National
Socialism as Religion
‘Salvation
Hitler’
Thomas
Schirrmacher, D.Th., Ph.D., Th.D., DD
President
of Martin Bucer Theological Seminary
Let us have a look at one of the two political religions that have been in power on German soil and attempted to bring salvation by the State: National Socialism and Communism.
It is impossible to count how many billion times the Germans said 'Heil Hitler' during the Third Reich. To greet with 'Heil Hitler' was required by a strict law, and people were put into concentration camps because they refused. But only a few non-Germans realize that 'Heil' is the German word for 'salvation', which is extensively used in the German Bible translations. 'Salvation Hitler' or 'Salvation by Hitler' was the daily message every German, including nearly all Christians, preached to his neighbor daily. Although some tried to explain 'Heil Hitler' as wishing salvation for Hitler[1], the official meaning was clear: Hitler is the salvation for Germany and for the world.
That 'Salvation Hitler' was only a small, but revealing part of the Socialist message and practice of a new anti-Christian religion can be demonstrated in several ways. We could discuss the roots of Hitler's thinking, which lie in occult orders and sects.[2] We could discuss the parallels between the salvation history of orthodox Christianity and of National Socialism. But surely the most impressive argument is the everyday songs, the poems, official rituals and lectures of the Third Reich. Most Nazis did not disguise or hide the religious character of their actions. Let us look as some samples.
14 Documents
Document 1: A Blessing
In Cologne, the children receiving meals from the Nazi State during World War II prayed before meal. This prayer follows typical German Christian blessings before meal and is originally written in rhyme:
"Fold your hands, bow your head and think about Adolf Hitler. He gives us our daily bread and helps us out of every misery."[3]
Document 2: A Blessing
Another children’s prayers by the Nationalsocialist Welfare Office for Children’s Meals in Cologne:
"Before the
meal:
Fuehrer, my Fuehrer, given of
God,
Protect me and keep my
life.
Thou has saved Germany from the greatest of
need
I thank you today for my daily
bread.
Stay by me, don’t leave
me,
Fuehrer, my Fuehrer, my faith and and my light.
After the meal:
I thank
thee for this food,
Defender of youth, defender of
age!
Thou
hast care, I know, but no
fear,
Thou art with me by day and by
night.
Lay thy head quiet in my
lap,
Art safe, my Fuehrer, then thou art great..
Hail my
Fuehrer!"[4]
Document 3: A Statement
In a lecture at a course for the leaders of the youth of the German States it was stated:
"National Socialism is a religion, born out of blood and race, not a political world view. It is the new, only true religion, born out of a Nordic spirit and an Arian soul. The religions still existing must disappear as soon as possible. If they do not dissolve themselves the State must destroy them."[5]
Document 4: An Official Poem
The ‘Confession of Faith’ of the ‘Reichsarbeitsführer’, the Nazi Chief of the united trade unions, Robert Ley, said:
"Once your heart
is branded with the swastika, ,
You hate any other cross!
If you identify yourself with your nation,
You
laugh at redeemer cranks.
...
Beware anyone one who
demands:
'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself‘'
What the Nazarine demands is our demise..."[6]
Document 5: A Confession
The same Robert Ley proclaimed in his personal ‘confession’ (‘Glaubensbekenntnis’):
"Adolf Hitler! We are united with you alone! We want to renew our vow in this hour: On this earth we believe only in Adolf Hitler. We believe that National Socialism alone is the saving faith for our people. We believe that there is a Lord-God in Heaven, who created us, who leads us, who directs us and who blesses us visibly. And we believe that this Lord-God sent Adolf Hitler to us, so that Germany may become a fundament for all eternity."[7]
Document 6: Song
A widely used song by the ‚Reichsjugendführer’, the Fuehrer of youth in Nazi Germany, Baldur von Schirach:
"Before thee, my
Fuehrer
though thousands may stand before thee,
each feels thy eye on himself
alone
and thinks, his own hour has
come,
when thou sees the depths of his
soul.
In those few minutes in thy
presence,
we would open every door to
thee,
all thoughts we lift to thee,
that thou correct and
improve.
So good art thou and
so great; so strong and infinitely
pure
To thee we reveal without deceit
our hearts’
innocence.
None depart
from thee with empty hands,
if thine eyes have touched him with
their steely gaze.
We know
that thou proclaimeth
constantly:
“I am with you – and you belong to me!"[8]
Document 7: Song
Another widely used song of the Reichsjugendführer:
"How often we
heard the sound of thy
voice
and listened silently, folding our hands,
as
every word pierced the depth of our
souls.
We know it, one day the end will come,
and free
us from force and from need.
What is a year when the era shall turn?!
Where
is a law that will stifle our faith,
the pure
faith you have bestowed,
that beats as our hearts and guides our
existence.
My Fuhrer, thou alone art the way and the goal!”!"[9]
Document 8: Song
The official song of the Hitlerjugend (‘Youth of Hitler’) at the Reichsparteitag 1934:
"We
are Hitler’s joyous youth,
What
need we Christian virtue!,
Our Fuehrer Adolf
Hitler
Is always our redeemer!
No
wicked priest can hinder us,
To sense that we
are Hitler’s children;
We follow
not Christ but Horst Wessel,
Away with incense and
holy water!."[10]
Document 9: Song
Song by Ernst Leibl:
"We lift our
hands
in our direst need.
Lord, send us the
Fuehrer,
to avert our doom
with powerful
command.
Awaken our hero,
to have mercy on
his people,
who
walk in darkness,
Sold and
betrayed
into enemy hand."[11]
Document 10: Poem
"God
We see no God with long beard
And cane in
his hand.
We see
only the work of the
creator
In our German Fatherland.
We see no Jewish God,
Who elected that people.
We believe in no divine
contracts,
Reported in the old Book.
We see no God in the daily
crimes,
Committed by His people,
We see God in His acts,
When He gives Germans bread and
work.
We do not believe in God’s
Words
We do not believe in God’s Book
We believe that man is
closest to God in his deeds."[12]
Document 11: Poem
Poem by Max Storsberg:
"Wherever
our banner waves,
the Gospel
of Germany is preached,
There stand our altars,
There blossoms our faith in you, eternal
Germany,
There the deep fountains of our hearts
surge
to flow towards the eternity before God’s throne."[13]
Document 12: Order of Ceremony
Instructions for the central memorial ceremony at the Munich Field Marshal Hall:
"National
Socialist Worship
On
these steps to the Hall of the Field Marshals, to which we make
pilgrimage, once stood a sacrament of
battle,
In this, its only cathedral, Germany, may stand only those who
carve their motivation deep into their deeds.
You are pilgrims,
if you honor the glory of your
nation
above the
revelations of any religion.
You
sense the holiness of the Hall of Field
Marshals.
What value have prayers and
hymns,
The swinging of incense bowls
in
comparison with the muffled rhythm of our
drums
when our Fuehrer ascends the
steps?
The sighs of the watchers extinguish the
earth,
still trembling under our
approach.
Gray clamour huddles at the end of the
world.
The Fuehrer
arises!
He raises his hand to eternal
salute.
His heart beats the heartbeat of his
people
His step is our prayer ...
He arises and
stands shrouded in miracles?
He burns with the faith of his comrades.
No
priestly ordination has more power than the silent, stonelike prayer
of the man
in whose
being the nation is
moved
The vow we make here is our prayer to the
creator!
May our banner wave!
Let
it be hoisted, for it is our German high altar!
The
standard bearers rejoice:
What is death, when you command us to live, O Germany!”[14]
Document 13
The high SS officer Schulz stated in a lecture called "Ours is the kingdom and the power and the glory"[15]:
"I do not want to become guilty of blasphemy, but I ask: Who was greater, Christ or Hitler? By (the time of) His death Christ had twelve disciples, who did not even stay faithful. But Hitler today has a people of 70 million behind him. We cannot tolerate that another organization, which has another spirit than our's, should come into existence. National Socialism seriously lays this claim: I am the Lord, your God, you shall have no other gods beside me ... Our is the kingdom, because we have a strong army ("Wehrmacht"), and the glory, because we are a respected people again, and this, if God wants it, 'in eternity' Heil Hitler".[16]
Document 14
Because of space I cannot quote further examples. Yet there are hundreds and thousands of documents like this. All documents demonstrate clearly an agressive opposition to Jesus Christ and to the Christian faith. All make the reason for National Socialism’s unbelievable success clear – its religious enthusiasm. All of the documents mentioned above were available to the public, and had been either published or sanctioned by the Party. These are no peripheral idiosyncrasies, but were accessible to anyone interested in reading them. One only needs to browse through the song books of the Hitler Youth, the SS or the Arbeitsdienst (Worker’s Society) to find further examples. Each of these documents speaks for itself, and is sufficient to remind us how an antichristian religion propelled the world to the brink.
I also want to assure you, that the religious overtone does not depend on the translation. The case is just the opposite: I find it difficult to translate the strongly religious overtone into English. These shocking songs, prayers and confessions were no secret, but part of everyday life in Nazi Germany. For comparison, the last example will be taken from a truly 'secret document', which shows that the documents already quoted were a mild version for the public. The text is a secret document from 1943, written only for Adolf Hitler[17]. His signature shows that the text was approved by him with the words "the first useful outline" and then sent to Jospeh Goebbels.
"Immediately and unconditional abolition of all religions after the final victory ('Endsieg') not only for the territory of Greater Germany but also for all released, occupied and annexed countries ... proclaiming at the same time Hitler as the new messiah. Out of political considerations the Muslim, Buddhist and Shintoist religion will be spared for the present. The 'Führer' has to be presented as an intermediate between a redeemer and a liberator, yet surely as one sent by God, who must receive divine honor. The existing churches, chapels, temples and cult places of the different religions have to be changed into 'Adolf-Hitler-consecration places'. The theological faculties of the universities have to be transformed according to the new faith. Special emphasis has to be laid on the education of missionaries and wandering preachers, who should proclaim the teaching in Greater Germany and in the rest of the world and must form religious bodies, which can be used as centers for further extension. (With this the problems in the abolition of monogamy will disappear, because polygamy can be included into the new teaching as one of the statements of faith.)"[18]
Research on National Socialism as Religion
National Socialism can only be sufficiently understood when its religious character is perceived. As early as 1924, Carl Christian Bry classified National Socialism in his book "Verkappte Religionen"[19] (Disguised Religions) as a religious utopia capable of inducing a “collective insanity”. The later German Federal President Theodor Heuss introduced the term ‘disguised religion’ in 1925 in the Reichtstag. In his in 1931 sermon “Political Messiahs”[20], the Protestant pastor Richard Karwehl demonstrated that National Socialism provided an antichristian alternative to every fundamental truth of the Christian faith. In 1939, the Jewish philosopher Hans-Joachim Schoeps also published an anonymous article which described National Socialism as a disguised religion.[21] Both before and during the Third Reich, voices warned that the National Socialist system was more than an ideology or political totalitarianism but a religion with a comprehensive assertion. Only recently, however, have historians begun to study National Socialism under this aspect.[22]
The very conflict between Christianity and National Socialism emphasises the tragic failure of Christians to heed National Socialism’s religious aspect and to apprach it as more than a poltical system. The obligatory greeting “Heil Hitler” should have alerted them, but in spite of the explicit Biblical reference to Jesus Christ, “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12), countless believers thoughtlessly repeated the formula.
It is not my intention to describe the religious aspects of National Socialism in detail or to prove that this definition is appropriate, as I have already presented preliminary arguments in my article "Adolf Hitler und kein Ende”[23], in which I demonstrate that Hitler hat already formulated a definite world view in the 1920’s, which he later put into practice, step by step. This article also discloses the religio-political secret sects which nourished Hitler’s ideas. Other sources have already provided detailed information. Werner Hamberski, for example, discussing 'Mein Kampf', writes:
"Hitler constantly used religious formula in his speeches and writings. He spoke of receiving divine signs from Fate, and always claimed to act ‘in the Creator’s will’. In the first three chapters alone (137 pages) of the book he uses the word ‘Fate’ 37 times in a variety of meanings and contexts. ‘God’ is mentioned seven times, both ‘providence’ and ‘heaven’ four times, ‘goddess’, three times. The words ‘almighty creator’, ‘Lord’ and ‘the gods’ appear once apiece ... From a theological point of view, these expressions belong to completely contradictory systems. The ‘almighty God’ shares his omnipotence with the ‘will of the gods’, the ‘wisdom of providence’ contradicts the ‘wickedness (clt Bösheit?) of Fate.’[24]
Why German Churches Failed to Understand National Socialism
If the Christian churches in Germany (and in many other countries) did not realize that they had been taken over by a rival religion called National Socialism, which explicitly called itself a religion, how can you convince them today that they are taken over by rival religions which deny that they are religions, such as Socialism and Marxism[25], Freemasonry[26], Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy[27] or other forms of Humanism?
That there was nearly no resistance to use this 'German greeting' among Christians shows the condition of the German churches after hundreds of years being influenced by the Humanistic philosophy of Lessing, Hegel, Goethe and others, and by the aggressive theology of higher critics like Reimarus, Strauss and Renan. The so-called 'free churches' - including the Dispensationalist churches - cried 'Heil Hitler', removed converted Jews from their congregations and took over the 'Führer'-principle which Hitler forced on all organizations. Most 'free chuches' merged into one large denomination by order of the Nazis. Many Lutheran churches did not want to get involved in politics, thus misinterpreting the Lutheran teaching of the two kingdoms and not taking into account, that the only real resistance against Hitler finally leading to the 20th of July, 1944, came from Lutheran military officers, politicians, and pastors such as Niemoeller and Bonhoeffer. The so-called 'Confessional Church' was a mixture of Bible-believing Christians like the Reformed Heinrich Jochums and strong liberals like Rudolf Bultmann.
Beside the thoughts and actions from conservative Lutherans, the only real resistance came from neo-orthodox Reformed theologians in Switzerland and Germany and from Reformed Christians in the Netherlands. Karl Barth was the only professor of theology who continued to start his lecture with a prayer instead 'Heil Hitler'. Nor was he willing to swear an oath to Hitler [28], even though he changed his mind later, when it was already too late.[29] But Barth was deserted by the 'Confessional Church', which told the Nazi State that it saw no problem in swearing an oath to Hitler. Only then was the Nazi State ready to dismiss Barth![30] Even though Barth is to be rejected because he denies biblical history[31], he argued for resistance to the Nazi State because he saw Jesus from a Reformed perspective as Lord over every area of life, which is the clear message of the otherwise mixed Declaration of Barmen. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not advocating Karl Barth. But to understand the situation in Germany we must to understand that until the end of the sixties Barth was offering the most conservative ethics you could buy on the open market.
Incidentally, the attitude of the German Dispensational churches toward Hitler and the Jews compared to those of the Reformed (and Lutheran) Christians is a striking argument against Hal Lindsey's rude attack that Reformed theology will lead to a second holocaust.[32] Normally, it is the Dispensationalist who will not step in for others, because this would mean becoming involved in politics or economics. Lindsey must be reminded that love in the Bible is to be measured by deeds (1 John 3,18), not by nice words, proclamations or best-selling books.
One of the main reasons why the German churches did not fight against Hitler's rival religion and his Antisemitism was the low view of the Old Testament. Antisemitism is only possible where the Old Testament and especially Old Testament Law has been put aside. A love for the Old Testament and its Law is the best protection against Antisemitism. This is the major mistake of Hal Lindsay who compares Reformed theology to National Socialism. National Socialism hated the Old Testament, while Reformed theology is surely much closer to the Old Testament than hyper-Dispensationalist Hal Lindsey. Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's agent for world view affairs, saw it the biggest mistake of Protestantism that Martin Luther translated and spread the Old Testament and took an oath on the Old and New Testament before the Emperor Worms in 1520.[33] It should never be forgotten that, as a professor of Old Testament, Luther loved the Old Testament very much; also, that Luther’s oft condemned “anti-Semitism” was founded, not on racism but on his naïve disappointment that the Jews did not embrace Christianity once the errors of medieval Catholicism had been removed through Reformation teaching.[34] As for Pietism, it often based its preaching on conscience, not on the Law. Sadly, Pietism could easily live without the Old Testament, though this was never admitted as such.
Liberal theology hated the Old Testament, and professors of Old Testament have done everything to undermine the application of the Old Testament today, in spite of their massive studies of the text itself. Adolf von Harnack, a foremost liberal theologian and close ally of Emperor Wilhelm II, wrote a famous sentence in his book on Marcion, rejecting the Old Testament as the work of another god:
"To reject the Old Testament in the second century was a mistake which the great Church refused rightfully; to keep it in the sixteenth century was a fate which the Reformation was not able to escape; but to conserve it after the nineteenth century as a canonical text in Protestantism, was the result of a religious and ecclesiastical paralysis."[35]
One of Hitler's first actions was to force the churches to get rid of their Jewish-Christian members. So all Jewish members of all churches were disciplined. This took place in churches where church discipline had nearly totally faded! This most gigantic act of church discipline in history took place quietly and without much protest. And it excommunicated Jews, that were baptized! Another religion had taken over the churches.
The theologians had prepared the way[36]. A typical example is Hans Schlemmer, who wrote a book against Alfred Rosenbergs main book, sometimes called 'the Bible of National Socialism'. This meant risking his life! He writes, that Rosenberg went too far by dropping the Old Testament altogether. The Old Testament is for him 'the Word of God'. But still he agrees with Rosenberg, writing:
"It will be the task of theology to combine the submission to the Word of God with the perception which truthfulness demands, that the origin of the canon was a rather human event and that the Old Testament contains not a few unpleasant things and that its place is far below the faith of the New Testament."[37]
Endnotes
[1] For example the professor of German literature in Bonn, Hans Naumann, Rede zum Geburtstag des Führers, Bonner Akademische Reden 27 (Bonn: Scheur, 1937), p. 17; see my dissertation Hans Naumann als Volkskundler im Dritten Reich, PhD-thesis (Los Angeles: Pacific Western University, 1990) (published in 2 vol. as Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft: Bonn, 19921; in 1 vol. 20002), p. 291.
[2] See the literature in my article "Adolf Hitler und kein Ende", Factum 6/1989, pp. 252-255.
[3] Quoted from Gerhard E. Stoll, "Gebete in publizistischer Umgestaltung", Publizistik 3(1958): 337-352, here p. 346. The article discusses 'secular' forms of German prayers used in press and propaganda.
[4] Gerhard E. Stoll, Gebete in publizistischer Umgestaltung, op. cit., p.. 346.
[5] Quoted from Johann Neuhäuser, Kreuz und Hakenkreuz, part 1 (Munich: Verlag Katholische Kirche Bayerns, 1946), p. 261.
[6] G. Sebecker, Freiheitsflammen: Verse und Sprüche für deutsche Helden, cited in Johann Neuhäuser, Kreuz und Hakenkreuz, op cit.., p. 249.
[7] Confession of Faith of the "Reichsarbeitsführer" Robert Ley, quoted from Der Schulungsbrief: Das zentrale Monatsblatt der NSDAP und DAF, 4 (1937) 4: 124.
[8] Baldur von Schirach [Ed.], Das Lied der Getreuen: Verse ungenannter österreichischer Hitlerjugend aus den Jahren der Verfolgung 1933-37 (Leipzig 1940), p. 52.
[9] Song of the Reichsjugendführer in: Baldur von Schirach [Ed.], Das Lied der Getreuen, op. cit., p. 7.
[10] Quoted by Joseph Wulf, Literatur und Dichtung im Dritten Reich (Gütersloh: Sigbert Mohn Verlag, 1963), p. 299.
[11] Song by Ernst Leibl in: Reichsarbeitsdienst [Ed.], Lieder der Arbeitsmaiden (Potsdam 1934), p. 34.
[12] In: "Flammenzeichen", cited by Johann Neuhäuser, Kreuz und Hakenkreuz, Part 1, op. cit., p. 250.
[13] Poem by Max Storsberg in: M. Sambeth, Sonnenlauf in Lied und Spruch, den jungen Deutschen zugeeignet, Ausgabe für Westfalen vom 5. Schuljahr an (Halle, Dortmund, Breslau: various publishers, 1941), p. 4.
[14] Reichspropagandaleitung [Ed.], Vorschläge der Reichspropagandaleitung zur nationalsozialistischen Feiergestaltung (München Zentralverlag Franz Eher, n.d.).
[15] Taken from and put against the liturgical ending of the Lord's prayer "Our father in Heaven ...", which is found from the second century on and taken partly from Dan 2,37; cf.2Chr 29,11-12.
[16] SS-Obergruppenführer Schulz, quoted from Johann Neuhäuser, Kreuz und Hakenkreuz, op. Cit., p. 255.
[17] A so-called "Führervorlage".
[18] Quoted from the photograph of the original in Wilfried Daim, Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen gab (Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1985), pp. 216-218. p. 299 discusses the genuineness of the document.
[19] Carl Christian Bry, Verkappte Religionen (Gotha: Perthes: Gotha, 19171; 19242; Leopold Klotz Verlag: Gotha, 19253); ed. by Martin Gregor-Dellin (Lockam: Gaus: Lockham, 19643; München: Ehrenwirth Verlag, 1979; Nördlingen: Franz Greno, 1988).
[20] Richard Karwehl, Politisches Messiastum, Zwischen den Zeiten 9[1931]: 519-543.
[21] Hans-Joachim Schoeps. “Der Nationalsozialismus als verkappte Religion", Eletheto 93[1939]: 93-98.
[22] Gary Lease, Hitler's National Socialism as a Religious Movement, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 45[1977]: 793-838; Claus-E. Bärsch, Antijudaismus, Apokalyptik und Satanologie: Die religiösen Elemente des nationalsozialistischen Antisemitismus, Zeitschrift für Religion- und Geistesgeschichte 40[1988]: 112-133). On National Socialist ceremonies and rituals, see: Klaus Vondung, Magie und Manipulation: Ideologischer Kult und politische Religion des Nationalsozialismus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971). On the cultic attitudes towards the Fuehrer, the flag, blood and battle, see: Hans-Jochen Gamm, Der braune Kult: Das Dritte Reich und seine Ersatzreligion (Hamburg: Rütten + Loening Verlag, 1962). On Hitler’s person, see: Friedrich Heer, Der Glaube des Adolf Hitler: Anatomie einer politischen Religiosität (Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1989). See also: Manfred Ach, Clemes Pentrop, Hitlers 'Religion': Pseudoreligiöse Elemente im nationalsozialistischen Sprachgebrauch, Irmin-Edition 3 (München: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Religions- und Weltanschauungsfragen, 1977 [3. ed. 1982]), for an excellent sketch of Hitler’s religious language and his view of Christianity and religion. The collection includes a survey of the literary background to National Socialism’s esoteric nature and 247 quotations by Hitler on Christianity and religion.
[23] Thomas Schirrmacher, Adolf Hitler und kein Ende, op. cit.
[24] Werner Hamerski, 'Gott' und 'Vorsehung' im Lied und Gedicht des Nationalsozialismus, Publizistik 5[1960]: 280-300, here 282-283.
[25] For arguments for the religious character of Marxism see my books Marxismus - Opium für das Volk (Schwengeler: Berneck, 1987; VKW: Bonn, 1997); Säkulare Religionen: Aufsätze zum religiösen Charakter von Nationalsozialismus und Kommunismus (VKW: Bonn, 2001); and my article (together with my wife Christine): "Der Kommunismus als Lehre vom Tausendjährigen Reich" (Communism as teaching about the Millennium), Factum 11/12/1986: 12-19.
[26] For arguments for the religious character of Freemasonry see Hermann Neuer, Die Freimaurer: Religion der Mächtigen (Berneck: Schwengeler, 19911, 19944).
[27] For arguments for the religious character of Anthroposophy see my article "Reinkarnation und Karma in der Anthroposophie", Factum 11/12/1988: 473-482, now reprinted in my book Im Gespräch mit dem Wanderprediger des New Age - und andere apologetische Beiträge (VKW: Bonn, 2003).
[28] Hans Prolingheuer, Der Fall Karl Barth 1934-1935: Chronographie einer Vertreibung (Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag, 1977).
[29] Ibid. This is often neglected, although Prolingheuer proves it from Barth's own writings.
[30] Ibid. See also my dissertation Hans Naumann als Volkskundler im Dritten Reich, op. cit. pp. 197-202.
[31] I agree with the judgment of Gary North, Dominion and Common Grace (Tyler: Institute for Christian Economics: Tyler, 1987), p. 151, that Barthianism believes together with antinomianism that God does not speak to any specific problems in history.
[32] Hal Lindsey, The Road to Holocaust (New York: Bantam, 1989). See the refutations of Lindsey's theories by Christian Reconstructionists in Gary DeMar, The Debate over Christian Reconstruction (Ft. Worth: Dominion Press, 1988; Gary DeMar, Peter Leithart, The Reduction of Christianity (Ft. Worth: Dominion Press, 1988); Greg L. Bahnsen, Kenneth L. Gentry, House Divided (Tyler: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989); Steve Schlissel, David Brown, Hal Lindsey and the Restoration of the Jews (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books: Edmonton, 1990). On Christian Recosntructionism see my history and refutation of the movement Thomas Schirrmacher, Anfang und Ende von 'Christian Reconstruction' (1959-1995): Geschichte, Theologie und Aufsplitterung einer reformierten Bewegung (Bonn: VKW, 2001).
[33] See Hans Schlemmer, Evangelische Gedanken zu Rosenbergs 'Mythos' (Görlitz: Hutten-Verlag, 1935), pp. 18-19.
[34] Cf. John Warwick Montgomery, “Shirer’s Re-Hitlerizing of Luther,“ in The Christian Century, 12 December 1962; reprinted in his In Defense of Martin Luther (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Northwestern Publishing House, 1970), pp. 142-49.
[35] Adolf von Harnack, Marcion: Das Evangelium vom fremden Gott (Leipzig, 1921), p. 248.
[36] See especially Robert P. Ericksen, Theologians under Hitler (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985).
[37] Adolf von Harnack, Marcion: Das Evangelium vom fremden Gott (Leipzig, 1921), pp. 19-20.