National Socialism and Christianity: Bavarian Political Police Report on Hitler Speech in Augsburg

Was Adolf Hitler merely pandering to German Christians as an act of demagoguery? A Bavarian Political Police Report on Hitler Speech in Augsburg, 6 July 1923, explains a different point-of-view about National Socialism. Adolf Hitler himself stated that National Socialism is a racialist and volkic doctrine but also described National Socialism as a Christian movement. The volk was taught to be rooted in the blood (i.e., genes), which was tied to German citizenship.

Adolf Hitler states in his early public propaganda book Mein Kampf, that “the anti-Semitism of the new movement (Christian Social movement) was based on religious ideas instead of racial knowledge” (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1, Chapter 3). In Vol. 1, Chapter 2, Hitler states: “and so I believe to-day that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord. Therefore, I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord’s work. I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator” (Mein Kampf, Vol. 1, Chapter 2).

Hitler contradicts this when in Mein Kampf, he wrote that the ‘idea of the State’ had nothing to do with facts, but with the preservation of “the race,” or the “pure-blood” German descent:

“The first obligation of a new Movement, standing on the ground of a völkisch world view, is to make sure that its conception of the nature and purpose of the State attains a uniform and clear character (…) The State is a means to an end. Its end lies in the preservation and advancement of a community of physically and psychically homogeneous creatures. This preservation itself comprises first of all existence as a race and thereby permits the free development of all the forces dormant in this race (…) States which do not serve this purpose are misbegotten, monstrosities in fact. The fact of their existence changes this no more than the success of a gang of bandits can justify robbery.

“We National Socialists, as champions of a new philosophy of life, must never base ourselves on so-called “accepted facts”—and false ones at that! (…) We must distinguish in the sharpest way between the State as a vessel and the race as its content. This vessel has meaning only if it can preserve and protect the content; otherwise it is useless.” (Mein Kampf, Chapter 2)

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The Bavarian Police Report

The Reich exists to protect the German race, the report states, exemplifying a Christian attitude that is anti-pacifist. It says, “the State, the press, art, and literature will not be free, but handmaidens of the State in order to educate the people to a sense of honor and decency.”

THE BAVARIAN POLITICAL POLICE REPORT ON HITLER SPEECH IN AUGSBURG, 6 JULY 1923

“Hitler ended a lengthy speech in the Sangerhalle with the following restatement of his political program.

Majority resolutions of a parliament cannot save us; only the value of a unique personality can do that. As Fuhrer of the National Socialist Party, I see my task as assuming full responsibility. We do not rely upon committees and majorities. We are aware that our path will be thronged with thorns. National Socialists demand from their leader that he renounce all vanity and expressions of personal admiration; he must not worry about what the majority of people want him to do, but must carry out whatever his conscience before God and man tells him is necessary. Unlike other parties, we did not write a party platform designed to enlarge the number of [parliamentary] mandates without regard to the well-being and even at the expense of the individual and the whole nation. That is not the creative path taken by the great lawgivers such as Christ, Solon, etc., but is the way pursued by little men who worry so much about their parliamentary dignity.

Thus, in our program we did not make promises. Instead we insisted:

1. You are a German. You should treasure your fatherland higher than anything else in the world. Your first responsibility in this world is to be a good German. You must not beg for the rights of your yolk, but demand them. Heaven blesses only those who use their fists to secure their rights.
2. Citizenship rights belong only to those who are worthy and have German blood. German citizenship must become the powerful cement which binds together everything German throughout the world.
3. Our State should not be the plaything of financial interests, but rather should offer to all its citizens the opportunity to maintain themselves honorably in this world. We demand that the State be freed from all unworthy interest payments and compulsory obligations.
4. The State must see to it that property and real estate speculation cease. Property belongs only to those who have built. The Reich exists in order to protect its yolk, its race. In our State, the press, art, and literature will not be free, but handmaidens of the State in order to educate the people to a sense of honor and decency. We want this state to be based upon true Christianity. To be a Christian does not mean a cowardly turning of the other cheek, but a struggle for justice and a fighter against all injustice.”