Catholic bishops in Nazi Germany differed in their responses to the rise of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust during the years 1933-1945.
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Years in parentheses are the years of their episcopate.
Cardinal Adolf Bertram ex officio head of the German episcopate sent Hitler birthday greetings in 1939 in the name of all German Catholic bishops, an act that angered bishop Konrad von Preysing.[1] Bertram was the leading advocate of accommodation as well as the leader of the German church, a combination that reigned in other would-be opponents of Nazism.[1]
According to historians David Bankier and Hans Mommsen a through knowledge of the Holocaust was well within the reach of the German bishops, if they wanted to find out.[2] According to historian Michael Phayer, "a number of bishops did want to know, and they succeeded very early on in discovering what their government was doing to the Jews in occupied Poland".[3] Wilhelm Berning, for example, knew about the systematic nature of the Holocaust as early as February 1942, only one month after the Wannsee Conference.[3] Most German Church historians believe that the church leaders knew of the Holocaust by the end of 1942, knowing more than any other church leaders outside the Vatican.[4]
However, after the war, some bishops, including Adolf Bertram and Conrad Grober claimed that they were not aware of the extent and details of the Holocaust, and were not certain of the information they did possess.[4]
Bishops von Preysing and Frings were the most public in the statements against genocide.[5] According to Phayer, "no other German bishops spoke as pointedly as Preysing and Frings".[5]
The bishops met annually during the war in Fulda.[1]
The issue of whether the bishops should speak out against the persecution of the Jews was debated at a 1942 meeting in Fulda.[6] The consensus was to "give up heroic action in favor of small successes".[6] A draft letter proposed by Margarete Sommer was rejected, because it was viewed as a violation of the Reichskonkordat to speak out on issues not directly related to the church.[6]
In 1943, bishop Grober expressed the opinion that the bishop should remain loyal ot the "beloved folk and Fatherland", despite abuses of the Reichskonkordat.[1]
Some German bishops are praised for their wartime actions. According to Phayer, "several bishops did speak out".[2] Heinrich Wienken (a post-war bishop) very likely personally hid Jews in Berlin during the war.[1] Clemens August Graf von Galen was a well-known public opponent of the Nazi "euthanasia" program, if not the Holocaust itself.[2]
Phayer believes that the German episcopate—as opposed to other bishops—could have done more to save Jews.[2] According to Phayer, "had the German bishops confronted the Holocaust publicly and nationally, the possibilities of undermining Hitler's death apparatus might have existed. Admittedly, it is speculative to assert this, but it is certain that many more German Catholics would have sought to save Jews by hiding them if their church leaders had spoken out".[2] In this regard, Phayer places the responsibility with the Vatican, asserting that "a strong papal assertion would have enabled the bishops to overcome their disinclinations" and that "Bishop Preysing's only hope to spur his colleagues into action lay in Pope Pius XII".[3]