Pfarrer für Hitler - Kirchenmänner unter dem Hakenkreuz

original title:
Pfarrer für Hitler - Kirchenmänner unter dem Hakenkreuz
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original length:
52 min. , color
premiere:
6 April 2007, Arte
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plot synopsis:
Among the office bearers of both the Catholic and the Protestant church there were advocats and active supporters of the Nazi-regime. This film documents some of these cases, as resistance and attitude of the church have long and intensly been the object of interest.
One important "Nazi-priest" was Dr. Philipp Haesuser, coming from the Augsburg-area, who was a member of the NSDAP and speaker at many events of the party. He was known for his hatred against Jews.
One of his friends was chaplain and religion teacher Josef Roth, who worked from 1935 onwards in the ministry for ecclesiastical affairs in Berlin.
In the Catholic church there was also the auxiliary bishop and vicar-general Franz-Xaver Eberle, who worked for the Gestapo as contact person and bishop Alois Hudal, who worked in Rome, is also known today for having played double-cross. With his help some German Nazi-criminals could escape.
In the Protestant church a priest and historian found out about Nazi-sympathisers, such as Friedrich Drexler from Bayreuth, today 93 years old, who reflects critically his former attitude in this film.
literature:
Björn Mensing. Pfarrer und Nationalsozialismus. Geschichte einer Verstrickung am Beispiel der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Bayern. Bayreuth: Rabenstein, 2001.

Anselm Reichhold. Die deutsche katholische Kirche zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (1933-1945). Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Hirtenbriefe, Denkschriften, Predigten und sonstigen Kundgebungen der deutschen katholischen Bischöfe. St. Ottilien: EOS, 1992.
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