Christian History Home > Issue 32 > Radical Resistance
Radical Resistance
Bonhoeffer took an early and active stand against the Nazis.
Dr. Richard V. Pierard is professor of history at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has twice held Fulbright professorships in Germany. | posted 10/01/1991 12:00AM
Most Germans welcomed Adolf Hitler’s appointment as German chancellor (prime minister) on January 30, 1933. Few were more jubilant than Protestant church leaders. They welcomed the possibility of a national regeneration.
The dean of the Magdeburg Cathedral exulted in the Nazi flags prominently displayed in his church. “Whoever reviles this symbol of ours is reviling our Germany,” he declared. “The swastika flags around the altar radiate hope—hope that the day is at last about to dawn.”
Some churchmen even referred to the “turning point in history” where “through God’s providence our beloved fatherland has experienced a mighty exaltation.” Pastor Siegfried Leffler declared that “in the pitch-black night of church history, Hitler became, as it were, the wonderful transparency for our time, the window of our age, through which light fell on the history of Christianity. Through him we were able to see the Savior in the history of the Germans.” Pastor Julius Leutheuser added that “Christ has ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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