Faith and Fatherland: Parish Politics in Hitler's Germany

This important book based on archival sources from all levels of the Protestant church examines parish life during the Nazi era in three distinct Lutheran regions of Germany: Brandenburg Saxony and Wurttemberg. Rather than focusing on high-church politics famous characters or national events however it asks what the German Church Struggle looked like in the eyes of parish pastors and their parishioners.While Jantzens original work confirms the general understanding that most German Protestants (hampered by their cultural and theological traditions) failed to resist or even critique the Nazi regime it also reveals a surprising diversity of opinion and variety of action from the deep commitment to Nazism of many church leaders to the successful efforts of some Lutheran pastors and parishioners to resist the nazification of their churches.