Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception - Annual Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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OOCATHEDRAL COLLEGE The Persecution of the Cathoiic Church in Nazi Germany T was the Christmas Season. The world thrilled to the strains of GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEC, while clouds of reverent incense rose, bringing with them the prayers of humble homo to the Christ-Child in the poor stable. All over the world men were kneeling in unobtrusive, unpretentious adoration. All over the world save in the North of Germany, where instead of the people bringing their gifts to the CHRISTPKIND, they beheld a strange new way of celebrating Christmas. Lol Instead of the Prince of Peace coming forth to bless His children, Woden, god of the fire and the sword, the king of the old German gods, brought on Christmas Day an heroic celebration, a day of festivity in honor of war. Motorcycles, on which were seated ANGELS clothed in white robes, and with wings o'erspread, but with the ugly grey steel of the German trench-helmet crowning their heads, sped from the barracks. They moved toward their TANNENBAUM and fired machine-guns as they madly encircled it. And then, a mountainous tank rode from the barracks while on it, between two machine-guns, sat old ST. NICKOLAUS, smiling his traditional cheery smile. fn irony that was deriding, his sack revealed its contents- miniature tanks. , The lapanese have an old pagan proverb, First among men, the war- rior. It would seem as if the New Germanism is striving to its utmost to wrest this adage from the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. A Christian govern- ment follows paganism's idealsg a Christian government for more correctly, one that bears the name CHRISTIANJ puts aside Christ as a child would an old rag doll that it has always cherished but has grown tired of, it puts aside Christ and reaches into the mist of ancient Nordic mythology for a new god to worship-a new god who will approve their actions-a new god who will smile hypocritically in approbation of what is to come-a new god-WODEN IN PLACE OE CHRIST-Death in place of Everlasting Life. For a long time, the National Socialist Party had been making formidable strides towards achieving the popular favor of the German people. With its young Austrian leader, a splendid statesman, growing more and more appeal- ing to the Prussian eye for militaristic leadership, Naziism promised to become the salvation of Deutschland. Von Hindenburg alone stood in the way, but even he, in a national crisis, finally put his VATERLAND under the restrained dominance of the Brown Shirt. Hitler was created Chancellor with certain curtailments. He showed himself to be just what was needed until Von Hin- denburg's death and then he proved himself a veritable boomerang. Plaunt- ing, as does the pirate, the colors of another, Hitler campaigned as the avenger of French insults, the settler of internal disputes, the righter of wrongs, the friend of the capitalist, the friend of the laborer, the friend of man, and won the election. Within a short time after his election, the German people saw not all these in him but realized that he was a real wolf in sheep's cloth- ing. They beheld not the friend of man as their dictator but an uncurbable 74

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A N N U A L l 9 3 6 0 0 fiend, laughing in scorn at them, they beheld a puppeteer dangling his dolls between life and death-instead of salvation, persecution. Three things were his major ideas to drive pestilence and poverty from the doors of his people: exterminate Communism, keep all money from leaving the country, and tolerate no opposition. lnconceivable though it may seem, Herr Hitler has used all three to fight the Catholic Church. Some time ago, Hitler concluded a Concordat with the Pope, agreeing to allow the Church full freedom should the Catholic Center Party be withdrawn from active politics in Germany. The Center Party was immediately dissolved and Bome waited patiently for the fulfillment of the other half of the pledge. Needless to say, it was repucliated, and though Hitler may have proven himself a BRILLIANT statesman, at the same time he showed himself to be an undependable Phari- see, a liar. The whole world was startled from its comparative complacency by the news of Hitler's drive against the Church, when he began to jail priests and -yes, even nuns, At first, the charge of opposition was hurled at the German priests, the priests were preaching against HlTLEBlSM, and the nuns were teaching the children not to follow the state. Yes! True to a certain extent. Then the Hitlerites began to reach into the homes of Catholic families for can- didates to the Brown Shirts. All well and good, Germany needed a large army of youths for national security just as did France and Bussia, Germany had to have the old patriotism recreated before she could rise from her defeated state to the glorf ous Germania of days gone by, Germany needed this for her peoples minds are formed like that. BUT, when the country started to try to make the children mere machines of the state, when it tried to deprive the parents of their God-given rights, when it tried to make the children believe that there was nothing' but the state worth striving for and that there was no God but Hitler, THEN the Catholic leaders acted. We may take a quotation from the BBOOKLYN TABLET to show examples of what hap- pened: Fr, Franz Boelle of Westphalia, was sentenced to six months in prison for criticism levelled at Chancellor Hitler, and Fr. Otto Zimmerman of Stutt- gart, to four months in prison for criticism of the Hitler Youth groups. ln Eich- staett, Bavaria, a priest whose name was not given out by the police was arrested and accused of permitting members of the local Catholic Youth group to engage in military drills. Two other unnamed priests, one in Kellersberg, the other in Plangrath, Bhineland, were sentenced to eight and eighteen months in prison, respectively, for criticism of the Hitler movement, while the latter's sister was given a five months' prison sentence on the same ground. A fine was aiven Er. Albert Coppenrath in Berlin for failing to display the swastika flag on his church on a political occasion. This same charge of opposition to the country has been the excuse for the suppression of speech on the part of members of the Church and their means of expression. All Catholic libraries were closed in Munich because they were allowing the use of FOBBIDDEN books. Catholic newspapers have been forced to close their doors and stop their presses. Of these, the SCHWABZ- WAELDEB VOLKSEBEUND and the HEUBEBGEB BOTE are but two. Nor are these measures employed against the clergy and the Catholic press alone. ln- 75