Hitler's Priests: Roman Catholic Clergy in the Nazi Party

FAIN: FT-51507-03

Kevin P. Spicer
Stonehill College (Easton, MA 02356-1138)

The project is a history of German Roman Catholic clergy who were members of the Nazi party. Utilizing information on fifty brown priests gathered from over twenty archives, this work will show how they worked both individually and together to promote and support the Nazi party and state. Motivated by a variety of factors: anti-Semitism, nationalism, opportunism, anti-Bolshevism, and anti-liberalism, these priests would even defy their bishops to support Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Associated Products

Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism (Book)
Title: Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism
Author: Kevin P. Spicer
Abstract: Shaken by military defeat and economic depression after War World I, Germans sought to restore their nation s dignity and power. In this context the National Socialist Party, with its promise of a revivified Germany, drew supporters. Among the most zealous were a number of Catholic clergymen known as brown priests who volunteered as Nazi propagandists. In Hitler's Priests, Kevin P. Spicer introduces the principal clergymen who participated in the Nazi movement, examines their motives, details their advocacy of National Socialism, and explores the consequences of their political activism.
Year: 2008
Primary URL: http://www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress/scripts/book/bookResults.asp?ID=475
Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-0-87580-38

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