3 - British Experiences of Religion in Germany in the Summer of 1945

Summary

Whilst most of the chapters in this book are concerned with matters of policy, this one is different. It brings together various accounts of what it was like in the summer of 1945 to be a member of the British forces, or of the British Element of the Control Commission, and concerned with religious matters or relations with the German churches. The experiences come from chaplains, those dealing with the transition from Military Government primacy to that of the Control Commission, and finally of those working for the Control Commission itself.

The largest group of memories come from members of the RAChD, both Catholics and those in the Unified Department. The Catholic chaplains clearly found their relationships with their co-religionists easier than their Protestant colleagues. Whilst at the higher levels within the Control Commission the relations with the Catholic Church were sometimes less than cordial, that was less so in the memory of chaplains. There remained at least within the British Zone, a hierarchy that had not been unduly disrupted by the end of the war. This allowed Catholic chaplains to relate to their German counterparts in a way that was impossible for their Protestant colleagues. What individual Catholic chaplains found did not cause them to break off relations with their co-religionists. Thus, for example, it is of note that although Fr Cummings was heavily involved in the aftermath of the liberation of the Concentration Camp at Bergen-Belsen, that experience did not appear to have unduly soured him in his relationships with local Catholics. Protestant chaplains found no directly comparable church with whom to relate. They were more likely to have requisitioned a German church and that was often their main contact with the local community. A Methodist chaplain, the Revd Leslie Skinner, has provided a fascinating account of working in Hannover. His comments about the Lutheran bishop, Marahrens, have given another insight into the complex problem that the British faced by the bishop's decision to remain in office at the end of the war. Neither of these chaplains were unduly troubled by the non-fraternization rules. For Jewish chaplains in the late spring and early summer of 1945, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen camp was the focus of most of their energies.