Fascism

Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements spread across Europe between World War One and World War Two and took several forms such as Nazism and Clerical fascism. Neofascism is generally used to describe post-WWII movements seen to have fascist attributes.

Fascism and the Protestant churches

Protestantism in Italy and Spain was relatively minor. The connection of some Protestant denominations to the German form of Fascism, Nazism, has often been deemed close. Hitler, in his manifesto, Mein Kampf, listed Martin Luther as one of Germany's great historic reformers. In Luther's 1543 book On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther advocated the burning of synagogues and schools, the deportation of Jews, and many other measures that resemble the actions later taken by the Nazis.

Related Topics:
Martin Luther - Synagogue - Deportation

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Protestant churches made no comment on the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish activities. Many Protestants opposed the governments of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s which they saw as coalitions between the Socialists and the Catholic Centre party. In 1932, many German Protestants joined together to form the German Christian Movement which enthusiastically supported Nazi propaganda, and sought to join Church and State. 3,000 of the 17,000 Protestant pastors in Germany were to join the movement. Hitler wished to unite a Protestant church of 28 different federations into one nationalist body. Pastor Ludwig Muller, the leader of the German Christian Movement, was soon appointed Hitler's advisor on religious affairs. He was elected Reich's Bishop in charge of the German Protestant churches in 1933.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Weimar Republic - 1920s - German Christian Movement - Ludwig Muller - 1933

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An "Aryan Paragraph" was introduced to the constitution which stated that no one of non-Aryan background, or married to anyone of non-Aryan background, could serve as either a pastor or church official. Pastors and officials who had married a non-Aryan were to be dismissed. Much of the Lutheran and Methodist establishment in Germany had fallen behind Hitler in his promise to oppose Bolshevism and instability.

Related Topics:
Lutheran - Methodist - Bolshevism

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The new measures began to raise some opposition to the German Christians from a minority of Lutherans and Evangelicals who disliked state interference in church affairs. A small group of Protestant clergy under Martin Niemoeller separated from the main churches to form the Confessing Church. Neither the official, nor the Confessing church, however, openly opposed the Nazis' anti-Jewish policies.

Related Topics:
Martin Niemoeller - Confessing Church

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