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The article examines the relationship between the antisemitic theological writings of Jesuit Erich Przywara and National Socialism. Alleged intellectualism in Przywara's essentialist criticisms and calls for Jews to convert to Catholicism is scrutinized along with the alleged influence of Hilaire Belloc’s 1922 book "The Jews" on Przywara's concepts of Catholicism and nationalism.

The article presents a report from a March 17, 2017 conference of the NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln Nazi documentation center in Cologne, Germany on the history of the relationship between national socialism and the Catholic Church. Topics of presentations delivered include criminal proceedings against priests and other clergy in Cologne, the Abwehrstelle gegen die antichristliche Propaganda antipropaganda office of the Catholic Church, and communication between Catholic youth in World War II.

This article analyzes the nature of ethnic Germans’ identities and nationalisms in what is now modern Slovenia from the beginning of the Third Reich in 1933 to the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. The reactions of these Germans to world and local events are examined through the prism of local German-language media and archival sources, which show that ethnic Germans at this time were conflicted by multiple identities and nationalisms: one that most strongly aligned with the German nationalism of National Socialist ideology, and one that was marked by a robust Austro-Catholic regional identity aligned with conservative Christian Austrians in neighboring Austria. This article therefore adds to an understanding of the appeal of National Socialism for and types of nationalism of ethnic Germans outside of the Third Reich, as well as the role of religion in Austrian identity formation in the early twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Austro-fascist goal of re-Catholicizing society entailed the restoration of a highly hierarchical gender order, resulting in legal discrimination against women. This article analyzes how the two women’s organizations that existed within the Austro-fascist unity party Vaterländische Front responded to the regime’s gender policies. Both organizations, Mutterschutzwerk (headed by former journalist Mina Wolfring) and Frauenreferat (headed by Countess Franziska Starhemberg, president of the Catholic women’s organization), specifically targeted housewives and mothers on the basis of their politics of gender difference. Using three axes of inequality – class, gender and religion – as an analytical tool, the article highlights how gender and class differences were conceived and implemented within the context of a Catholic and politically authoritarian system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to a series of articles by Paul Silas Peterson on the interwar Jesuit religious philosopher Erich Przywara in which Peterson characterizes Przywara as an antisemite and a "Catholic fascist". Peterson's hermeneutic categorization of Peterson's alleged illiberalism as fascism is criticized along with Peterson's views on Przywara's spiritual independence and the alleged influence of national socialism, antisemitism, and fascism on Przywara's essays on church and state and Catholic-Jewish relations "Reich und Kreuz", "Nation, Staat, Kirche", and "Judentum und Christentum" is examined.

In this article, I respond to John Betz (University of Notre Dame, USA) who has recently rejected claims that I have made about Erich Przywara's anti- Semitism and his relationship to Nazi era ideology. Although I admire much of Przywara's theology and have great sympathy for the teaching about the analogy of being, in this article I address some of the problems of Przywara's work. I address literature from Przywara on the Jews where he talks about the essence of 'the Jew' as 'restless' and 'revolutionary,' and where he brings up the 'wandering Jew' theme or claims Judaism is an 'insolent disturber' of the (German) 'folkdom.' Przywara's rejection of 'Jewish messianism' and his claims about the 'basic tension of the Jew' are also addressed. I analyze his conception of the essence of 'the Jew' as, among other things, a 'rising will of destruction' and his claim that 'Christianity' ultimately becomes the 'enemy' of Judaism. Beyond these things, Przywara's desire to 'overcome' Judaism with the right 'weapons' is addressed. I also draw attention to his rejection of 'Jewish capitalism' and his justification of 'the hatred towards the Jews in world history.' In addition to this, his use of ideologically charged Nazi terminology, such as 'host-peoples,' and his support of Catholic integralism in Nazi Germany are addressed. Furthermore, Przywara's remarks (to a leading Nazi representative and ideologue, Hanns Johst) on 'the positive sense' of the German 'movements' (i. e. National Socialism) in the 1930s are presented. I also show that Przywara's work was praised by a leading representative and ideologue of National Socialism (Otto Dietrich). With this, I address the internal Nazi correspondences on the very influential German Catholic Jesuit journal titled Stimmen der Zeit [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, National Socialist Germany aimed to destroy the Polish nation and Polish national consciousness. The Nazi regime attempted to accomplish this in a variety of ways, including the destruction of Polish cultural institutions, forced resettlement, forced labor, incarceration in prisons and camps, random and systematic roundups of prisoners, and mass murder. To the German authorities in occupied Poland and to many Poles, it was obvious that the occupation would target the Polish Catholic Church with vigor and brutality. Catholicism was the religion of approximately 65 percent of interwar Poland's population: it dominated religious life, held tremendous wealth and political power, and its clergy were widely respected as members of the intelligentsia. More importantly for the Germans, the Catholic Church was a locus and symbol of Polish national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a report on a conference on the history of Catholicism, held from November 15-17, 2013, in Schwerte, Germany. Topics of discussion included conceptions of femininity and womanhood among Franciscan nuns, ultramontanism and political Catholicism during the Revolution of 1848-1849 in Bavaria, Germany, and national socialism and the Catholic Church. The meeting also featured a panel discussion on religious fundamentalism.

The article discusses Catholic reactions to and commentaries on the events surrounding the 450th anniversary of the birth of German Reformation theologian Martin Luther in 1933. The author highlights that much Catholic attention to the Protestant renegade ought not to have been expected and did in fact not occur. However, he examines several instances in which Catholics referenced Luther in 1933, including the views of excommunicated Catholic theologian Joseph Wittig, a movement within the Catholic Church in Germany that sought to bridge divisions between Protestants and Catholics by affirming Catholics' adherence to the tenets of National Socialism, and communications regarding Luther celebrations between the papal nuncio in Germany, Cesare Orsenigo, and the Vatican Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli.

The article discusses the relationship of Catholics and of the Catholic Church in the Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse) region of Germany to National Socialism during the Nazi dictatorship in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. In particular, the author focuses on the attitudes of Albert Stohr, the bishop of Mainz, Germany, toward the Nazi regime. Issues considered include the question whether Catholicism offered a certain immunity to Nazi ideology, Stohr's relationship with the Nazi governor of the state of Hesse-Nassau, Jakob Sprenger, and Stohr's opposition to the Nazi persecution of Jews.

The article discusses an unsent letter by Albert Stohr, the Archbishop of Mainz, Germany, to the German Ministry of the Interior, dated August 10, 1943. The authors outline Stohr's opposition to National Socialism, to the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Germany, and in particular to Nazi policies against interfaith marriages between Jews and Christians. A critical, annotated edition of the letter, discovered at the Dom- und Diözesanarchiv (Cathedral and Diocesan Archives) in Mainz, is provided in an appendix.

The article examines the historical, political, and ideological context of three papal encyclicals issued by Pope Pius XI in March 1937, namely "Mit brennender Sorge," "Divini Redemptoris," and Firmissimam Constantiam. The author suggests that the three documents should be interpreted as a unified response of the Catholic Church to totalitarianism and revolutionary politics, especially to National Socialism in Germany, Communism in the Soviet Union, and the revolution and civil war in Mexico. The relationship of the Church to politics and the state is considered, as are the role of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII, in drafting the encyclical concerning National Socialism and Pius XI's attitudes to social and economic materialism.

The debate about the political allegiance of Pius XII and the Vatican during the Second World War remains unresolved. As more documents become available, they enable historians, detractors and defenders alike, to develop a more nuanced view on this contentious issue. Files recently released by The National Archives1 come within this category. They reveal that during the Second World War the British government systematically intercepted, monitored, and recorded in detail the financial transactions listed in the bank statements of the main financial agencies of the State of Vatican City from 1941 to 1943. These documents provide a detailed, if occasionally incomplete, day by day and month by month record of the Vatican's sources of income, expenditure priorities, investment strategies, and movements of money throughout its global network under the difficult wartime conditions of foreign exchange controls, blocked sterling and dollar accounts, Freezing Orders, and Trading with the Enemy restrictions imposed by the belligerent parties. This article examines the light they shed on Vatican finances throughout that period and what new insights they provide into the role of Pius XII and the Vatican during the Second World War, and, in particular, into the question of where their sympathies lay throughout the duration of that conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the 1920 administrative elections in Turin, Italy, with reference to the Popular Party and the influence of the Catholic Church. Topics discussed include resistance to the socialist party, the significance of the elections in Turin on the national level, as well as the mobilization of the nationalist bloc, including liberal groups and minority right wing groups; and the political climate developing in Italy in the period leading up to the 1921 national Italian political elections.

Copyright of Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Did the Holy See accelerate the end of the Weimar Republic in 1933 in order to conclude the Reichskonkordat with the National Socialist state in return? Did the Vatican push the Centre Party to accept the Enabling Act and the German bishops to retract their warning against National Socialism? These questions have been widely discussed ever since the Fifties, not only by historians, but also by the general public. The debate reached its peak in the late Seventies, and its protagonists were the Protestant church historian Klaus Scholder and the Catholic historian Konrad Repgen. About thirty years later, after the documents of the pontificate of Pius XI have been made accessible in the Vatican Archives, the present essay reviews this controversy from a new, critical point of view and aims at its historisation. It is now possible to reassess Scholder's and Repgen's arguments. Moreover, it is very enlightening to analyse the antagonists' controversy on the historical method, their argumentative strategies in the dispute and their respective positions in the social networks of the "old" Federal Republic, not least with a view of the position and the methods of today's contemporary church history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a report from a December 12, 2011 conference in Munich, Germany on the history of Protestantism and Catholicism in that city during the 20th century. Topics of presentations given included the performance of theatrical productions with religious themes during the Third Reich, an analysis of antisemitic caricatures in Nazi newspapers, and the relationship between national socialism and the Catholic church.

The article reports on a conference about the anti-Nazi movement in the Rhineland, Germany, in the 1930s and 1940s, which was held in Bonn, Germany, from September 26-27, 2011. Papers presented discussed opposition and resistance to the Nazi dictatorship by various groups, including Communists and Catholics. The repression of political dissent by police and the justice system was also addressed.

Copyright of Communicatio Socialis is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses press coverage of the German National Socialist movement and of its leader, Austrian politician Adolf Hitler, during the Weimar Republic, focusing on the Catholic newspaper "Kölnische Volkszeitung" as an example. The author focuses on the newspaper's reporting on several episodes of the rise of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) to power, including its attempted coup d'état and subsequent treason trial in 1923, the Reichstag (national assembly) elections of September 14, 1930, and the presidential and parliamentary elections in Germany in 1932.

The article presents an examination of Polish antisemitism in the time between World Wars I and II, from the aspects of what it had in common with European antisemitism and the particular characteristics which marked it. Included are discussions of whether Poland has been stereotyped as the country of Catholics and antisemitism, and how it came to be that there are very few Jews living in Poland. The article begins with a history of the suppression of Jews in Europe in general but Poland in particular, as seen in the writings of ideologue Roman Dmowski. It then seeks to demonstrate that Polish antisemitism was embedded in the Polish national Catholic ideology in the inter war time, which led to the persecution of Jews and even genocide.

The article discusses the history of the Catholic Church in Germany in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Using the debates among the bishops of the dioceses in West Germany, including Paderborn, Cologne, and Münster about a joint pastoral letter in the summer of 1945 as an example, the author considers the bishops' diverging attitudes toward such topics as the Allied occupation, German veterans of World War II, and the crimes of the National Socialist regime against Jews and other persecuted groups. A synoptic comparison of two drafts of the letter, authored by the Bishop of Aachen, Johannes Joseph van der Velden, and the Bishop of Münster, Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, respectively, is also presented.

The article presents abstracts of articles published in this issue of the magazine including a research on the connection of German Enabling Act to the Catholic Church, a research on the biography of SA-leader Hans Ramshorn, and a research on extremist left-wing parties.

The article presents German language abstracts from the 2011 journal articles including "Das Soziale Netz als Kommunikationsplattform. Mehr als eine jugendpastorale Herausforderung?," "Der gerade Weg. Katholische Verlage in der NS-Zeit," and "Kommunikation, Macht, Identität. Verlässlichkeit als Schlüsselkategorie kommunikativer Macht."