American Religious Communities and Nazi Germany

The German Church under Attack.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, most Americans were more concerned about the collapsing domestic economy than what he might do with or to the German people because of their ethnic backgrounds or religious views. But the vigorously antireligious Nazi movement made it clear that German religious communities would face challenges to their beliefs and actions. In 1933 Paul Tillich, already recognized as one of the most distinguished German theologians, was dismissed from his position at the University of Frankfurt. He was invited to teach at Union Theological Seminary in New York, eventually becoming an American citizen and continuing his contributions to theology. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another distinguished German theologian, had studied at the Union Theological Seminary in 1930-1931. His friends in the United States also invited him to accept a visiting professorship in 1939,...

[The entire page is 2120 words long]

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