Hitler's Priests

Shaken by military defeat and economic depression after War World I, Germans sought to restore their nation’s dignity and power—and the National Socialist Party, with its promise of a revitalized Germany, drew supporters. Among the most zealous were a number of Catholic clergymen known as “brown priests” who volunteered as Nazi propagandists. In Hitler’s Priests, Kevin P. Spicer introduces the clergymen who participated in the Nazi movement, examines their motives, details their rationale for advocating National Socialism, and explores the consequences of their political activism. Some brown priests advocated National Socialism because it appealed to their patriotic ardor. Others had less laudatory motives: disaffection with clerical life, conflicts with Church superiors, or ambition for personal power and fame. Whatever their motives, they employed their skills as orators, writers, and teachers to proclaim the message of Nazism, and endeavored to prove that Catholicism was compatible with National Socialism, thereby justifying their support of Nazi ideology. Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitism did not deter clergymen, Spicer argues, because Catholic teachings at the time tolerated hostility toward Jews by blaming them for Christ’s crucifixion. While a handful of brown priests enjoyed the forbearance of their bishops, others endured reprimand or even dismissal; a few found new vocations with the Third Reich. After the Second World War, the most visible brown priests faced trial for their part in the crimes of National Socialism, a movement they had once so earnestly supported, but the majority eventually returned to ministry.