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In the Name of the Cross: Christianity and Anti-Semitic Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2020

David I. Kertzer  and
Gunnar Mokosch
David I. Kertzer*
Affiliation:
Brown University Departments of Anthropology and Italian Studies
Gunnar Mokosch
Affiliation:
Brown University Department of Political Science
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

The role played by Christianity and Christian churches in the demonization of the Jews by the German National Socialist and Italian Fascist regimes remains a subject of intense controversy. The historiography at the base of this debate has been largely rooted in research on either Germany or Italy, yet comparative empirical study is particularly well-suited to allow broader generalizations. Such work is especially valuable given the very different relationships the two regimes maintained with the churches. This article identifies similarities and differences in the Nazi and Italian Fascist uses of Christianity in their efforts to turn their populations against the Jews through examination of two of their most influential popular anti-Semitic propaganda vehicles: La difesa della razza in Italy and Der Stürmer in Germany. Both mixed pseudoscientific racial theories with arguments based on Christian religious authority, and both presented themselves as defenders of Christianity against the Jewish threat. Yet while the Italian publication, reflecting the Fascist regime's close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, took care to present itself as in harmony with the Church, the German publication adopted a much more critical attitude toward contemporary German churches and churchmen, casting them as having strayed from the true teachings of Jesus.

Keywords

FascismNational Socialismanti-SemitismItalyGermanyDer StürmerLa difesa della razzaChristianityRoman Catholic Church
Type
Icons of Fascism and Their Afterlives
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , July 2020 , pp. 456 - 486
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History.

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21 See Kertzer, Popes against the Jews.

22 On the Vatican and the racial laws, see Kertzer, Pope and Mussolini.

23 Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri (Rome), Ambasciata Italiana presso la Santa Sede, b. 102, no. 2454/923. The Osservatore romano article noted that the question of the propriety of La difesa della razza was of particular concern to the Church since not only state schools but also all Catholic private schools were required to subscribe to the magazine. It ridiculed the publication as resembling a “scientific parody.” It is notable that the Osservatore romano article was immediately republished in Italy's most influential Catholic daily newspaper, L'Avvenire d'Italia (15 Sept. 1938: 6).

24 On 20 March, barely two weeks after Pius XII succeeded Pius XI, the Vatican Secretariat of State sent a direct complaint about La difesa della razza to the Italian government, via Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Bonifacio Pignatti, a complaint that Pignatti then sent to Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Foreign Affairs (and Mussolini's son-in-law). The document, bearing the stamp “Visto dal Duce” [seen by the Duce] (Telespresso no. 983/287, Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri [Rome], Affari Politici, 1931–1945, Santa Sede, b. 45), was accompanied by a four-page “Pro-Memoria” detailing the complaints about the departure of the publication from Catholic teachings. It is notable that the Vatican, now under Pius XII, did not make its displeasure public.

25 Giuseppe, Pensabene, “L'evoluzione e la razza: Cinquant'anni di polemiche ne ‘La civiltà cattolica,’” La difesa della razza [henceforth DR] 1, 2 (1938): 33.

26 Giuseppe Pensabene, “‘La Civiltà Cattolica’ e gli ebrei,” DR 1, 3 (1938): 35–36.

27 “‘Santa Cecilia’ di Raffaello,” DR 3, 2 (1939): 11–12; “Politica della famiglia e della razza,” DR, vol. 3, no. 2, (1939) pp. 29–30; “Madri e bambini nell'arte italiana,” DR. 3, 4 (1939): 8–11.

28 Giuseppe Lucidi, “I papi e i medici ebrei,” DR 1, 4 (1938): 14.

29 “Le fonti dell'antigiudaismo italiano. Paolo IV e la carta dei giudei,” DR 2, 10 (1939): 27–28; Paolo Guidotti, “Bolle pontificie contro gli ebrei,” DR 2, 16 (1939): 27–29; Salvatore Costanza, “Gli eterni nemici di Roma,” DR 2, 16 (1939): 30; M. C. Tentoni, “Gli ebrei nello stampo pontificio al tempo della Restaurazione,” DR 4, 23 (1941): 27–29.

30 “L'ebreo nell'arte,” DR 1, 4 (1938): 24.

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32 The history of vilification of the Talmud as the epicenter of Jewish evil has been examined by Fausto Parente, “La Chiesa e il Talmud,” in Storia d'Italia, Annali 11, vol. 2, Gli ebrei in Italia, Corrado Vivanti, ed. (Turin: Einaudi, 1997); and Stow, Kenneth, “The Burning of the Talmud in 1553, in the Light of Sixteenth Century Catholic Attitudes toward the Talmud,” Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance 34, 3 (1972): 435–59Google Scholar.

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34 Louis Veuillot (1813–1883) was the editor of France's influential ultramontane Catholic journal, L'Univers, and a man much appreciated by Pope Pius IX. For details, see Howard., Thomas AlbertThe Pope and the Professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Dollinger, and the Quandary of the Modern Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 122CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and O'Malley, John W., Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 61 et passim.

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40 Macri, Filippo, “Come gli ebrei tentarono d'impadronirsi del patrimonio della Chiesa,” DR 2, 5 (1939): 39–40Google Scholar; Trizzino, A., “Battesimi e conversioni di ebrei,” DR 2, 9 (1939): 27–28Google Scholar; “Questionario,” DR 2, 10 (1939): 42; Savelli, Giovanni, “Introduzione: Storia dell'esilio,” DR 6, 1 (1942): 12–13Google Scholar.

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42 “Invito alla meditazione,” DR 6, 14 (1943): 22. The magazine cover image of the Jew with a knife and a revolver is credited to a 1907 Russian weekly.

43 Steigmann-Gall, Holy Reich, 125–26.

44 Philipp Ruprecht, “Schöpfung,” Der Stürmer (1936) 1: 1.

45 Julius Streicher, “Der Papst leugnet das Gottesgesetz,” Der Stürmer (1938) 34: 1–2.

46 Julius Streicher, “Unser Glaube,” Der Stürmer (1937) 1: 1–2.

47 Julius Streicher, “Als Religion getarntes Verbrechertum,” Der Stürmer (1942) 34: 1–2.

48 Döblin, best known for his experimental novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, was one of the foremost representatives of modernism in German-language literature, which added to his enemy status in the eyes of the Nazis.

49 Julius Streicher, “Die große Täuschung,” Der Stürmer (1940) 37: 1–2.

50 “Wofür Katholiken beten sollen,” Der Stürmer (1934) 7: 5.

51 Philipp Ruprecht, “Preisausschreiben,” Der Stürmer (1935) 34: 1.

52 Philipp Ruprecht, “Ostern,” Der Stürmer (1933) 15: 1.

53 Philipp Ruprecht, “Kreuzigung,” Der Stürmer (1939) 4: 1.

54 Philipp Ruprecht, “Erlösergeburt,” Der Stürmer (1933) 51: 1.

55 “Der Teufel im Priesterrock,” Der Stürmer (1938) 27: 3.

56 Christa-Maria Rock, “Juda und christliche Konfessionen,” Der Stürmer (1937) 11: 6.

57 “Priester und Pfaffen,” Der Stürmer (1936) 14: 7.

58 Ernst Hiemer, “Dem Volke verloren,” Der Stürmer (1936) 30: 1–2.

59 L. Franz, “Kirche und Jude,” Der Stürmer (1940) 18: 8.

60 Hans Eisenbeiß, “Judenfeindliche Päpste,” Der Stürmer (1942) 35: 6.

61 Hans Eisenbeiß, “Die Juden unter Papst Paul IV,” Der Stürmer (1943) 49: 4.

62 Siegfried Goetze, “Dr. Martin Luther und Juda,” Der Stürmer (1941) 22: 3.

63 Julius Streicher, “Sie hassen das Kreuz,” Der Stürmer (1943) 51: 4.

64 “Die Predigt,” Der Stürmer (1935) 49: 8.

65 Rosenberg was among the foremost Nazi ideologues. He edited the Nazi Party's newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter, from 1923 to 1938, and in his best-selling book, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, he promoted the idea that Christianity in Germany should be replaced by a national, Nordic faith of blood and soil. Steigmann-Gall argues that Rosenberg's influence has been vastly overestimated by Church historians keen to show the Nazi's anti-Christian credentials (Holy Reich, 91). For a contrary opinion, see Hexham, Irving, “Inventing ‘Paganists’: A Close Reading of Richard Steigmann-Gall's The Holy Reich,” Journal of Contemporary History 42, 1 (2007): 59–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

66 Karl Holz, “War Christus Jude?” Der Stürmer (1938) 49: 1–4.

67 Julius Streicher, “Der falsche Glaube,” Der Stürmer (1944) 35: 1–2.

68 Philipp Ruprecht, “Die ‘Heilige’ Schrift,” Der Stürmer (1936) 44: 1.

69 “Das Alte Testament,” Der Stürmer (1940) 46: 5.

70 “Kampf des Stürmers,” Der Stürmer (1936) 51: 1.

71 On Streicher's contempt of intellectuals, and especially university professors, see Roos, Julius Streicher und “Der Stürmer,” 114.

72 La Civiltà cattolica helped prepare the way for acceptance of Italy's racial laws a month before they were first enacted by praising the similar, recently announced Hungarian anti-Semitic measures. The Vatican-supervised journal warned readers of the Jews’ “messianic craving for world domination,” contrasting the measures that Hungary was enacting with those of a “vulgar, fanatic … racist” kind (Mario Barbera, “La questione dei giudei in Ungheria,” Civiltà cattolica III [1938]: 146–53). For an examination of how the Catholic press handled this question at the time Italy's racial laws were first announced, see Kertzer, Pope and Mussolini, 316–20.

73 A six-column spread in Mussolini's newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia, the following year (“Pio XII esalta le grandi figure di San Francesco e Santa Caterina,” 6 May 1940: 3) ecstatically described the pope's participation in a church ceremony celebrating the creation of the two new national saints. Proudly sitting in the first row were various Fascist dignitaries along with many cardinals. Following the ceremony, the bigshots of the Fascist regime lined up to kiss the pope's ring. The next year, with the war raging, a similar ceremony was held in Assisi, with Il Popolo d'Italia enthusiastically describing the combination of the church service and the related Fascist gathering immediately following (“Le feste francescane di Assisi: Il solenne rito mistico e guerriero,” 5 Oct. 1941: 3). The marriage of the Fascist regime with the Catholic church through the two new patron saints continued until Mussolini's downfall. As late as May 1943, two months before the Allied landing on Italian territory, the Primate of Venice, Cardinal Adeodato Piazza, used Saint Catherine's day to offer his public blessing to Italy's troops: “All of Italy is proud of you; it knows with what force you are standing in the way of the enemy's arrogance, it knows that out of a sense of duty you will not shirk from supreme sacrifices.” The remarks, quoted on 9 May 1943 in Rome's Catholic daily newspaper, L'Avvenire di Roma, were reported enthusiastically by Italy's ambassador to the Holy See to the propaganda ministry (Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri [Rome], Affari Politici, 1931–1945, Santa Sede, b. 68, tel. 1553). On the fascist use of the new saint days, see also Parsons, Gerald, “A National Saint in a Fascist State,” Journal of Religious History 32, 1 (2008): 76–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

74 Emilio Gentile's work, rooted in his long-term study of the Italian Fascist case, has been particularly influential here: The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy, Keith Botsford, trans. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996); and “Fascism as Political Religion.” Journal of Contemporary History 25, 2 (1990): 229–51. Among other influential works, see Hans Maier, ed., Totalitarianism and Political Religion: Concepts for the Comparison of Dictatorships (London: Routledge, 2004); and Griffin, Roger, Fascism, Totalitarianism and Political Religion (New York: Routledge, 2005)Google Scholar. For German language works on Nazism as political religion, see Bärsch, Claus-Ekkehard, Die politische Religion des Nationalsozialismus: Die religiöse Dimension Der NS-Ideologie in den Schriften von Dietrich Eckhart, Joseph Goebbels, Alfred Rosenberg und Adolf Hitler (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1998)Google Scholar; Behrenbeck, Sabine, Der Kult um die toten Helden. Nationalsozialistische Mythen, Riten und Symbole 1923 bis 1945 (Vierow: SH-Verlag, 1996)Google Scholar; Ley, Michael and Schoeps, Julius H., eds., Der Nationalsozialismus als politische Religion (Bodenheim: Philo, 1997)Google Scholar; Vondung, Klaus, Magie und Manipulation: Ideologischer Kult und politische Religion des Nationalsozialismus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971)Google Scholar.

75 Adamson, Walter L., “Fascism and Political Religion in Italy: A Reassessment,” Contemporary European History 23, 1 (2014): 43–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 56.

76 Gentile, Emilio, “The Sacralisation of Politics: Definitions, Interpretations and Reflections on the Question of Secular Religion and Totalitarianism,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion 1, 1 (2000): 18–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 21. In this same piece, Gentile adds something of a softening note: “With the political religion of [Italian] Fascism … it did not attempt to hijack traditional institutionalized religion, but, on the contrary, attempted to establish a form of symbiotic relationship with it, with the aim of incorporating it into the movement's own mythical and symbolic universe, thereby making it a component of secular religion” (ibid.: 23). We would ask, however, what is “secular” about such a “political religion”?

77 Pollard, John, “‘Clerical Fascism’: Context, Overview and Conclusion,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 8, 2 (2007): 433–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 443. See also Valbousquet, Nina, “Race and Faith: The Catholic Church, Clerical Fascism, and the Shaping of Italian Anti-Semitism and Racism,” Modern Italy 23, 4 (2018): 355–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the concept of clerical fascism, also see Feldman, Matthew and Turda, Marius, “‘Clerical Fascism’ in Interwar Europe: An Introduction,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 8, 2 (2007): 205–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

78 Virtue has recently written of “The Fascist regime's efforts to incorporate Catholicism into its religion”; Virtue, Nicholas G., “Religion, Race, and the Nation in La Tradotta del Fronte Giulio, 1943–1943,” Modern Italy 23, 4 (2018): 373–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 375. However, given the grounding of the concept of “political religion” in secularization theory, this use of the term may be misleading.

79 Steigmann-Gall, Richard, “Nazism and the Revival of Political Religion Theory,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion 5, 3 (2004): 376–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 392.

80 Munson, Henry, “Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust,” Religions 9, 26 (2018): 12–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9010026 (last accessed 14 Jan. 2020).

81 Here we refer to a search in both the Italian foreign ministry archives, where the papers of the Italian ambassador to the Holy See are housed, and the Central State Archives, where most of the other papers of Mussolini's central government are to be found.

82 “Pro-Memoria circa la rivista ‘La difesa della razza,’” Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri (Rome), Ambasciata Italiana presso la Santa Sede, b. 102, no. 2454/923, 20 Mar. 1939.

83 See Roos, Julius Streicher und “Der Stürmer,” 415.

84 Lackey, Michael, “Conceptualizing Christianity and Christian Nazis after the Nuremberg Trials,” Cultural Critique 84, 1 (2013): 101–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

85 This is true for the extensive use of Christian symbolism in Der Stürmer more broadly. See, for instance, Przyrembel, ‘Rassenschande’; Roos, Julius Streicher und “Der Stürmer”; and Showalter, Little Man, What Now? Bytwerk discusses the German weekly's attacks against Jewish baptism, the Old Testament, and the idea that Christ was a Jew (Julius Streicher, 110–14).

86 Steigmann-Gall, Holy Reich, 125.

87 Koehne, “Were the National Socialists a Völkisch Party?” 790.

88 The membership of the German Christians reached about six hundred thousand. See Bergen, Twisted Cross, 178. At its peak in 1935, Der Stürmer sold close to half a million copies. See Bytwerk, Julius Streicher, 57. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg concluded that its actual circulation was much higher, since most Germans could freely access the paper via the ubiquitous “Stürmer boxes.” The print run of some of the numerous special issues ran up to two million copies.

89 Heschel, Aryan Jesus, 17.

90 See Bytwerk, Julius Streicher, 43–44.