Religion in Nazi Germany

Uncommon card · No. 155262

Germany, under the Nazi regime, was an overwhelmingly Christian country. A census in May 1939, six years into the Nazi era and a year following the annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia into Germany, indicates that 54% of the population considered itself Protestant, 41% considered itself Catholic, 3.5% self-identified as Gottgläubig (lit. 'believing in God'), and 1.5% as "atheist". Protestants were over-represented in the Nazi Party's membership and electorate, and Catholics were under-represented. Smaller religious minorities such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baháʼí Faith were banned in Germany, while the eradication of Judaism was attempted along with the genocide of Jews during the Holocaust. The Salvation Army became an adjunct of the NSV, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church was banned for a short time, but due to capitulation from church authorities, was later reinstated. Some religious minority groups had a more complicated relationship with the new state, such as the Church...

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