Demonizing The Protestant Church In Nazi Germany Summary

Christian writings have been used to demonize the Jewish population of Europe throughout history. This was no different during the Nazi regime in Germany and this is discussed in detail in Demonizing the Jews Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany by Christopher J. Probst a visiting assistant professor of modern European history at Saint Louis University. The author has written an analysis that provides insight into the how German Protestants used the anti-Jewish writings of Protestant reformer Martin Luther within the Third Reich.
The author draws heavily from Gavin Langmuir when it comes to the distinction between two different viewpoints in terms of resentment of the Jews. The first viewpoint is prejudice that is based in theological difference and symbolic differences which are ever present and so therefore they are considered to …show more content…
The church clergy within the confessing church attempted to distance themselves from the racial antisemitism employed by the Nazis they focused on the anti-Judaic arguments within Luther’s writing. Whereas other member of the clergy who were more towards the middle tend to use xenophobic depictions of Jews.
The writer discusses all aspects of the Confessing church in comparison to the German Christian Movement in terms of Theology siting that the German university system became was very politicized and influenced the study of theology dramatically. This then effected the knowledge base which was being drawn from by the public an institution of higher learning is not intended as a device to further regime rhetoric but it was used heavily by the Nazi Regime. This then further compounds the already distorted view that the German public of