Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism. By Kevin P. Spicer. Dekalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press. 2008. Cloth $34.95. ISBN 978-0875703845.

摘要

Kevin Spicer’s Hitler’s Priests is a meticulous examination of a small subset ofrnGerman Catholic priests who openly supported Hitler and the NationalrnSocialist movement. Through extensive research in church and state archives inrnGermany Spicer concludes that 138 priests out of more than 30,000 were pro-rnNazi “brown priests” or “Hitler’s priests.” Brown priests, according to Spicer’sbroad definition, included not only those clergymen who joined the Nazi Partyrnbut also those who remained outside the party and yet extolled the virtues ofrnNational Socialism in private correspondence, newspaper editorials, scholarlyrntexts, and public lectures (p. 28). The Third Reich’s fervent nationalism,rnhatred of communism, and fanatical anti-Semitism appealed to brown priestsrnwhose political orientation had been molded by the post-World War I chaosrnand upheaval and whose religious education was tainted by Christian anti-rnSemitism. Only one-third of the 138 brown priests joined the Nazi Party; thernremaining eighty or so tended to be members of one of the conservativernparties rather than the Catholic Center Party. Although interspersed with insight-rnful analytical observations about the attraction of National Socialism for this tinyrnminority of Catholic clergy, Hitler’s Priests is not primarily an analytical work.rnRather it consists of fascinating and sometimes shocking depictions of the politicalrnand religious practices of a few dozen pro-Nazi priests. A handy appendix at thernend of the book alphabetizes all the brown priests and provides some biographicalrndetails about each.