Latter-day Saints and Nazi Germany

Did the Church ever support the Nazi regime?

No. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints never endorsed the policies or beliefs of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi) Party.[1] In October 1942, the First Presidency condemned Nazism as coming from "wicked and designing men."[2]

There is no record of Church leaders ever instructing German Latter-day Saints to become Nazis or adopt Nazi ideology.[3] However, Church leaders emphasized the Church's neutrality in partisan politics[4] and encouraged missionaries not to participate in politics while serving in Germany.[5]

Are the teachings of the Church compatible with Nazism?

No. The teachings of the Church are fundamentally incompatible with the core tenets of Nazism.[6] In 1938, a report on the Church written to Nazi official Alfred Rosenberg[BIO] concluded that "the teachings of the Mormons are incompatible with the National Socialist worldview."[7] The Nazis were especially disdainful of the Saints' friendliness towards Jews and their use of the Old Testament.[8]

But aren't there similarities between what the Church teaches and Nazism?

Some have pointed out similarities between some things the Church teaches and some aspects of Nazi ideology, such as an interest in family history, physical health, and obedience.[9][10]

But didn't some Church leaders say positive things about the Nazis?

Yes. Some Church leaders in Germany and the United States said positive things about certain aspects of Nazi rule in Germany, such as their emphasis on healthy living, genealogy, social orderliness, and collecting donations for the poor.[11]

However, other Church leaders were outspoken in their criticism of Nazism, such as David O. McKay,[BIO] who called Hitler a "murderous dictator,"[12] and John A. Widtsoe,[BIO] who called Hitler "mentally ill" and Nazi racial beliefs "an ugly delusion."[13][14]

The Nazis were aware of the overall negative feelings Church leaders had towards them.[15]

Did the Church condemn Germany when World War 2 broke out?

The First Presidency condemned the war in general conference, but without specifically naming Germany,[16] saying that God would subject "eternal punishments" for those who waged war "unrighteously."[17]

Were Latter-day Saints more or less likely to be members of the Nazi party?

Latter-day Saints were about half as likely to be members of the Nazi party. About 5% of German Latter-day Saints are estimated to have been members of the Nazi Party,[18] compared to about 10% of the overall German population.[19]

Why would a Latter-day Saint become a Nazi?

Some listed reasons included personal belief in Nazism, antisemitic beliefs or feelings, pressure to join for social reasons, or as a requirement for government employment.[20][21]

What did the Nazis think of the Mormons?

The Nazi regime was suspicious and distrustful of the Church,[22] but as a general policy, they allowed the Church to continue operating in Germany between 1933 and 1945,[23] albeit with some restrictions.[24] Individual attitudes toward the Church among the Nazis ranged from cooperative to hostile.[25]

The Church was called a Sekte ("sect") by the Nazis,[26] which had both a technical and a pejorative meaning in Germany.[27]

Did the Nazis spy on the Church?

Yes. Internal reports and memoranda from the Nazi secret police (the Gestapo) indicate that Church members and activities in Germany were being monitored.[28] When President Heber J. Grant[BIO] toured Germany and spoke to the Saints in Frankfurt and Berlin in 1937, he was monitored and his speeches recorded by Nazi agents.[29]

Were Latter-day Saints in Germany persecuted by the Nazis?

No, not as an official government policy.[30] However, there are individual accounts of Saints being harassed, threatened, or targeted by the Nazis,[31] and some Church literature was banned or confiscated.[32] Some Nazi officials considered banning foreign missionaries in Germany, and maybe even the Church itself, but an official ban was never implemented.[33]

Were any German Saints sent to concentration camps?

Yes. Some Latter-day Saints were sent to concentration camps; not, apparently, for the sole reason of being a member of the Church, but instead because of political opposition to the Nazis or for having Jewish ancestry.[34][35]

Did Latter-day Saints fight in the German army during World War Two?

Yes. Though the exact number of German Saints who fought in the Wehrmacht or armed forces of Germany during the war is unknown, historians have documented German Saints fighting in each major branch of the German military.[36]

How many German Latter-day Saints died during World War Two?

It is estimated that at least a thousand German Latter-day Saints lost their lives as a result of the war in combat or as civilian casualties.[37]

Were there German Saints who resisted the Nazis?

Yes. The most well-known example is Helmuth Hübener,[BIO] who, along with friends from his branch in Hamburg, distributed anti-Nazi pamphlets.[38] Hübener was eventually executed for his actions against the Nazi government.[39][40] Another Saint, Max Reschke,[BIO] helped shelter Jews from the Nazis.[41]

Did the twelfth article of faith make people more willing to become Nazis?

Possibly. The twelfth article of faith says: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."[42] This has been interpreted to mean the Saints believe in upholding the laws of the land and being good citizens of whatever country they live in,[43] and there is at least one report that the verse was cited in support of National Socialism among German Latter-day Saints.[44] Mission leaders in Germany also cited the twelfth article of faith to signal the Church's willingness to coexist with the Nazis.[45]

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Footnotes

BIOAlfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946) was a prominent Nazi ideologue and one of Adolf Hitler’s key political theorists. He was a chief architect of Nazi racial ideology, promoting antisemitism and Aryan supremacy. He served as the head of the NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs and the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories during World War II, overseeing the exploitation and brutal treatment of populations in Eastern Europe. After the war, Rosenberg was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and executed for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
BIODavid O. McKay
David Oman McKay (1873 – 1970) was born in Huntsville, Utah. He was the ninth president of the Church from 1951 to 1970. At the age of 32, he was ordained an apostle. President McKay expanded the mission of the Church worldwide, including creating the first stakes outside of the United States. He also emphasized family life and education. He died at age 96.
BIOJohn A. Widtsoe
John Andreas Widtsoe (January 31, 1872–November 29, 1952) was an early Latter-day Saint leader. He was born on Frøya, a Norwegian island. He lost his father when he was six. His family was introduced to the Church a few years later. Widtsoe moved to Utah with his family in 1883 and was baptized in 1884. Widtsoe graduated from Harvard with a degree in chemistry in 1894 and married Leah Eudora Dunford in 1898. Widtsoe was called on a mission to get his Ph.D. at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He graduated in 1899. Widtsoe was president of Utah State Agricultural College from 1907–1916. He was then president of the University of Utah until 1921. Widtsoe was called as an apostle in 1921 and served until his death in 1952.
BIOHeber J. Grant
Heber J. Grant (1856-1945) served as the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jedediah Grant (a counselor in the First Presidency) and Rachel Ivins Grant (a long-term Relief Society President in Salt Lake City). Grant worked as a clerk for Zion's bank and started an insurance company and a Utah Sugar Company. He became an apostle in 1882 and established the Church's first mission in Japan. He became Church president in 1918 and served for 27 years.
BIOHelmuth Hübener
Helmuth Hübener (January 8, 1925 – October 27, 1942) was a German Latter-day Saint and opponent of the Nazi regime who was executed for treason after distributing anti-Nazi leaflets with the help of his friends Rudolf Wobbe, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, and Gerhard Düwer. Hübener belonged to the St. Georg (Hamburg) branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with his friends Wobbe and Schnibbe. In 1941 Hübener became involved in the German resistance against Hitler and began listening to foreign radio broadcasts which he transcribed and distributed in the form of leaflets. Hübener was caught, arrested, and sentenced to death in 1942. Hübener was executed by beheading in the Plötzensee Prison in Berlin on October 27, 1942. He was posthumously excommunicated by his branch president, but after the war in 1948 this was overturned by the First Presidency.
BIOMax Reschke
Max Reschke (July 7, 1898 – May 3, 1971) was a German Latter-day Saint. Reschke fought for Germany during World War 1. After the war he moved to Hanover, Germany, where in 1931 he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He later became the branch president in Hanover. During the violent antisemitic pogrom known as Kristallnacht (Nov 9, 1938 – Nov 10, 1938), Reschke helped a Jewish couple by the name of Scheurenberg escape Germany into Switzerland. Reschke was excommunicated for extramarital relationships in 1941 but rebaptized in 1948. After the war Reschke and his family emigrated to the United States, where he died in 1971.
BIOJ. Reuben Clark
Joshua Reuben Clark Jr. (September 1, 1871 – October 6, 1961) was an American attorney and an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Clark was born and raised in Grantsville, Utah, and received his education around the Utah Valley. Despite financial difficulties, Clark was intelligent and excelled in his schoolwork, graduating as valedictorian form his University of Utah class in 1898.Later, Clark attended Columbia University Law School, graduating in 1906. Clark worked as an attorney in the Department of State, and as Undersecretary of State for the U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Clark also served as the United States Ambassador to Mexico in 1930. Following his ambassadorship, Clark was ordained an apostle in 1934.
[1]↩︎
The German name for the party is the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP). The Nazis came to power in January 1933 when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The Nazis were defeated in May 1945 by the Allied powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France.
- The Encyclopedia Britannica gives an overview of the history of the Nazi Party.
[2]↩︎
The statement, read at general conference, condemned both Nazism and communism:
We condemn the outcome which wicked and designing men are now planning, namely: the worldwide establishment and perpetuation of some form of Communism on the one side, or of some form of Nazism or Fascism on the other. Each of these systems destroys liberty, wipes out free institutions, blots out free agency, stifles free press and free speech, crushes out freedom of religion and conscience. Free peoples cannot and do not survive under these systems. Free peoples the world over will view with horror the establishment of either Communism or Nazism as a worldwide system. Each system is fostered by those who deny the right and the ability of the common people to govern themselves. We proclaim that the common people have both this right and this ability,
- The First Presidency issues a statement condemning both Nazism and Communism.
[3]↩︎
Historian Douglas F. Tobler concludes, after his study of Mormon attitudes towards Germany and the Nazis before 1945, that "although Mormon leaders or members could support some ideas like the restoration of national pride, the opposition to Communism, and the desire to overcome the moral decadence of the Weimar era, there is no evidence that Mormon leaders or members generally ever believed in or sympathized with National Socialist doctrines."
- Douglas F. Tobler reviews LDS attitudes towards the Nazis and the Hitler; concludes there's no evidence of official endorsement of Nazi beliefs.
[4]↩︎
In various statements made in the 1930s and 40s, the First Presidency noted that, as a rule, the Church did not formally endorse political parties or candidates. In 1932, the First Presidency issued a statement that said: "We offer no counsel to members of the church which may be considered partisan in its nature. We urge all to a dispassionate, intelligent, and honest use of the ballot, but we do not attempt to influence the choice of any voter."
In 1936, it said: "The church does not interfere, and has no intention of trying to interfere, with the fullest and freest exercise of the political franchise of its members."
In 1942, during World War Two, it issued another statement that said:
The Church stands for the separation of church and state. The church has no civil political functions. As the church may not assume the functions of the state, so the state may not assume the functions of the church. . . . The state is responsible for the civil control of its citizens or subjects, for their political welfare, and for the carrying forward of political policies, domestic and foreign, of the body politic. For these policies, their success or failure, the state is alone responsible, and it must carry its burdens. All these matters involve and directly affect Church members because they are part of the body politic, and members must give allegiance to their sovereign and render it loyal service when called thereto. But the Church, itself, as such, has no responsibility for these policies, as to which it has no means of doing more than urging its members fully to render that loyalty to their country and to free institutions which the loftiest patriotism calls for.
[5]↩︎
Apostle Richard R. Lyman, in 1938, instructed missionaries "positively not to participate in the politics of the countries where they labor."
In the mid-1930s, the mission president of the German-Austrian Mission, Roy A. Welker, instructed missionaries in Germany not to discuss politics but to follow the 12th Article of Faith by being good citizens, and to "pray for the leaders of our nation and other nations, both privately and publicly, that they may be guided and inspired to lead their people along paths of righteousness, virtue, and wisdom."
Welker also told the Gestapo in a 1936 letter: "We are able to carry out our activities as a religious organization without conflicting with the goals of the government, while at the same time refraining from involvement in political matters. Politics is not part of our work. We do not allow discussions of politics in our religious meetings; however, we are by no means opposed to the free exercise of our members' duties in the work of their country."
[6]↩︎
The central message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught in Latter-day Saint scripture and practice, is to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, and that God is no respecter of persons and loves all of his children (e.g., Matthew 22:37-39; Acts 10:34–35; 2 Nephi 26:33). Nazi ideology, however, promoted hatred, particularly racial hatred, and antisemitism, which led to the atrocities of the Holocaust. According to the online Holocaust Encyclopedia:
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.
Racism and antisemitism was "a basic tenet of [Nazi] ideology and at the foundation of their worldview."
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum gives a review of the Holocaust from 1933-1945.
[7]↩︎
Additionally, a Gestapo agent named Peycke, after observing Heber J. Grant speak, concluded: "The views of the Mormons and the articles of their faith do not fit into our time or into our National Socialist Germany."
The Nazi police in the city of Schwerin likewise concluded:
From a political standpoint, the sect seems relatively harmless in Germany due to its small number of members. However, it should be considered whether this sect, due to its advocacy of polygamy, which is legally prohibited in Germany, should not be banned for ideological reasons after all. Such a prohibition seems appropriate in the interest of promoting the populace's adherence to the National Socialist worldview.
[8]↩︎
Individual accounts from Nazis, such as the Nazi mayor of the town of Mildensee, criticized the Church for doing business with Jews and for Utah once having a Jewish governor. He wrote that if the Mormons were allowed to flourish in Germany, "We will soon have the Jews from New Palestine—Utah—here instead of the Asian Jews!"
An ex-Mormon Nazi named Robert considered the Book of Mormon to be "a danger to the state" and accused Heber J. Grant of being a secret Jewish millionaire who controlled the banks and businesses in Utah. He likewise voiced his displeasure that the Mormons in Germany "reject the fight against the Jewish question" (that is, the violent antisemitism of the Nazis).
Nazi officials were also upset that Church teachings were sympathetic to or even "glorified" the Jews. One report wrote:
However, by forming connections with this sect, the previously existing suspicion was reinforced, namely, that the activities of this sect would gradually turn subversive. In their services, the Old Testament is occasionally treated in a manner that glorifies Judaism. From time to time, opening prayers are offered at events by individuals who appear distinctly Jewish. Additionally, the use of the term "Sabbath" within the sect, and the voluntary financial contributions of members, referred to as "tithes," clearly point to strong Old Testament-Jewish influences.
Another report also voiced suspicion that the Mormons were too friendly with Jews:
[Mormon teaching] represents a glorification of Judaism. The pro-Jewish stance is inevitably based on the doctrine, which largely draws from the Old Testament. Indicative of this stance is also the fact that the governors of Utah were often Jews. American missionaries in Germany frequently stay with Jews. The house of the "German-Austrian Mission" in Berlin is under Jewish ownership. This mission is also one of the best clients of the Jewish printing house Hermann Fehbel, Berlin.
[9]↩︎
This includes an emphasis on family history/ancestry, fasting, donating money to help the poor, a strong hierarchy, physical health and fitness, and obedience to government authority. These comparisons were made by some Latter-day Saints in the 1930s wishing to gain favor with the Nazi government by emphasizing areas of apparent overlap in the two world views.
After the war, a mission president named Max Zimmer reported on how some German Saints tried to make comparisons between the Church and Nazi ideology:
Attempts were made to harmonize Hitlerism with the Church doctrines, even to prove that the Nazi party was organized after the pattern of our Church; the "Fuehrer" was like the president of the Church to whom we should owe blind obedience; the S. S. was compared to the Melchizedek and the S. A. to the Aaronic Priesthood; the Gauleiters to the stake presidents, the Kreis and Blockleiters to our branch teachers, etc.
Zimmer concluded, however, "It was a good thing to have Brother Paul Kayser there, who could not be converted to Nazism, but 'clinging to the rod of iron' he finally succeeded and the brethren let him alone and he ran the branch after the old order of things."
[10]↩︎
Historians looking at the supposed similarities between Mormonism and Nazism have used the term "superficial" to describe the parallels.
Joseph M. Dixon, for example, wrote, "In spite of superficial similarities between the Church organization and the Nazi Party structure, no connection existed between the two."
Jeffrey L. Anderson has similarly concluded, "It is evident that though some missionaries may have been somewhat enamored of Hitler and some attempted to find similarities between Nazism and the Church, these similarities were at best superficial, as is evidenced by those who could not be both Mormons and Nazis at the same time."
Steve Carter, in a 2010 article, wrote, "Although superficially similar, the goals and objectives of the Mormons and Nazis were quite different."
For example, Latter-day Saints do family history and genealogy work to take names to the temple to perform vicarious ordinances, whereas the Nazis did such to prove their supposed racial superiority by being "Aryans." As explained by an anti-Nazi German Saint named Rudi Wobbe:
Superficial parallels were drawn between the Nazi party and the Church, including its organizational structure and strong emphasis on the active participation of every member. Even the fact that the LDS Church encourages genealogical research seemed to coincide with the Nazi's demand for rigorous genealogical pedigrees that proved one's Aryan ancestry. In an attempt to coexist with the Nazi government, American Church officials resorted to public relations efforts which suggested all of the above.
[11]↩︎
Before the outbreak of the war, some Church leaders favorably commented on the Nazis' emphasis on healthy living, genealogy, fasting, collecting donations for the poor, and the sense of order they had made in Germany. Others, such as German-Austrian Mission President Roy A. Welker, spoke favorably of how the Nazi government tolerated the Church's presence in Germany. Welker also wrote in a letter to the Nazi secret police:
We, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been established in this land for nearly ninety years and, during this long time, have never been found to be disturbers of the peace. On the contrary, I believe it will be shown that we have always been in harmony with all endeavors aimed at fostering peace and have supported the government's efforts to promote the interests of the people. This is especially true in the current time, as the principles of our faith, in essence, align harmoniously with those now at work in this country.
Apostle Melvin J. Ballard, in 1939, even called Hitler "an instrument, in the hands of God, of driving [the Jews] where the Lord wants them" back to their homeland in Palestine.
[12]↩︎
In November 1943, Elder McKay, who was an apostle and then in the First Presidency, wrote that "there is now no alternative but to push relentlessly forward until the murderous dictators are apprehended, and their ruthless power and subversive doctrines forever overcome."
Elder McKay also called Nazi ideals "misguided" that "threaten to divert if not entirely thwart the progress and happiness of the present generation."
- David O. McKay says Nazism will "thwart the progress" of human happiness.
- David O. McKay alludes to Hitler as a dictator.
[13]↩︎
Elder Widtsoe outspokenly condemned Nazism both before and after the war. In 1936, he wrote, "Communism, Fascism, and Naziism may be judged by this principle — whatever endangers to the least degree man's right to act for himself is not of God and must be resisted by Latter-day Saints." After the war, Widtsoe referred to Hitler as "mentally ill" and Nazi beliefs about being the master race "stupid and insolent" and "an ugly delusion conceived by the powers of evil, whose prince is Satan, the devil."
- John A. Widtsoe condemns the Nazi idea of a "master race."
- John A. Widtsoe writes that Nazism should be resisted by Latter-day Saints because it violates free agency.
[14]↩︎
In October 1942, the First Presidency condemned Nazism and communism on the following grounds:
Each of these systems destroys liberty, wipes out free institutions, blots out free agency, stifles free press and free speech, crushes out freedom of religion and conscience. Free peoples cannot and do not survive under these systems. Free peoples the world over will view with horror the establishment of either Communism or Nazism as a worldwide system. Each system is fostered by those who deny the right and the ability of the common people to govern themselves.
Levi Edgar Young, a General Authority, in the April 1938 General Conference, spoke apprehensively of German aggression and the looming war in Europe. He also decried the Nazis' persecution of the Jews as "the most terrible blotch on world history."
Popular Latter-day Saint writers Nels Nelson and Nephi Morris both condemned Nazi totalitarianism.
[15]↩︎
A 1938 memorandum to Nazi official Alfred Rosenberg noted that, overall, Church leaders were outspoken against the Nazis:
The German leader of the Mormons constantly claims that the sect recognizes the Nazi state and supports it abroad; the teachings of the Mormons and the Nazi ideology are said to be two worldviews that are very similar. This is a deliberate distortion of the facts. . . . It has also been proven that the American leadership of the sect continues to agitate shamelessly against Nazi Germany. Therefore, there can be no talk of a pro-German attitude.
- Report on the Mormons for Alfred Rosenberg, head of Nazi surveillance organization.
[16]↩︎
Germany invaded Poland under false pretenses, including the false claim that the Poles were acting aggressively along the German-Polish border and that Germany only invaded after diplomatic relations between the two nations broke down.
- Gerhard L. Weinberg reviews the outbreak of World War 2 in Europe.
[17]↩︎
In its statement, the First Presidency said: "The long-threatened and dreaded war has broken out. . . . We further declare that God is grieved by war and that he will hold subject to the eternal punishments of his will those who wage it unrighteously."
The statement implored for peaceful resolutions to national differences, stating:
We affirm that all international controversies may be settled by pacific means if nations will but deal unselfishly and righteously one with another. We appeal to the leaders of all nations and to the people themselves thus to mend and adjust their differences, lest the vials of God's wrath be poured out upon the earth, for he has said he will visit his wrath upon the wicked without measure.
It concluded by praying for peace:
We pray that the spirit now raging in men's hearts, of hate, of exploitation, of a desire to dominate, may be supplanted by the spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness, that in obedience to principles of righteousness and of justice this war without further bloodshed and suffering may be brought to an early close.
- The First Presidency denounces war after the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
[18]↩︎
Based on his research, Latter-day Saint historian Roger P. Minert concluded that about two percent of German Latter-day Saints in the West German–Austria Mission and three percent of German Latter-day Saints in the East German Mission were Nazi Party members.
He wrote: "There is no indication that any Latter-day Saint had a significant leadership position within the Party. Reports of Party members making overt political statements in branch meeting facilities are too infrequent to suggest a pattern. Even rarer than Nazi Party members in Church were the Saints who belonged to other political parties."
- Roger P. Minert concludes that LDS Germans were less likely to be Nazis but some still were, and others fought for German armed forces.
- Roger P. Minert gives a concluding overview of the status of Latter-day Saints in East Germany during 1933-1945.
[19]↩︎
Historian Jane Caplan has written:
By 1939, eight million Germans, or 10 per cent of the population, were members of the party (Parteigenossen) organized at the grass roots by 250,000 cell and block leaders. Tens of millions more were members of one or more of the plethora of official Nazi organizations, including the SA or SS, and the Hitler Youth or League of German Girls-these a supreme priority for a regime intent on indoctrinating the next generation. What these memberships actually meant in terms of ideological conviction was uneven.
- Jane Caplan reviews Nazi party membership numbers.
[20]↩︎
Latter-day Saint historian Roger P. Minert has observed how "a few adult Latter-day Saints joined the National Socialist Party. Others were asked to do so but found ways to quietly decline the invitation or avoid the issue altogether. Some were pressured to join but declined and suffered penalties for their opposition. Of those who joined, some did so only because it was required of them as employees of the government."
Minert cites Kurt Schneider as a representative example of a German Saint who joined the Nazi Party:
The Nazi Party registration of Kurt Schneider has been located and serves as a fitting example. Schneider (born 1909) was the manager of a large steel manufacturing facility in Strasbourg (German-occupied France from 1940 to 1944). He joined the Party with member number 8847219, but his record shows that he never participated in organized functions or leadership. Apparently he chose to offer the appearance of cooperation, but his Nazi Party affiliation never hindered his enthusiastic service as the president of the Strasbourg District, and after 1943, as a counselor to the supervisor of the West German Mission.
Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Rudi Wobbe remembered some Saints in their branch in Hamburg who joined the Nazis or were sympathetic because of their hatred of Communism, personal antisemitism, or because they wanted to simply "follow the party line" and support the government.
[21]↩︎
One Church member, Erich Krause, was an Obergruppenführer in the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA). The details of his participation with the SA, including his participation in Nazi war crimes, have been documented in two books that base their narratives on oral histories from Krause's daughter, his personal papers, and archival documents in Berlin.
- Frederick Kempe interviews Franz Krause (Kramer), son of Nazi Mormon Erich Krause (Kramer).
- David Conley Nelson reviews the life of Erich Krause, a Mormon Nazi.
[22]↩︎
Several internal memoranda and reports written by administrators indicate that overall the Nazis were suspicious of the Church in Germany for various reasons, including its foreign origin, its strange doctrines, and the "Jewish influences" on the Church (such as its use of the Old Testament in its teachings).
[23]↩︎
In October 1937, having returned from a speaking tour in Europe, President Heber J. Grant said the following about his time in Germany: "One thing that was very pleasing to us was that we had perfect liberty in the holding of our meetings in Germany, notwithstanding the fact that more than thirty different denominations have been prohibited from preaching there."
A mission president in Germany, Roy A. Welker, similarly reported that the Church was left relatively alone by the Nazis.
- Heber J. Grant recounts his tour of Europe in 1937.
- Roy A. Welker reports positive experiences with the Nazi government in Germany and conditions of the Church in general.
[24]↩︎
For example, the Nazis outlawed the Boy Scouts in 1934, and as a result, according to the West German Mission manuscript history: "The Latter-Day Saint scout troops in the mission, about thirty-three in number were disbanded. The scouts were instructed to keep all badges, uniforms, flags and equipment out of sight."
The Nazis also forbid Church activities from being held during party rallies.
- Justus Ernst compiles incidents of Church history in Germany between 1933-1945.
- Jeffery L. Anderson reviews the state of the Church during the Nazi period; concludes most members were apolitical and simply cooperated with the regime as a survival tactic.
[25]↩︎
For instance, the West German Mission manuscript history records this experience that happened in October 1934:
President Francis Salzner had an interview with two members of the state police. "They inquired into our work and desired that we come to their office the following day," writes President Salzner, and continued, "we appeared as requested and were treated courteously and questioned thoroughly. The officer was in possession of a large file of newspapers and magazine articles about the Church, to which they made frequent reference during the interview. After spending more than an hour with them, they requested us to write up a short history of the Church and report its organization, its aims and extent of activity. This was done and submitted the following day. The officers informed us that they were well satisfied and assured us that we had no reason to be fearful."
Roy A. Welker and his wife reported to the Salt Lake Tribune that local Nazi leaders, for the most part, cooperated with the Church.
However, Otto Berndt of Hamburg recalled a Gestapo agent once making a direct threat against the Saints in Germany. As recounted in a 1979 article:
Although Berndt remembers nothing he said or did during those four days, he does vividly recall his release, when a Gestapo officer accompanied him from his cell to the exit. "Make no mistake about it, Berndt," the man told him. "When we have this war behind us, when we have the time to devote to it and after we have eliminated the Jews, you Mormons are next!"
[26]↩︎
For example, a Nazi newspaper out of Stuttgart called the Church a Sekte in its article about Utah. The term was also used routinely in internal Nazi government memoranda and reports.
[27]↩︎
A Sekte in Germany was technically a church that did not have official government recognition like the Catholic Church or the Lutheran/Evangelical Church (both of which were called a Kirche or Church in Germany). However, Sekte was also frequently used pejoratively similar to the word "cult" in English by authors skeptical or critical of groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and the Latter-day Saints.
[28]↩︎
Internal reports indicate widespread surveillance of Church activities in multiple cities throughout Germany.
[29]↩︎
A Gestapo memorandum from August 1937, for example, reported on President Grant's speech at a meeting in Berlin.
- The Gestapo reports on Heber J. Grant's preaching in Germany.
[30]↩︎
Historian Christine Elizabeth King wrote how "Mormons were not named as potential subversives and their major sufferings during the Third Reich came not from persecution but from losses due to bombing in the war."
Jeffrey L. Anderson, another historian, likewise notes that "there was no official Nazi policy toward Mormonism" between 1933–1945.
This is the same conclusion reached by historian Kurt Widmer, who writes, "No official state action was undertaken against the Mormons in the 1930s and 1940s."
Internal reports by the Nazi government indicate that they did not find sufficient grounds to officially ban the Church but continued to monitor its activities.
[31]↩︎
The West German Mission manuscript history preserved accounts of Nazis harassing German Saints and missionaries. For example, on May 17, 1933:
A cottage meeting in Minden was interrupted by several 'brown shirts" (Nazis). They walked into the house without going through the ceremony of knocking, and held a gun on those assembled, demanding to know what they were doing. After they explained that it was a private gathering, nothing further was done.
That same year "Elder P. Blair. Ellsworth and his companion, Preston C. Allen while tracting in Hindenburg were attacked and beaten by an uniformed Nazi."
In April 1935, elders in Mannheim were arrested and "their rooms were searched and all Church literature confiscated. The fines were paid by the mission."
- Justus Ernst compiles incidents of Church history in Germany between 1933-1945.
[32]↩︎
Different Church pamphlets and James E. Talmage's book The Articles of Faith were banned and confiscated by the Nazis. Jay M. Todd noted how: "In 1934 . . . the tract Divine Authority was prohibited. A year later Articles of Faith by Elder James E. Talmage was banned, and copies of the book were ordered burned. In 1937 permission was withdrawn for distribution of most of the other tracts of the Church."
A Gestapo report from 1933 noted: "The Mormons have attracted attention through the distribution of religious publications with anti-state tendencies. Such publications were able to be confiscated."
[33]↩︎
Several surviving reports from Nazi officials and police indicate that a ban on the Church and its missionary work was considered. For example, one report concluded: "Based on the above discussions, the SD Main Office proposes a general ban on the proselytizing activities of foreign missionaries for the Mormon sect."
Another report concluded: "From a political standpoint, the sect seems relatively harmless in Germany due to its small number of members. However, it should be considered whether this sect, due to its advocacy of polygamy, which is legally prohibited in Germany, should not be banned for ideological reasons after all. Such a prohibition seems appropriate in the interest of promoting the populace's adherence to the National Socialist worldview."
[34]↩︎
Heinrich Worbs, a Latter-day Saint in Hamburg, was sent to a concentration camp when he openly disparaged a monument dedicated to German soldiers. He was released from the camp but died shortly thereafter from the physical abuse he endured in the camp.
Another Saint, Salomon Schwarz, who was of Russian Jewish ancestry, was also sent to a concentration camp where he perished.
[35]↩︎
Under Nazi rule, Jehovah's Witnesses suffered systemic persecution and disenfranchisement. As one author has summarized, "Persecution began immediately in 1933 and continued until 1945. After 1937, Witnesses were sent to concentration camps. Outside the camps, Witnesses lost children, jobs, pensions, and all civil rights."
- Michael Berenbaum reviews Nazi persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.
[36]↩︎
Several books compiling accounts of German Saints fighting for their country during the war have been published.
Historian Roger Minert has noted:
Under the universal conscription laws passed in Germany in 1935, Latter-day Saint men served in the German army, navy, and air force, as well as in elite combat forces such as Heinrich Himmler’s Waffen-SS and as paratroopers. They were there when Germany mounted offensives against Poland, France, and the Soviet Union and were still there when the Allies struck back and invaded the fatherland. Just as their Catholic and Protestant comrades, Latter-day Saint German soldiers were buried where they fell. Some lost limbs and returned home as invalids, while others suffered for years from wounds unseen. They died as prisoners of war thousands of miles from home. The final resting places of many LDS German soldiers remain unknown.
At least one Latter-day Saint joined the Waffen-SS (Schutzstaffel)—the infamous Nazi paramilitary force. This Saint, named Bruno Stroganoff, deserted the SS after witnessing war crimes but was caught and sent to the Dachau concentration camp and then a labor camp until the end of the war.
[37]↩︎
Historian Roger Minert has calculated that, at the outbreak of the war in 1939, there were "13,402 members living in a Germany." Minert documents about "996 deaths directly attributable to causes of war" but notes that this number is probably not the actual total due to destroyed records or misplaced persons after the war.
- Roger P. Minert calculates German Latter-day Saint war losses and casualties.
[38]↩︎
Hübener criticized the Nazis on both religious and political grounds.
Multiple books have been written on Hübener, as well as autobiographical accounts of his two co-conspirators Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Rudi Wobbe, who survived the war and emigrated to Utah.
[39]↩︎
In a final letter written just hours before his execution, Hübener bore his testimony, saying, "I am very thankful to my Heavenly Father that this agonizing life is coming to an end this evening. I could not stand it any longer anyway! My Father in Heaven knows that I have done nothing wrong. I am only sorry that in my last hour I have to break the Word of Wisdom. I know that God lives and He will be the proper judge of this matter."
He concluded the letter by calling himself a "friend and brother in the Gospel."
[40]↩︎
For his treason against the Nazi state, Hübener was posthumously excommunicated by his local branch president, Arthur Zander, and the mission leader Anthon Huck. However, Hübener's district president, Otto Berndt, objected to this measure but allowed it "to avoid further difficulties with the [Nazi] party and to show that the church had nothing to do with the treason these boys were accused of."
After the war, Hübener's excommunication was overturned by the First Presidency:
It wasn’t until well after the war when, on 11 November 1946, he and the new mission president, Max Zimmer, wrote "excommunication done by mistake" on Hübener’s membership record. Later, Zimmer’s successor, Jean Wunderlich, notified the Salt Lake leadership of the affair, and on 24 January, 1948, the First Presidency ordered a similar notation placed on the membership record.
- Otto Berndt, district president in Germany, recounts his experience with Helmuth Hübener.
- Alan F. Keele and Douglas F. Tobler review the life and resistance efforts of Helmuth Hübener.
[41]↩︎
Reschke was the branch president in Hanover who saved a Jewish couple during the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9–10, 1938.
- Horst A. Reschke recalls his father Max Reschke rescuing Jews from Kristallnacht.
[42]↩︎
The Articles of Faith were originally composed by Joseph Smith in 1842.
- The 12th Article of Faith in the Pearl of Great Price states that the Church "believe[s] in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."
- Original text of the 12th Article of Faith in the 1842 Wentworth Letter states "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law."
[43]↩︎
In his book The Articles of Faith, first published in 1890 and reissued in 1924, Apostle James E. Talmage wrote:
Among other virtues the Church in its teachings should impress the duty of a law-abiding course; and the people should show forth the effect of such precepts in their probity as citizens of the nation and the community of which they are part. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes emphatic declaration of its belief and precepts regarding the duty of its members toward the laws of the land, and sustains its position by the authority of specific revelation in ancient as in present times.
In another book published in 1919, The Vitality of Mormonism, Talmage wrote:
It is a fundamental necessity that laws shall be established among men for general governance; and obedience to law is the obvious duty of every member of organized society. Violation of the law, therefore, is not only a secular offense but a transgression of the principles of true religion.
- James E. Talmage comments on the 12th Article of Faith.
- James E. Talmage writes that the Church teaches to submit to secular governments.
[44]↩︎
Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, for instance, recalled how some members of his branch in Hamburg cited the twelfth Article of Faith in their support of the Nazi government:
Even after the war started in 1939, and as late as 1941 I observed that many members of our branch supported the regime, albeit somewhat nervously. "Well, we are fighting against Communism," they would say, "and we have to support the powers that be, as the twelfth article of faith says. And besides, our boys are out there on the battlefield."
- Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, a co-conspirator with Helmuth Hübener, recalls his experience with Hübener and their resistance efforts.
[45]↩︎
For example, Roy A. Welker, the president of the German-Austrian Mission, told missionaries in a circular letter:
We are often asked the question: "What does the Church think of the government?" The answer to this should be clear enough. We find it in our 12th Article of Faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." Furthermore, the Lord makes it known to us in Doctrine and Covenants, sections 98 and 101, that He established governments for the well-being and benefit of mankind, that He acknowledges and upholds them. If He does so, it is our duty to do the same, with persistence and wisdom, without being in any way fanatical or unreasonable about it. In the same way, we should also pray for the leaders of our nation and other nations, both privately and publicly, that they may be guided and inspired to lead their people along paths of righteousness, virtue, and wisdom.
The secretary of the German-Austrian mission, Roy E. Babbel, wrote a letter to the Gestapo in 1935 in which he likewise explained:
As for our attitude toward the NSDAP and the Reich government, we would like to reiterate that we have always fully supported the men in leadership in the Reich and the state, obeyed their directives, and made every possible effort to support them, as also expressed in our 12th Article of Faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."
- Roy E. Babbel writes to the Gestapo explaining the mission's policy with the government.
- Mission president Roy A. Welker cites Articles of Faith 12 for missionaries to answer what the Church thinks of worldly government.
[46]↩︎
According to paraphrased reports of his preaching in Germany, President Grant delivered "a masterful presentation of the beliefs of the Church, as contained in the Articles of Faith, which were presented on this occasion chiefly for the benefit of the many friends in attendance."
The Deseret News reported:
He began with the First Article of Faith and made brief, but impressive explanations of our beliefs. He explained the first principles of the Gospel and gave our conception of the trinity of the Godhead. He made clear that we believe in a resurrection of all mankind and that all mankind can be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. He encouraged the members, as well as those visiting, to pray and be persistent in all that they do; that work is a saving factor. His stories of his life thrilled the audience and gave them food for thought for many months to come.
- German-Austrian Mission Manuscript History reports that Heber J. Grant spoke on the Articles of Faith in Berlin.
- Deseret News reports on Heber J. Grant preaching in Frankfurt.
[47]↩︎
According to a secret Gestapo report on the meeting, "The speech, delivered in English, was very well translated into German by an interpreter. As Mr. Grant stated, a large portion of those present did not belong to the congregation, so he gave a report on the origins of the Mormon sect, outlined the Articles of Faith, and bore testimony on each of them."
- The Gestapo reports on Heber J. Grant's preaching in Germany.
[48]↩︎
Between June and September 1937, Grant visited with Latter-day Saints in the French, Swiss, Czechoslovakian, and German-Austrian missions and in Great Britain.
[49]↩︎
Both the Deseret News and the Church's German-language magazine, Der Stern, reported on Grant's speaking engagement in Frankfurt. The papers reported between 800 and 1000 people in attendance.
- Der Stern reports the location of Heber J. Grant's speech in Frankfurt.
- Deseret News reports on Heber J. Grant preaching in Frankfurt.
[50]↩︎
Historian David Conley Nelson explained how "the building belonged to the National Socialist Teacher’s League, the Nationalsozialistische Lehrerbund. Like any meeting place available for rental in Nazi Germany, it came equipped with a large national flag, this one red with a black swastika in the center of a white circle."
- David Conley Nelson explains building in which Heber J. Grant spoke in Frankfurt was owned by the Nazis.
[51]↩︎
The Nazi swastika flag (the Reichsflagge/Nationalflagge or the Hakenkreuzflagge) became the national flag of Germany by legal decree on September 15, 1935 (the Reichsflaggengesetz).
- Law of September 15, 1935, establishing the swastika flag as the national flag of Germany.
[52]↩︎
According to LDS historian Richard Holzapfel, "The next day, President Grant left Basel for the French-speaking regions of Switzerland. President Kelly remained behind to continue his labors in Basel. President Grant spent the next three days visiting local congregations of Saints before leaving Geneva on July 1 for Neuchatel, Switzerland. President Kelly joined the party to begin a tour of the Swiss-German Mission on July 2, and President Ursenbach returned to Liege."
- Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Marc Alain Bohn describe Heber J. Grant's 1937 trip to Switzerland and Germany.
[53]↩︎
In a 1942 letter to former president Hebert Hoover, for instance, Clark said the Jews "are brilliant, they are able, [but] they are unscrupulous, and they are cruel." He was upset with what he thought was Jewish radicalism in politics and also used sometimes "Jew" as a derogatory ethnic slur.
Clark also distributed copies of the antisemitic book Protocols of the Elders of Zion as late as 1958 to friends and family.
[54]↩︎
Clark was an ardent pacifist and isolationist who abhorred the type of violence promoted by the Nazis. Although he sometimes spoke sympathetically for the German people, he was also highly critical of the Nazis, calling them "detestable" and people who used "criminal methods."
[55]↩︎
In August 2017, the Church issued two statements in response to the protests and violence that broke out in Charlottesville, both of them condemning the racism and white supremacy espoused by Neo-Nazis groups.
- The Church issues a statement condemning the protests in Charlottesville, VA.