HITLER TAKEN TO TASK.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13311, 18 July 1936, Page 5

HITLER TAKEN TO TASK.

GERMAN CHURCH SPEAKS OUT GATES OF GOD’S KINGDOM CLOSED. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copy righ t. BE R LIN, J uly 17. Leaders of the German Evangelical Church sensationally forwarded a memorandum to the Government protesting against the dechristianising of the nation, the deification of Hitler, and appealing for a cessation of State interference in Church affairs. “Honour is being accorded Hitler which is due only to God, his judgment is being used as the basis for all decisions political, moral and legal, and he himself is haloed with the religious authority of a national priest and even made an intermediary between God and the nation,’ the memorandum states. It concludes by asking for freedom for the nation “so that our people may walk in God and our grandchildren may not curse their forefathers who built a State on earth but closed to them the gates of God’s Kingdom.” The church leader’s 4000-word memorandum also protests against the continued existence of concentration camps, and measures of the secret State police, and alleged falsification of votes at the last election when it says “the needs of the nation are put above the demands of truth.” It is also against antisemitism. It is the most outspoken utterance yet delivered by the church and a reply is demanded by August 1.