CHURCH IN GERMANY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 304, 21 November 1934, Page 6

CHURCH IN GERMANY.

The success of the dissident pastors in resisting the Hitlerisation of the German Protestant Church is apparently to be further tested by Dr. Mueller, the ReichBishop, who owes his leadership of the Church to the Reich Leader and Chancellor, Herr Hitler. At the end of last month, Herr Hitler announced that State interference in the affairs of the Church would no longer receive his support. It was a dramatic change of front, a severe blow to Dr. Mueller, and a great victory for the 7000 Protestant pastors who, out of more than 17,000, with the inspired leadership of the Bishops of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Hanover, had resisted what one of their most distinguished spokesmen, Dr. Niemoller, had called the “crippling of our creed with pagan ideals.” Herr Hitler had been confronted by 30 Bavarian farmers, claiming to represent 200,000 Protestant peasants, who had bluntly informed him that Dr. Mueller’s tactics were ruining the Lutheran Church. A talk with the dissident Bishops which followed further convinced Herr Hitler of the very grave concern within the country from the policy being pursued, and of its undoubted dangers. Dr. Jaeger, Church Administrator under Dr. Mueller, was in consequence of the Leader-Chancellor’s change of front retired from office and the suspended bishops reinstated. On November 4 Bishop Wurrn and Bishop Meiser preached to overflowing congregations who gave them a tumultuous reception, while demonstrations of rejoicing took place in many other centres. It was generally thought, and the opinion was expressed by the Berlin correspondent of a London journal, that Bishop Mueller would “depart on' a long holiday.” He has, however, refused to resign, and on Sunday he was the central figure in a typical Nazi demonstration arranged to maintain his leadership. Cavalry, trumpet fanfares, marching songs, and cries .of “Heil!” made a pagan setting for the Reich-Bishop, who seems to still enjoy Herr Hitler’s confidence, otherwise he must have been deposed from office. Possibly a reason is to be found in the statement that years ago he sheltered Germany’s leading figure when he had infringed the law. Meanwhile, the German Press and other writers are forbidden to discuss the question; but the pulpit does not maintain silence, and it has the support of growing numbers of sympathisers who are determined that their Church shall not be politically controlled. The struggle has continued for more than, a year and a half to set, as Dr. Niemoller says, “the German man above the Word of God,” and though a great victory has been won by the Bishops who have resisted Hitlerisation, the retention of office by the Reich-Bishop means that the unhappy situation has not yet ended. He of all men must surely realise, however, that success cannot be his.