Sarah Mitchell
Adolf Hitler was born and raised Catholic, receiving the Catholic sacraments of baptism as an infant and confirmation later in his youth. However, there is little evidence that he considered himself subject to the teachings of the Church from his adolescence onwards. Hitler's religious beliefs have been a subject of debate, with some arguing that he was an atheist, while others claim he retained a belief in God, albeit not the Christian God. Despite his Catholic upbringing, Hitler's relationship with the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole was complex and often contradictory. He admired the Church's hierarchy and power but rejected its spiritual teachings. Hitler also made agreements with the Church, such as the 1933 Concordat, which granted the Church certain rights in exchange for support for his regime. However, he also appointed vehement anti-Christians to key positions and worked to limit the Church's influence and activities.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Hitler's religion | Unknown, potentially atheist, agnostic, Unitarian, or Deist |
| Hitler's Catholic upbringing | Baptised and Confirmed as a child |
| Hitler's mother's religion | Devout Catholic |
| Hitler's father's religion | Religion was a "crutch for human weakness" |
| Hitler's views on Judaism | Hated Judaism, murdered 6 million Jews |
| Hitler's views on Christianity | Loathed Christianity, wanted to root out and destroy the influence of the Christian Churches |
| Hitler's views on the Catholic Church | Impressed by its hierarchical structure, but hated its spiritual teachings |
| Hitler's views on God | Believed in a deity, but not the Christian God |
| Hitler's public statements on religion | Appealed to Providence as his guide, said he believed in God |
| Hitler's private statements on religion | Believed Providence had anointed him for a special task |
| Hitler's views on the Church and State | Argued for a clear separation of church and state |
| Hitler's actions towards the Catholic Church | Signed a concordat with the Vatican in 1933, but regularly violated the agreement |
| Nazi Party members' religion | 3 million members paid church taxes and registered as Catholic or Protestant |
| Nazi Party's views on religion | Led by anti-Christians from the mid-1930s |
| Nazi Party's views on Catholicism | Anti-Catholic sentiments, shut down Catholic organizations, confiscated church property, interfered with Catholic newspapers, imprisoned or murdered clergy |
| Nazi Party's views on neopaganism | Attempted to resurrect ancient Germanic gods, rites, and shrines |
| Hitler's views on neopaganism | Publicly distanced himself from it, mocked it in private |
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What You'll Learn
Hitler's Catholic upbringing
The religious beliefs of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, have been a matter of debate. His opinions regarding religious matters changed considerably over time. During the beginning of his political career, Hitler publicly expressed favourable opinions towards traditional Christian ideals, but later deviated from them. Most historians describe his later posture as adversarial to organised Christianity and established Christian denominations.
Hitler was baptised as a Catholic in the same year he was born, 1889. Hitler's father, Alois, was nominally a Catholic but was somewhat religiously sceptical and anticlerical. He considered religion a "crutch for human weakness". Hitler's mother, Klara, was a devout practising Catholic. She was reportedly the only person Hitler ever loved. Hitler attended several primary schools, including a choir school at a Benedictine Monastery at Lambach. Hitler later wrote in Mein Kampf that at this time he dreamed of one day taking holy orders. In his childhood, Hitler was enthralled by the pomp and ritual of the Catholic Church. However, he began rejecting religion as a teenager. He was pulled in different directions by his parents. In middle school, Hitler made the life of his teacher of religion, Father Salo Schwarz, miserable by adhering to his father's view that religion was for the stupid and old women. He also boasted of expressing scepticism to clergyman-teachers when taught religious instruction in school.
In 1904, Hitler was confirmed at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where the family lived. According to John Willard Toland, witnesses indicate that Hitler's confirmation sponsor had to "drag the words out of him". Hitler's regime launched an effort toward coordination of German Protestants into a joint Protestant Reich Church, and moved early to eliminate political Catholicism. Even though Nazi leadership was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Hitler agreed to the Reich concordat with the Vatican, but then routinely ignored it, and permitted persecutions of the Catholic Church. In 1933, Hitler and Pope Pius XI signed a concordat that recognised the principal rights of the church. In return, the state guaranteed the right to free worship, to circulate pastoral epistles, to maintain Catholic schools and property. However, in the months and years after the concordat was signed, the Nazis regularly violated the agreement by shutting down some Catholic organisations, confiscating church property, interfering with Catholic newspapers, and imprisoning or murdering clergy and other Church leaders.
Hitler promoted the idea of a god as the creator of Germany, but he "was not a Christian in any accepted meaning of that word". He neither believed in organised religion nor saw himself as a religious reformer. Hitler had fully discarded belief in the Judeo-Christian conception of God by 1937, but continued to use the word "God" in speeches. He told the British journalist Ward Price in 1937: "I believe in God, and I am convinced that He will not desert 67 million Germans who have worked so hard to regain their rightful position in the world." Although Hitler did not abide by its commandments, some believe he retained elements of Catholic thinking from his upbringing even into the initial years of his rule. As late as 1933, he still described himself publicly as a Catholic.
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Hitler's rejection of Catholicism
Hitler's relationship with religion was complex and multifaceted. While he had received a Catholic upbringing and retained some regard for the organisational power of Catholicism, his personal beliefs and policies as the Führer of Nazi Germany were often at odds with Catholic teachings and values.
Hitler's public statements and actions often revealed a rejection of Catholicism and traditional Christian doctrines. In his book 'Mein Kampf', Hitler declared himself neutral towards Christian denominations but argued for a clear separation of church and state. He criticised political Catholicism and attacked both the Catholic and Protestant churches for their failure to recognise the racial problem, which was a central tenet of Nazi ideology. Hitler's regime also promoted a form of "Positive Christianity," which sought to detach Christianity from its Jewish roots and the Apostles' Creed.
Hitler's appointments of key figures in his government further reflected his rejection of Catholicism. In 1934, he appointed Alfred Rosenberg, a neo-pagan and anti-Catholic, as the Reich's cultural and educational leader. Rosenberg's book outlined a future for religion in Germany that included replacing crucifixes, Bibles, and statues of saints on altars with copies of 'Mein Kampf'. Hitler also surrounded himself with aggressive anti-church radicals like Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, and Heinrich Himmler, who shared his scepticism of organised religion.
Hitler's public statements about God and Providence have been the subject of much debate. While he frequently invoked God and destiny in his speeches, it is unclear whether these were merely opportunistic appeals to curry favour with religious constituents or if he held a genuine belief in a deity. Hitler's concept of God seemed to diverge from the traditional Christian God, as he promoted the idea of a god who was the creator of Germany and who "let iron grow."
The relationship between the Nazi regime and the Catholic Church was fraught with tension and conflict. While Hitler signed a concordat with the Vatican in 1933, recognising the Church's rights and freedom of worship, the Nazis frequently violated this agreement. They shut down Catholic organisations, confiscated church property, interfered with Catholic media, and imprisoned or murdered clergy and other Church leaders. Despite these actions, many Nazis continued to identify as Catholic, and the Church struggled to mobilise opposition to Hitler within Germany.
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Hitler's anti-Christian views
While Hitler's exact religious beliefs are hard to ascertain, and the debate rages on, there is consensus among historians that Nazism as a whole was either unrelated to Christianity or actively opposed to it. Hitler's Nazi movement was increasingly led by vehement anti-Christians, whom he appointed to key positions. Hitler himself declared that he was neutral on the matter of Christian denominations, but argued for a clear separation of church and state. He also warned that no political party could succeed in "producing a religious reformation".
Hitler's writings and speeches reveal a rejection of the conventional Christian vision of heaven and hell, and the survival of an individual "soul". He also reinterpreted Christian theology to suit his ideology, promoting the idea of a god as the creator of Germany, but one that was not the God "who has been worshiped for millennia", but a new and peculiarly German "god" who "let iron grow".
Hitler's agreement with the Catholic Church in 1933, which guaranteed the right to free worship and maintain Catholic schools and property, further complicates the understanding of his religious beliefs. However, the Nazis regularly violated this agreement by shutting down Catholic organizations, confiscating church property, and interfering with Catholic media. Despite his public support for Christianity, Hitler's private statements and appointments of anti-Christian leaders reveal a deep-seated opposition to the religion.
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Hitler's belief in a deity
The religious beliefs of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, have been a matter of debate. Historians have variously described Hitler as a skeptic of religion, a Christian, an atheist, a pantheist, an occultist, a neo-pagan, and a deist. Hitler's own statements on religion were often contradictory, and he never openly stated his beliefs.
Hitler was born to a practising Catholic mother, Klara Hitler, and was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church. However, there is little evidence that he considered himself subject to the teachings of the Church beyond his youth. Hitler publicly expressed favourable opinions towards traditional Christian ideals during the beginning of his political career, but later deviated from them. Most historians describe his later posture as adversarial to organised Christianity and established Christian denominations. He also staunchly criticised atheism, associating it with "Jewish Bolshevism". In his book "Mein Kampf", Hitler declared himself neutral on Christian denominations but argued for a clear separation of church and state. From the mid-1930s, the Nazi movement came increasingly to be led by vehement anti-Christians, whom Hitler appointed to key positions. Hitler promoted the idea of a god as the creator of Germany, but he "was not a Christian in any accepted meaning of that word". He told the British journalist Ward Price in 1937: "I believe in God, and I am convinced that He will not desert 67 million Germans who have worked so hard to regain their rightful position in the world." However, the god he believed in was not the God "who has been worshipped for millennia", but a new and peculiarly German "god" who "let iron grow".
Hitler's conception of Providence became increasingly intertwined with his belief in his own infallibility as the leader of Germany. Alfred Jodl stated at Nuremberg that Hitler had "an almost mystical conviction of his infallibility as the leader of the nation and of the war". Another of his physicians, Dr Karl Brandt, said that Hitler saw himself as a "tool of Providence". Hitler also believed that Providence had saved him from the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944, so that he could pursue his tasks.
Hitler's relationship to religion has been characterised as one of opportunism and pragmatism. He may have refrained from fully disclosing his religious beliefs lest he lose support among believers. However, he did profess a belief in God, even in private. The question remains, then, what kind of deity did Hitler believe in? In his speeches and writings, he attempted to give the impression that it was the Christian God. However, the God he believed in was not Jesus Christ or the God of the Christian Bible. Hitler spoke of a deity whose work was nature and natural laws, "conflating God and nature to the extent that they became one and the same thing". For this reason, some have argued that Hitler was a Deist.
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Hitler's agreement with the Catholic Church
Hitler's religious beliefs have been the subject of much debate and speculation. While he had received the Catholic sacraments of baptism and confirmation, there is little evidence that he considered himself a devout Catholic or followed the teachings of the Church. In fact, in his book "Mein Kampf", Hitler declared himself neutral in terms of Christian denominations and argued for a clear separation of church and state. He promoted the idea of a god as the creator of Germany but did not believe in the conventional Christian vision of heaven and hell. Hitler's public speeches and writings often invoked God, but it is unclear if this was sincere or simply a tactic to gain favour with his constituents.
Hitler's relationship with the Catholic Church was complex. In 1933, almost 40% of Germany's population was Roman Catholic, and the Church had long been a powerful political force in the country. Hitler wanted to end all Catholic political activity and sought to reorganize church-state relations. He ordered the dismissal of Catholic civil servants, and the Nazis began to persecute the Church, targeting clergy and Church organizations.
However, the Vatican was anxious to reach an agreement with Hitler's government, hoping to protect Catholic schools and organizations and to maintain their institutional rights. In 1933, Hitler and the Catholic Church signed a concordat, a formal agreement or pact derived from the Latin word "concord", meaning harmony. By the terms of the concordat, the Church renounced all political activities, and in return, the state guaranteed the right to free worship, the circulation of pastoral epistles, and the maintenance of Catholic schools and property.
The concordat was Hitler's first international agreement, and it enhanced his respectability both in Germany and abroad. However, he showed blatant disregard for the agreement, and Nazi breaches of its terms began soon after it was signed. The Nazis shut down Catholic organizations, confiscated Church property, interfered with Catholic newspapers, and imprisoned or murdered clergy and Church leaders. Despite these actions, the pope did not openly criticize the Nazis until 1937, and by then, it was too late for effective opposition.
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Frequently asked questions
Hitler was born and raised Catholic and received the Catholic sacraments of Baptism as an infant and Confirmation later in his youth. However, there is little evidence that he considered himself subject to the teachings of the Church from his adolescence onwards. While Hitler did not abide by the Bible's commandments, he retained elements of Catholic thinking from his upbringing, and as late as 1933, he described himself publicly as a Catholic.
Hitler's relationship with the Catholic Church was complex. In 1933, Hitler signed a concordat with the Vatican, agreeing to recognise the principal rights of the Church in exchange for the Church renouncing all political activities. However, in the following years, the Nazis regularly violated this agreement by shutting down Catholic organisations, confiscating Church property, interfering with Catholic newspapers, and imprisoning or murdering clergy.
Hitler professed a belief in God, even in private. However, the deity he believed in was not the Christian God. Hitler believed in a god who was the creator of Germany and who "let iron grow". He also believed that this god had anointed him for a special task.
Hitler's religious views likely influenced his actions as a dictator. He repeatedly proclaimed that he was doing the "Lord's work" by persecuting Jews. He also appointed anti-Christians to key positions in his regime and vowed to "root out and destroy the influence of the Christian Churches".
