HITLER AND RELIGION

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The topic of Hitler and religion is a very important subject which has not been widely discussed. It's very strange that there hasn't been more research into this topic in light of the importance of Hitler as a modern historical leader. What can we say about Hitler and religion? It's actually quite a hard subject to follow. From what we can analyze from Hitler's speeches and Mein Kampf, it was clear he was not an atheist. Hitler believed in God. We could certainly say he was a deist, similar to many of the founding fathers of the United States, though obviously with a different ideology. But the point is that he was very much a deist who believed in faith, believed in God, similar to the Greek philosophers.

DID HITLER REALLY DISAGREE WITH GERMAN PAGANISM?

OR DID HE PUBLICLY DO SO OUT OF A NEED FOR THE CHURCH'S POLITICAL SUPPORT?

The reason why the subject of Hitler and religion is very complicated to study is the issue of the SS and Himmler. Now Himmler, the SS and other parts of the Nazi government had a very specific agenda: to recreate what they saw as German paganism. Now what that paganism was and what it was not is a subject that we detail somewhat on our report on Himmler and religion, and we're not to get into all the details here. The point is that there is probably a dichotomy between Hitler and Himmler, because Hitler is recorded on numerous occasions ridiculing Himmler's attempts to revive paganism. Now our view is that Hitler's statements need to be taken with a great deal of reservation on that subject in light of Hitler's background in politics. Hitler was a German politician who observed German politics in Austria, particularly in Vienna with the rise of people such as Carl Lugar in Viennese politics before World War I. Both in Vienna and in Bavaria, where Hitler got his start as an active politician, the Catholic Church was of enormous significance. Hitler made the acquaintance of Ludendorff (the acting military dictator of Germany during World War I) in the world of Munich politics and watched Ludendorff and his wife present a campaign for paganism, the hatred of Christianity and so on. Hitler saw firsthand that even with somebody of Ludendorff's prominence, a campaign based on paganism was a political catastrophe of the first order. Hitler resolved from then on never to be associated with something like that. So Hitler was very sensitive to publicly keep on the good side of the church. So there are good reasons to believe that for public relations reasons, Hitler would publicly disavow a lot of what Himmler was doing, regardless of his own personal views on the matter.

The problem with accept Hitler's disagreements with Himmler at a face value is that the SS was the core of the Nazi state. If Hitler did not agree with Himmler, it is incomprehensible to us that he would've allowed Himmler to evolve projects such as the Ahnenerbe, the castle at Wewelsburg, the whole structure of the SS, the whole structure of the Nordland Press, the whole structure of the propaganda campaign for paganism that Himmler conducted on a very high level through Germany, and the influence of all this into the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) and the education system, in terms of educating German children about the Runes and other things like that. So if Hitler didn't believe in all this stuff, it seems very peculiar that he would set forth a program that supported it. When you look at Hitler's discussions of art and culture, Hitler was very influenced by the neoclassical world. He always talks about how his world wasn't the dark mysteries of the cathedrals, but that it was the clear light of ancient Greece, the neoclassical architecture that he created via Albert Speer.

HITLER'S PRIVATE VIEW ON CHRISTIANITY?

What we are fairly certain of is that Hitler privately despised and hated Christianity, and there's a phrase in his private conversations that "after the war we would deal with Christianity." Goebbels wrote in 1941 that Hitler hated Christianity [1]. Now that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because what would Hitler do even if Germany won the war? Ban Christianity? He would not do that. Hitler was a politician. He would not do something that would plunge Germany into a very divisive struggle. So he would probably do more of what he had already done, which would be to further augment the influence of pagan ideology in the German education system. But we are very skeptical about the argument that he would abolish Christianity after the war. We do not think that was very likely. Hitler, like many politicians, was more pragmatic than he's been given credit for when faced with ideology versus practicality. It's not that he didn't have a deep commitment to ideology. He did. Hitler showed himself to be extremely flexible. The most extreme example of course was the Nazi Soviet pact of 1939.

HITLER'S VIEWS ON OTHER RELIGIONS

So this all has to be taken into consideration. Hitler also greatly admired Islam. He greatly admired Hinduism with what he interpreted as the racial aspects of Hinduism. But he never really articulated a religious view. This is probably somewhat of an accident that he was so busy building a totalitarian state and getting Germany to recover from the catastrophe of the war, the Weimar Republic, and the depression. It may have also been somewhat deliberate that Hitler didn't want to discuss the issues, because he was determined not to have a confrontation with the church. Indeed the Catholic Center Party played a very important role in getting the final votes for the passage of the Enabling Act, which basically abolished democracy in Germany. Hitler made a great deal of effort to remain on good terms with the Catholic Church.

CONCLUSIONS

So the question of Hitler and religion is definitely one that deserves further research. But it may be one of those questions in history where the trail ends in the mists of the past, that there may not be a definitive point of view. But suffice to say, that he did believe in God, he did see himself as an agent of God, and he connected that to the system of ideology that he promoted.

RELATED WORLD FUTURE FUND REPORTS

Himmler and Religion

Hitler Speeches: Some Complete Transcripts

Hitler: Problems in Documentary Record German Edition Klicken Sie hier für Deutsch

Nazi Germany Documentary Sources

Hitler and Wagner

Hitler, Wagner and His Concept of Political Prophecy

WFF Guide to Hitler and Himmler Audio Recording

NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND RELIGION

VIDEOS

"Geheimnis Tibet" Schutzstaffel Expedition to Tibet Film

National Socialism and Ancient Paganism: Schwarze Sonne Videos