Book description
The acquiescence of the German Protestant churches in Nazi oppression
and murder of Jews is well documented. In this book, Christopher J.
Probst demonstrates that a significant number of German theologians
and clergy made use of the 16th-century writings by Martin Luther on
Jews and Judaism to reinforce the racial antisemitism and religious
anti-Judaism already present among Protestants. Focusing on key
figures, Probst's study makes clear that a significant number of
pastors, bishops, and theologians of varying theological and political
persuasions employed Luther's texts with considerable effectiveness in
campaigning for the creation of a "de-Judaized" form of
Christianity. Probst shows that even the church most critical of
Luther's anti-Jewish writings reaffirmed the antisemitic stereotyping
that helped justify early Nazi measures against the Jews.
"A close look at specific ways in which Protestant
theologians and pastors used and reacted to Luther in their teaching
and preaching under Nazism.... In his treatment of the supposed
disconnect between anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, Probst shows how
German Protestants during this period [following Luther] combined
theological opposition to Jews with irrational, anti-Semitic
stereotypes.... An important and useful book." -Robert P.
Ericksen, Kurt Mayer Professor of Holocaust Studies, Pacific Lutheran University
Christopher J. Probst is a visiting assistant professor of modern
European history at Saint Louis University. He was a Charles H. Revson
Foundation Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
