Christianity and Civilization in Nazi Propaganda for Latin America

Abstract

This article examines the strategic deployment of Christian themes in Nazi propaganda aimed at Latin American Catholics during the Second World War. In contrast to the regime's fraught relationship with Christianity in Europe, Nazi propagandists adopted a more pragmatic stance abroad, seeking to mobilize Catholicism as a cultural and spiritual resource. These propagandists cultivated a narrative recasting the Reich as a bulwark of Christendom and Western civilization against ‘atheistic Bolshevism’ and Anglo-American powers accused of betraying Christianity. After 1941, when American entry into the war resulted in restricted Axis influence, Francoist Spain became a vital intermediary, and by aligning itself with Spain and Italy, the Reich positioned itself within a Catholic and Latin civilizational bloc. This strategy reveals the opportunism of Nazi messaging and its role in global ideological competition that unfolded in symbolic and spiritual terms.