ADVENTIST HISTORY
Render unto Caesar: German Adventists and the Nazi State BY ROLAND BLAICH
“Tese things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:11-13, NIV).
In Nazi Germany, Adventists were among a number of small denominations that found themselves in jeopardy from the very beginning of the Nazi regime. As members of a small American sect with religious practices that resembled those of the Jews in several respects, they were particularly vulnerable in a state that emphasized nationalism and anti-Semitism. Te presence of radical Adventist offshoots—among these
the Reformed Adventists, who categorically refused military service—could well cause authorities to confuse one with the other. General ignorance about Adventists could easily be exploited by enemies of the church. Where the Gestapo—a state within the state—held seemingly unlimited powers, individual leaders and the church as a whole were always at risk. A careless statement, or a single allegation by a Nazi Party member of opposition to the Nazi regime, might lead to the arrest of a church worker or even the dissolution of the church. Nazi leaders knew no such thing as neutrality in matters of
politics. Either you were for them, or against. Church leaders and members were keenly aware of this. A few months aſter Hitler became Germany’s chancellor, the Adventist religious liberty magazine Kirche und Staat (Church and State) published an article in its July 1933 issue on the principle of separation between church and state and the need to obey God more than men; it was soon shut down.
Early Adoption Te summer of 1933 was the last time a German Adventist journal explored the Christian’s duty to God in contrast to duty to one’s country. In word and print, Adventist leaders exercised great caution in order not to offend Nazi authorities. Breaking with Adventist tradition, articles in church publications began to endorse the Nazi state. Adolf Minck,
8 AD VENTIS T T OD A Y
who was director of Adventist youth ministries for the Central European Division, sounded almost jubilant in an article in Jugend-Leitstern, which described the Nazi era as a time of renewal, comparable to the Reformation: “A fresh, enlivening, and renewing reformation spirit is blowing through our German lands. ... Tis is a time of decision, a time of such opportunities for a believing youth as has not been for a long time. Te Word of God and Christianity shall be restored to a place of honor. Christians are now in demand. And that, my dear youth, is a call for us. ... We are not unprepared for the new order. Aſter all, we have helped bring it about.”1 In Der Adventbote, the German equivalent of Adventist Review,
one author contrasted Hitler’s new Germany to the old “liberal” republic, when German cities had been “in competition with Babylon, Sodom, and Gomorrah.”2 He wrote that only the Nazi Revolution had saved Germany from disaster and brought about the renewal of the nation and of morality. According to this writer and many others, God had clearly ordained Hitler to save the German people from communism and godless liberalism. Hitler banished homosexuals, restored family values, and
cleaned up the movies. Pornographic magazines disappeared from the newsstands, and anyone who bought or sold them was likely to end up in a concentration camp. And so Hitler prospered, and Germany with him. But most important to Christians was that Hitler himself was a believer who oſten concluded his speeches with an appeal to the Almighty and with a resounding “Amen!” Several documents from the early Nazi years are noteworthy,
because they urged Adventists to adapt to the new order. In August of 1933, church leader Wilhelm Mueller distributed a circular for the East German Union Conference. Reviewing the Adventist tradition of keeping out of politics, he argued that the new situation called for a change of attitude: “Ten came the National Socialist Revolution. Overnight things changed. It became necessary to take a stand. A mere religious confession was no longer sufficient. What was needed was a clear decision for or against the state. Issues arose that were altogether new. Te Christian had to decide where he stood on Gleichschaltung [enforced conformity with the new order] and on the swastika, on the German- or Hitler-salute, on the Reich Labor Service, and more.” Mueller argued that Nazi symbols and programs were no
longer those of a political party, but of the state, and as such deserved active support. Aſter all, he reasoned, “Te Christian rejoices that his country is in the hands of a man who has received his office from the hands of God, and who knows himself to be responsible to Him, as Adolf Hitler has emphasized
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