him as a minor hero, attempting to do what he could under almost unbearable circumstances. Picard especially praises Mayer for his role as the American Joint Distribution liaison in Switzerland, after he resigned his post as head of SIG in 1943.

5) The role of the myriad local and national organizations operating on Swiss soil, devoted to Jewish and refugee questions – some 17 in all. A valuable source of informnation on these operations.

6) Picard provides fascinating insights into the policy of ‘financial blackmail’ perpetrated by the Swiss govt, whereby a mere 18,000 Swiss Jews were obliged, albeit with crucial aid from the Joint and other international organizations, to bear the lion’s share of relief work in Switzerland during the war – probably no less than 100 million Sw Frs between 1933 and 1952.

A very well researched and important book on a crucial issue.

Hansjacob Stehle, Geheimdiplomatie im Vatikan. Die Papste und die Kommunisten. This is an updated and slightly revised edition of his The Eastern Policies of the Vatican 1917-1979, Athens, Ohio 1981, which brings us up to date on events since 1989-90.

Rof Steininger ed., “Der Umgagng mit dem Holocaust. Europa- USA-Israel, Bohlau, Vienna 1994.” Here are the papers delivered at a conference in Innsbruck in 1992, with a fine galaxy of authors, including our own Mike Phayer, who gives an excellent account of the Vatican attitudes towards the victims of the Holocaust, especially after 1945, but suggests that their fate was never a priority for the Vatican leaders. Rather Pius XII set his sights on restoring diplomatic relations with the revived Germany, and thus safeguarding the 1933 Concordat, Only with the Second Vatican Council did matters improve. Various other contributors depict the state of Holocaust reception in different countries in the post- war period.

Bjorn Krondorfer, Between Remebrance and Reconciliation, Yale U.P. 1995 B, who now teaches in Maryland, describes his efforts to promote Jewish-American reconciliation through organizing youth seminars for “3rd generation” Ameican Jews and non-Jewish Germans, at which the question of intergenerational transmission of Holocaust memories and traumas is fully dissected. His initiative came from the fact that, as a post-war German, he was never confronted with this issue until he arrived in the USA, but he has now devised a constructive means of bridging the chasms of memory and geography.

Tony Kushner, The Holocaust and the Liberal Imagination, A social and cultural history, Blackwell, Oxford 1995. (To be reviewed in Albion). Kushner is the director of the James Parkes Library, and teaches, at Southampton University, and here gives a fine account of impact of the Holocaust on ordinary people in the democracies, principally Britain, with comparative looks at the USA. He examines the actions of these states in the light of popular responses.

He naturally highlights the fine efforts of James Parkes to arouse concern for the plight of the Jews during the war,and suggests that the leadership of the churches on this issue was praiseworthy, but not effective enough to overcome the political constraints of war- time circumstances. A thoughtful and sometimes provocative account.

ed.Stephen Batalden, Seeking God. The recovery of Religious Identity in Orthodox Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, Northen Illinois U.P., DeKalb 1993. In fact half this book deals with the history of Russian spirituality, as a background for the revival in the last few years. Highly informative, and well illustrated, this account provides an interesting companion to the books mentioned in my last Newsletter. Those unfamiliar with conditions in Russian Orthodoxy will learn a lot.

4) Contributions for subsequent Newsletters will be most welcome. Since most of you will be away or on holiday for August, I plan the next issue for early September, after I return from the International Historical Congress in Montreal. If anyone else is going, perhaps we could meet for lunch. Do let me know. Have a good summer.

Best wishes to you all,

John S.Conway,
Dept. of History, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z1, Canada
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor.

University of British Columbia

Newsletter no 5: June 1995

Contents

1. Conferences

2. New Books

3. The Vatican and the Jews

4. Contributions

 

1. Conferences:

David Diephouse kindly reported as follows: “Zwischen Weltkrieg und Wiederaufbau: Evang. Kirche in Wurttemberg 1939 bis 1948, Verein f. Wurtt.Kirchengeschichte, Ludwigsburg”, 18-20 May 1995.

This conference could have been just of local interest, but the centrality of the Wurttemberg Church and such leading churchmen as Landesbischof Wurm during the years in question gave it a broader interest.

The conference began with my own paper, as Wurm’s would-be biographer (and token international representative at the conference) which attempted to map out elements of continuity and change in Wurm’s world view after 1945. The conference as a whole was divided into two parts. About half the papers dealt with the war years and post-war military occupation, such as Siegfried Hermle on internal church government, and Eberhard Roehm on the church’s response to the so-called “Judenfrage”. Martin Greschat offered an interesting case study of church policy in the French zone of occupation, while Hermann Ehmer compared the impact of Helmut Thielecke and Karl Hartenstein. Martin Widmann aroused considerable debate with his positive evaluation of Hermann Diem’s work and of the Kirchlich-theologische Sozietaet.

The other half was devoted to post-war reconstruction, with papers on political party formation, school reform, and co-determination. The conference ended with a dramatic debate over the efforts by prominent church officials to rehabilitate a former SS Einsatzgruppen commander, condemned to death (later commuted) for his crimes in Russia. The emotionally charged conversation that ensued between/among the historians, theologians and Zeitzeugen present typified the complex interactions of memory and reflection that marked the conference as a whole – and served as a reminder, if one was needed, of how far kirchliche Zeitgeschichte is from being a detached, dispassionate academic enterprise. The above papers, among others, are included in the volume: Rainer Laechele and Joerg Thierfelder ed.s, “Das evangelische Wuerttemberg zwischen Weltkrieg und Wiederaufbau”, Stuttgart, Calwer Verlag 1995

 

2. New books

Stefan Grotefeld, Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze. Ein deutscher Okumeniker und christlicher Pazifist, (Heidelberger Untersuchungen zu Widerstand, Judenverfolgung und Kirchenkampf im Dritten Reich, Vol 8), Chr.Kaiser, Gutersloh 1995

Siegmund-Schultze was one of Germany’s leading figures in the fields of social reform, ecumenical affairs and the peace movement.

Despite his 60 years of service to his country and church, his career has largely been overlooked and his contributions forgotten. It is Grotefeld’s achievement that he has “rescued” this significant personality from an undeserved oblivion. But the title is somewhat misleading, since G. deals only with Siegmund-Schultze’s arguably least effective period, namely his years of exile after the Nazis expelled him as early as June 1933 until his return to Germany in 1947. G’s study is in fact one of a series, promoted by the late Prof. H-E Todt of Heidelberg, covering the Nazi years. So here we have a marvellously full and meticulously researched account of how this German patriot and pacifist tried to come to terms with the Nazi impact and aggression, undertaking relief efforts for refugees and trying to keep alive the cause of pacifism in such drastic circumstances. It is certainly the fullest account (420 p.) so far of the dilemmas such pacifists in Europe had to face as their cause was so obviously lost. Grotefeld is to be congratulated on his thorough elucidation of the enormous quantity of papers left behind by S-Schultze, now all in the Evang.Zentralarchiv, Berlin, and his sensible and careful evaluation of the evidence. A major contribution to our knowledge of those anti-Nazis forced into exile.

Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, Bd III, 1935- 37, Chr Kaiser, Gutersloh 1994.

This is the third vol. produced by Carsten Nicolaisen and co- workers at the Evang. Arbeitsgem. f. kirchl.Zeitgesch. in Munich. It brings interesting documents from the Nazi government and party sources, together with a short introduction. Indispensable for a picture of the conflicts and tensions within the NSDAP over policy towards all the churches, and covers the period July 1935 to the crisis of early 1937, when Hitler suddenly ordered new church elections – later cancelled. To be continued presumably in subsequent volumes.

Helmut W.Smith, German Nationalism and Religious Conflict. Culture,Ideology,Politics 1870-1914, Princeton U.P. 1995 My review of this book appeared on H-GERMAN last week, so watch out!

An excellent study of the attempt by Prussian Protestants to capture the identity of the united Germany after 1870 for their ideology. Drawn mainly from the files of the Evang.Bund, Smith assesses very well the political consequences, and shows how the Catholics successfully resisted such a take-over bid, by appealing to their own different traditions, rival memories, another history, in formulating their own concepts of the nation’s identity.

Other new books:

Jurgen Manmann, “Weil es nicht nur Geschichte ist” Die Begrundung der Notwendigkeit einer fragmentarischen Historiographie des Nationalsozialismus aus politisch- theologischer Sicht, Fundamenaltheologische Studien Bd 2, LIT Verlag Munster 1995

ed. M.Bourdeaux, The Politics of Religion in Russia and the new States of Eurasia, M.E.Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y and London,Eng 1995. (Includes a chapter by our colleague, Bob Goeckel, on the Baltic States and the democratization process)

John Anderson, Religion, state and politics in the Soviet Union and successor states, Cambridge University Press 1994 (Covers the period from Khrushchev to present).

 

3. The Vatican and the Jews

On the HOLOCAUS-L recently, Prof. Stanford Shaw, Turkish and Judeo-Turkish History, UCLA, CA 90024, mentioned that he discusses the role of the Papal Nuncio, Angelo Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, in his book Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey’s role in rescuing Turkish and European Jews from Nazi persecution 1933-45 (N.Y.U.P.,N.Y./Macmillan, London 1992.) He explains how Roncalli helped the Jewish Agency and other Jewish organizations based in Istanbul in rescuing Jews in eastern Europe and Greece. See also: P.Hoffmann, “Roncalli in the 2nd World War” in Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryVol XL (1989),pp. 74- 99; V.U.Righi, Papa Giovanni sulle rive del Bosforo (Padua 1971); R.M. della Rocca, “Roncalli Diplomatici in Turchia e Grecia 1935-44” in Christianesimo nella Storia Vol VIII/2 1987,p33-72.

Prof Ingrid Shafer, Dept of Philosophy and Religion, U. of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Chichasha, Ok 73018, notes that she is currently translating ed. W.Kunzemann, Judenstein: Das Ende einer Legende Innsbruck 1995. This book provides background, history and documentation of the official removal from pilgrimage status of a place near Innsbruck known as Judenstein and a chapel dedicated to the veneration of Anderl von Rinn, a three-year old boy allegedly murdered by Jews in the 15th century. “This book documents the ways of thinking and actions of people who over many centuries have excluded, stigmatized and killed Jews. It documents the guilt of the Church. . .which also psychologically prepared the way for the Holocaust. It also documents the work of those such as the present bishop of Innsbruck, Stecher, who are trying to work off the sad mortgage by setting the record straight, and are now dedicated to Christian penance and reconciliation with the people of Israel.”

 

4. Contributions

Please do not hesitate to send me any news and views which may be of interest to our Arbeitsgemeischaft. I will hope to report again in July.

Warm regards to you all

John S.Conway,
Dept. of History, UBC,
Vancouver V6T 1Z1,Canada
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor.

University of British Columbia

Newsletter no. 4, May 1995

Contents

1.”Christianity and Resistance” Conference, Birmingham, April 19-23 1995

2. 7th International Bonhoeffer Congress

3. Meetings

 

1. “Christianity and Resistance” Conference, Birmingham, April 19-23 1995.

This conference held last month in Birmingham University with the full title “Christianity and Resistance: National Socialist Germany 1933-1945”. A conference on Moral Responsibility and Citizenship. In memory of George Bell, Bishop of Chichester 1929-1957″ was the main occasion in Britain to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his brother Klaus, his brother-in-law Rudiger Schleicher, and other members of the German Resistance at the Nazis’ hands in the last days of the war in April 1945. The meeting was splendidly organised by Andrew Chandler, a young member of the History Department, and proved to be a stimulating, academically scholarly, and yet sobering occasion.

Some 125 participants attended, including several from various countries overseas, Germany, U.S.A., Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand. Many members of the British section of the Bonhoeffer Society and numerous clergy, including 5 Anglican bishops, were present. I am glad to say that several of our fellowship were also present, so they may wish to add their comments and reflections.

The conference had two foci – first the moral dilemmas of the German Resistance Movement, and second, the response of the churches. On the former, Klemens von Klemperer and Beate Ruhm von Oppen gave thoughtful addresses about the moral climate in which the German Resistance had to operate, while Peter Hoffmann of McGill spoke feelingly about the various steps which led these men to the desperate attempt to assassinate Hitler. In addition, we had a unique presentation by two eye-witnesses, Chistabel Bielenburg and Marion Grafin Donhoff, who spoke of their personal experiences during this traumatic time Ursula Buttner from Hamburg gave a most excellent paper about the plight of those persons in “mixed” Christian-Jewish families. My own paper dealt with the question of why the German churches did not do more to resist, when I suggested that part of the reason lay in the loss of Christian credibility as a result of the mutually contradictory stances taken by the churches during the first world war. (Mirabile dictu, this was printed (almost in full) by the Church Times in its issue of April 21st, p. 5, including photographs they had somewhere dug up. If there is any interest, I could retype it for you in a subsequent Newsletter).

The second focus was on the Church in Britain, then and now. Erwin Robertson came to introduce his new little book on Bishop Bell and the Germans, which is useful in giving more detail than contained in Jasper’s biography, but hardly said anything new, or examined the question: why? More stimulating was the presentation by Frank Field, a prominent member of the Labour Party and MP for Birkenhead, who gave his “Political Reflections on Bishop George Bell” , and suggested that Bell might well have been an appropriate choice for the Archbishopric of Canterbury even earlier in his career, but that his well-known stance on the bombing of German civilians dished his chances in 1944, after the death of Archbishop Temple, and he was never given another chance. He speculated as to what kind of stance the Church of England might have taken in the post-war years if Bell had been in charge instead of Fisher. All very good stuff, but perhaps a closer acquaintance with Bell’s papers, now in Lambeth Palace Library, would have induced a more cautious assessment. The key-note speech in the final banquet was given by Shirley Williams, also a prominent member, formerly, of the Labour Party, and later of the S.D.P., and now a Baroness in the House of Lords as well as a Professor at Harvard. She spoke movingly about the dictates of conscience for resistance, and cited the example of her mother Vera Brittain, whose work during and after the first world war is certainly an inspiration for church members.

The conference concluded with a most moving service in Birmingham Cathedral, when the readings and service programme included references to those murdered 50 years ago, at which the Bishop of Birmingham, Mark Santer, preached. Unfortunately I was not able to be present at the final plenary when I believed some resolutions were agreed upon for church members’ guidance. If any of you brought this back and could share it, I would be glad to circulate it to everyone on our list.

 

2. 7th International Bonhoeffer Congress.

This will take place in Cape Town from January 7-12 1996, under the auspices of John de Gruchy (JDEG@socsci.uct.ac.za). Anyone who would like to offer papers should contact John, or write to the American contact, Prf. Michael Lukens, St Norbert Coll., DePere, Wisconsin 54115, lukemb@sncac.snc.edu

 

3. In the meanwhile Roland Blaich, Walla Walla College, Washington State USA attended a meeting of the Assoc. of Seventh-day Adventist Historians to read a paper on “Health Reform and Race Hygiene. Adventists and the Biomedical Vision of the Third Reich”. He has kindly sent us a summary of his paper as follows:

“A foreign sect that resembled Jews in many respects, German Seventh-day Adventists were particularly vulnerable in the Third Reich. Since Nazi leaders were advocates of health reform, German Adventists used their strengths in health reform asa basis on which to work with the Nazi state, and to court its goodwill. As the church joined the state in working for health reform, its “health message” underwent a transformation. German Adventist publications soon adopted elements of the Nazi biomedical/racist agenda as well. A curious path led from caritas, the caring for the weak and less fortunate, to endorsing elimination of the weak through eugenics, as the work of God. Collaboration with the state may have saved the church, but at what cost?” Must have been an interesting occasion. I wonder what the Adventists made of this episode?

I will be glad to hear from any of you who would like to contribute to subsequent Newsletters, and hope next time to report on some new books in this field.

Sincerely

John Conway
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor. University of British Columbia

Newsletter no. 3, April 1995

Contents

In Memoriam Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dear Friends,

For April 9th

Fifty years ago, on April 9th 1945, the noted German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was murdered by the SS-Gestapo in Flossenburg Concentration camp in southern Germany. His “crime” had been to be associated with the group of men who sought to overthrow the Nazi regime, culminatin in the traic failure of their attempt to assassinate Hitler on 20th July 1944. Bonhoeffer had become involved with this heroic Resistance group through his brothers-in-law, whose positions in the army and civil service had led them to their determination to put a stop to the Nazis’ criminal barbarities, if necessary by directly conspiring against Hitler himslef. The failure of their attempts and their subsequent executions for high treason deal a decisive blow to any hopes for an early end to the Nazi regime.

Bonhoeffer himself, out of a strong sense of national loyalty, had long opposed the anti-Christian and immoral deeds of the Nazis. As a theologian teaching at Berlin University, he had already spoken out against the Nazi perversion of the Gospel in 1933, and had been sent into banishment to be Chaplain to the Lutherna congregations in London. But then he was recalled to lead a clandestine and later illegal theological seminary for young pstors, and had been drawn in closer to more conspiratorial activities trying to undermine the regime.

In 1939, during a brief visit to the United States, he was offered the chance to stay there in safety. But he refused. “Christians in Germany, he wrote, will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilisation may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilisation. I know which of these alternatives I must choose,. but I cannot make that choice in security”.

So he went back, and became involved in various secret moves, including one to smuggle Jews to Switzerland. He was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion in April 1943, and so was not directly involved in the July 1944 plot. But his close ties to the conspirators led Hitler to order that on no account was he to survive the end of the war. In fact, only a few days after his murder, Flossenburg was liberated by the U.S.army.

While he was imprisoned, Bonhoeffer wrote a series of letters to his friend and pupil, Eberhard Bethge, then serving in th German army in Italy, which were smuglled out by a friendly warder. These letters were buried underground for reasons of safety, but later rescued and published under the title “Letters and Papers from Prison”. Bonhoeffer’s stimulating ideas about the future of Christianity, as seen from his prison cell, made a tremendous impression in the post-war world, and established his reputation as one of Germany’s most significant theologians of this century. Together with his important but unfinished work on Ethics, these writings presented a new and challenging view of Christian responsibility in a world of totalitarian dictatorships, and were to have a profound influence in later years, particularly in Communist-dominated East Germany.

But above all, it was Bonhoeffer’s faith which shines through. After the discovery ofnthe 20th July plot, Bonhoeffe, his brother, his uncle and two brothers-in-law were all aware that they would have to pay the ultimate price. His last word to the outside world was a request to a fellow prisoner to deliver a message to his long-time friend Bishop George Bell of Chichester. “Tell him that for me this is the end, but also the beginning of life. With him I believe in the principle of our universal Christian brotherhood which rises above all national interests, and that our victory is certain”.

Three months later Bishop Bell paid a fitting tribute at a memorial service in London. “As one of the noble company of martyrs of differing traditions, Bonhoeffer represents both the resistance of the believing soul, in the name of God, to the assault of evil, but also the moral and political revolt of the human conscience against injustice and cruelty”.

Fifty years later Bonhoeffer’s witness is still a valid testimony for the Christian church, not only in his homeland Germany, but world-wide. He is now remembered in the Anglican Calendar on his birthday, February 4th.

With best wishes
John Conway
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor. University of British Columbia

Newsletter no 1: March 1995

Contents

1. Introductions:

2. Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, Vol 7, no 2, 1994
Themenschwerpunkt: Kirche und Diktatur

3. Conferences

4. Auschwitz and other memorials

Dear Friends,

The response to my earlier circular letter of Feb. 17th has been so positive that I am encouraged to send you this Newsletter, and will try to keep in contact with you, possibly on a monthly basis.

I think it would be helpful to include various items such as new publications, notice of forthcoming conferences, archival information and research projects, and even (brief) book reviews. I welcome any contributions you may like to send in for inclusion.

I will also be glad, for those who agree, to circulate information about your research interests and your geographical locations. I will try and compile a complete listing of those so far connected and let you have this by separate posting. But I will also include brief introductions from time to time so that we can get to know each other, even if we have never met.

One obvious gap is the absence of our colleagues in Germany itself. Apparently there is a reluctance, or inability, there to take advantage of new electronic techniques. But if any of you are so linked to kirchliche Zeitgeschichtler in Germany and could share their addresses, this would be a great boon.

I will be glad to share collectively any information or views you care to send me for further distribution. So do let me hear from you..

 

1. Introductions:

Our most distant colleague is undoubtedly Mark Lindsey, Dept. of History, University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6009, Australia. He is a PhD student whose area of interest concerns the Christological foundations of Karl Barth’s response to Nazi antisemitism, as opposed to simply humanitarian motives.

 

2. Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, Vol 7, no 2, 1994
Themenschwerpunkt: Kirche und Diktatur

This issue contains the papers (with English summaries) presented at the KZG conference in December 1993, and concentrates on the churches in the former GDR.
Immanuel Geiss: “Der Holzweg der Deutschen Sonderwegs” (provocative!)
A.Boyens: “Das Gipfeltreffen Honecker-Schonherr”. Marz 1978
U.Haese: “Haltung der kath.Kirche in der DDR”
B.Schaeffer: ditto
W.Krotke: K.Barths und D.Bonhoeffers “Bedeutung fur die Theologie in der DDR” (thoughtful analysis)
M.Beintker: “Verhaltnis von Kirche und Staat in der DDR”
Also 120 pp world-wide bibliography for 1993-4 on Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte (very useful)

 

3. Conferences

a) The 25th Annual Conference on the Holocaust and the Christian Churches, Brigham Young U., Provo, Utah March 5th-8th 1995 (report follows in next Newsletter)

b) Christianity and Resistance, University of Birmingham,UK April 19-23 1995. Contact A.Chandler, Dept of History, U. of Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K. (Will be reported on later)

 

4. Auschwitz and other memorials

The 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz has produced a flood of commentary, underlying which is the enduring question of how such sites of dehumanization and mass murder can or should be preserved for historical memory. Peter Monteath of Flinders U, Adelaide, has contributed an illuminating article on Buchenwald to the May 1994 issue of International History Review. Personally I found James Young, The Texture of Memory, Yale U.P. 1993 very stimulating reading. If anyone was interested, I could supply more references to the whole question of War and KZ memorials.

All the best
John S.Conway
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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Association of Contemporary Church Historians

(Arbeitsgemeinschaft kirchlicher Zeitgeschichtler)

John S. Conway, Editor. University of British Columbia

 

Newsletter 2 – March 1995 

Contents1. 25th Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, Provo, Utah, March 4-8, 1995

2. Introductions

3. Book review

a) David Blackbourn, Marpingen Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Ninteenth-Century Germany, published by Oxford U.P 1993.

Dear Friends,

 

1. 25th Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, Provo, Utah, March 4-8, 1995

The Silver anniversary conference of this organisation was held in the idyllic setting of the Salt Lake Valley in Utah under cloudless skies, with marvellous vistas of the snow capped mountains. However, the contrast was startling between the strongly moralistic (some would say rigidly puritanical) ethos of the Mormon community and the horrendous deeds of violence, death and dehumanization of the Holocaust, about which we heard during four days of a very full programme. Perhaps it was appropriate that, for the first time, this conference should be held at Brigham Young University, in order to help to overcome the “incomprehensibility” which many prominent Mormons expressed as their reaction to the Holocaust. Over three hundred persons registered, perhaps too many to avoid having overlapping sessions, or several papers which did not meet the appropriate academic standards. On the other hand, it was once again very valuable to hear the testimonies of some 25 survivors of the Holocaust, including several who related their experiences in concentration camps. An excellent innovation was the invitation to some 50 former U.S. army personnel who had participated in the liberation of these camps just 5o years ago. All of them, and their families were appreciative of this mark of recognition. The “Liberators” session provided a most interesting example of the difficulty of combining eye-witness testimony with the more critical analysis of professional historians. Historians are, of course, paid to be sceptical, and are well aware of the dangers of post-hoc elaboration and glorification. But, as Henry Huttenbach found, his well-founded account of the US Army’s battle plans in 1945, which, he contended, did not include any direct provision for the liberation of forced-labour or concentration camps, aroused great emotional revulsion from those who had actually been there. Despite his clear disclaimer that he was not casting aspersions of any individuals involved, the strong reaction against this dry-as-dust academic presentation evoked a clear emotional hostility against all such “demythologising” by professional historians. The impact of these terrifying events of 50 years ago was obviously still too strong to allow for any rational admission of the Army’s failure to forsee the need for support measures for the liberated victims, who naturally enough poured out their gratitude to their rescuers, even if the latter were only passing by in their pursuit of the enemy forces.

Several German participants took part in the conference, though unfortunately none of them was a church historian. However, there was one useful session on the German churches. Doris Bergen presented an interesting analysis of the “Deutsche Christen” and German missionary endeavours; Robert Ross updated his account of the American religious press’ descriptions of the Church Struggle; Ronald Webster of Toronto described the efforts of leading German protestants after the war to give not only pastoral care, but also political support to convicted German war criminals, largely from a mistaken nationalistic sympathy; and a young Polish scholar presented a well-researched paper on the religious affiliations of concentration camp guards, which confirmed our impressions that moral allegiances played virtually no role in the actions of such men.

Another fine feature of the programme was the perfomance by Al Staggs, a Baptist minister, of his 45 minute monologue on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This reenactment of Bonhoeffer in his prison cell uses the material to be found in the Letters and Papers from prison, as well as other pieces of Bonhoeffer’s writings. Staggs now perfoms this professionally all over the United States, in a most convincing and thoughtful production. It was an entirely appropriate way to mark our commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bonhoeffer’s martyrdom which falls on April 9th. (I would be interested to hear of any other such commemorative events.)

Since this was the 25th anniversary conference, the opportunity was taken to pay tribute to the founders, Franklin Littell and Hubert Locke, who were presented with appropriate plaques of recognition at the main banquet. Their skilful overcoming of the innumerable difficulties involved in holding such conferences, peripatetically in different sites in the United States, and their fine upholding of the conferences’ main purpose of advancing the cause of reconciliation between Jews and Christians, despite the appalling record of Christian passivity and Jewish suffering during the Holocaust, were once again acknowledged and applauded.

Next year’s conference will be held on the first weekend in March in Minneapolis.

 

2. Introductions:

A new member to our list is Hubert Locke,Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. As mentioned above, Hubert was the co-founder of the Scholars’ Conference in 1970, when he was then attached to Wayne State University in Detroit. He tells me that he was once a policeman, but then came to the Chicago Theological Seminary to study theology, and was amazed to find, in the 1950s, that the discussions were almost all about German theologians, despite this topic being conspicuously absent from the curriculum.

This aroused his interest in the German Church Struggle, and led him to collaborate with Franklin Littell to relate these events with the Holocaust. His notable contribution on the German Church Struggle is to be found in the book he edited, The Church Confronts the Nazis, which was prepared for the 1984 conference in Seattle marking the 50th anniversary of the Barmen Declaration. But, in addition, his interest in his Afro-American heritage, and the deeply-felt parallels between the experience of exile felt by both blacks and Jews, has led to his writing a new book, The black anti-semitism controversy,(1994) which expresses his hurt and pain at the recent sad outbursts of black resentment against the Jewish people. I can commend it highly.

 

3. Book review

Very briefly: A splendid new book by David Blackbourn, published by Oxford U.P 1993, is Marpingen. Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Ninteenth-Century Germany. This is a fascinating account of a small village near Trier, where children “saw” the Virgin in a nearby wood in 1876. Blackbourn skilfully analyses the whole background of heightened religious feelings during the onslaught of the Kulturkampf and the economic depression of those years, and describes the heavy-handed reaction of the Prussian authorities against such ‘mediaeval obscurantism”. He steers an excellent line between sympathy and scepticism, and demonstrates very well how historians should deal with this troublesome matter of finding the right balance between demythologising and credulity.

Best wishes to you all

John Conway
jconway@unixg.ubc.ca

 

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