Reassessing The Holy Reich : Leading Nazis’ Views on Confession,Community and ‘Jewish’ Materialism

Abstract

Returning to the Journal of Contemporary History debate on The Holy Reich, this article argues that the notion of ‘positive Christianity’ as a Nazi ‘religious system’ has been largely invented. It offers a close analysis of significant public statements on National Socialism by three leading Nazis: Adolf Hitler, Gottfried Feder and Alfred Rosenberg. In doing so, it demonstrates that in historical context the three key ideas from Point 24 of the NSDAP programme that were meant to form the content of this ‘type of Christianity’ were not promoted as Christian. Instead, they formed a part of the Nazis’ racial ideology.