martillo@mit-athena.ARPA (Joaquim Martillo) (12/28/84)
From review, "How Guilty Were the Germans?" in NYRB. On Hitler, Germans, and the 'Jewish Question' by Sarah Gordon. ...according to Gordon...there were Germans who did oppose [Nazi persecution of the Jews], mostly male white-collar workers and independent professionals. The least active opponents of Nazi anti-Semitism, she points out were women and blue-collar workers. Finally, those who helped Jews were more often than not political conservatives or devout Catholics or both.
david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (01/03/85)
Interesting indeed. Not surprisingly, the segments of the German population mentioned as being most likely to oppose the persecution of Jews were precisely the most educated (white-collar males). Political conservatism is also not a surprising attribute, as such conservatives were all that was left of the democratic center in most of Germany following the polarization of the 1920's. Of the groups enumerated by Gordon in the paragraph excerpted by Martillo, only devout Catholics presented something of a puzzle. If it was their Catholicism that was important, why was Hitler's political support strongest in Bavaria? If it was their piety which was important, why Catholics and not, say, Lutherans? Perhaps it is all a statistical illusion...there were more Catholics that any other religious sect in Germany, and thus more opponents just happened to be Catholic. David Rubin
robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (01/03/85)
(8-line quote at end)
Nazism was very bad news for Catholics in Europe. They were not
true Aryans, and many were severely oppressed. It is not surprising
that many Catholics realized this and fought the Nazis; it is also
not too surprising that many Catholics refused to believe the worst
of the Nazis and supported them. See the novels of heinrich Boell
for eloquent statements concerning the conditions of German
Catholics.
- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
{allegra, decvax!ittvax, fisher, princeton}!eosp1!robison
In article <462@fisher.UUCP> david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) writes:
>Interesting indeed.
>
>Not surprisingly, the segments of the German population mentioned
>as being most likely to oppose the persecution of Jews...
> only devout Catholics presented >something of a puzzle.
If it was their Catholicism that was important,
>why was Hitler's political support strongest in Bavaria?
> David Rubinmat@hou4b.UUCP (Mark Terribile) (01/05/85)
> the segments of the German population mentioned as being most likely to > oppose the persecution of Jews were precisely the most educated ... > only devout Catholics presented something of a puzzle. If it was their > Catholicism that was important, why was Hitler's political support strongest > in Bavaria? If it was their piety which was important, why Catholics and > not, say, Lutherans? Perhaps it is all a statistical illusion... Perhaps. Remember also that some individuals and organizations within the Catholic hierarchy placed themselves at considerable risk to help oppressed people escape -- and the most identifiable group was the Jews. As a Catholic, I am appalled and ashamed at the centuries of atrocities that have been perpetrated in the name of my religion ... and filled with respect for the true heros within it. But the same hierarchy that could be mobilized to cause harm was also sometimes mobilized to stand in harm's way. I'm sure that most of the readers of this group know more about what happened in Europe in the '30s and '40s than I do. -- from Mole End Mark Terribile (scrape .. dig ) hou4b!mat ,.. .,, ,,, ..,***_*.
martillo@mit-athena.ARPA (Joaquim Martillo) (01/07/85)
While the Nazi party was founded in Bavaria, there was less support for the Nazi party in Bavaria than in the rest of Germany. Bavaria was the only state to reject the Nazi party and Hitler soundly in the 1933 elections.