Debunking the ‘I Do Not Place Race Over Religion’ Adolf Hitler Quote

Recently I was shown this meme by a female reader who asked me to comment on whether it was true or not as it had been used to show division among nationalists by claiming that Hitler ‘didn’t really believe in race’ or some other such nonsense.

The meme concerned is as follows:

Now I quickly located the probable source of this quote in John Conway’s 1968 ‘The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-45’ but the quote given in the meme is both incomplete and completely removed from the original paragraph I quote it in full.

The full quote is:

‘As for the Jews, I am just carrying on with the same policy which the Catholic Church has adopted for fifteen hundred years, when it has regarded the Jews as dangerous and pushed them into ghettos etc., because it knew what the Jews were like. I don't put race above religion, but I do see the danger in the representatives of this race for Church and State, and perhaps I am doing Christianity a great service.’ (1)

We can already quickly see that the context substantially alters the perceived meaning since Hitler is talking about the Catholic Church’s historical relationship with the jews and stating he is doing nothing that the Catholic Church hasn’t done historically and is -in fact – doing the Catholic Church – and Christianity – a favour by forcing jews into the ghettos.

However, the claimed context of this being an ‘Adolf Hitler Speech before Prussian NSDAP Leaders in Berlin Wed. April 26^th 1933’ doesn’t make a lot of sense either: does it?

The actual quote makes a lot more sense when we read in Conway’s work how this was actually said in a private interview with the long-serving conservative Catholic bishop Hermann Wilhelm Berning of Osnabruck on 26^th April 1933. (2)

Now let’s quote Conway’s narration before he references this Berning quote which he takes from H. Muller’s 1963 book 'Katholische Kirche und Nationalsozialismus’:

‘In order to maintain the pretence of benevolent interest in the renewal of Church life, Hitler issued instructions that nothing must be done to jeopardize the possible conclusion of a Concordant with the Vatican. The reversal of the German Bishops’ previous attitude of hostility must be confirmed by fair words and promises.’ (3)

The background to all this that Adolf Hitler had been appointed German Chancellor of 30^th January 1933 and while the Catholic Church had opposed the NSDAP prior to this with some (4) albeit more limited success than often claimed; (5) it was however broadly supportive after the NSDAP had come to power (6) but there were a lot of tensions that had been evident from long before 1933.

It is worth quoting the context of Hitler’s reported remark according to Conway:

‘The former Papal Nuncio in Germany, Cardinal Pacelli, now advanced to the position of Cardinal Secretary of State, declared himself ready to enter into negotiations with the Nazi government. His readiness to consider Papen’s suggestions was undoubtedly influenced by the presence in Rome of Msgr Kaas, who on 7 April had abandoned Germany and Centre Party for ever. Papen’s instructions as to the concessions which could be made to the Church were vague, but on the demand that the clergy should be prohibited from intervening in political affairs were specific. Kaas and Pacelli, on the other side, were ready to agree that the Centre Party’s position could hardly be maintained after the passing of the Enabling Law. To Pacelli, at least, the Church’s interest were far better defended in the ecclesiastical than in the political field. Both sides, however, were ready for mutual accommodation. Pacelli therefore produced a draft agreement similar, if not identical, to the one proposed by Rome, but refused by the Reich government in 1929. To everyone’s surprise it was almost completely accepted in Berlin, and negotiations were immediately set in train to cover the numerous technical points.

In order to maintain the pretence of benevolent interest in the renewal of Church life, Hitler issued instructions that nothing must be done to jeopardize the possible conclusion of a Concordat with the Vatican. The reversal of the German Bishops’ attitude of hostility must be confirmed by fair words and promises. Accordingly, on 26 April Hitler granted an interview to Bishop Berning of Osnabruck, a firm, nationally-minded Conservative. He was ‘most hurt’, Hitler told the Bishop, ‘to hear accusations that he was opposed to Christianity’, for he was convinced that without Christianity neither personal life nor a State could be built up, and the German State without the Christian Church was unimaginable. ‘I am personally convinced of the great power and deep significance of Christianity, and I won’t allow any other religion to be promoted. That is why I have turned away from Ludendorff and that is why I reject that book by Rosenberg. It was written by a Protestant. It is not a Party book. It was not written by him as a Party man. The Protestants can be left to argue with him… As a Catholic I never feel comfortable in the Evangelical Church or its structures. That is why I will have great difficulty if I try to regulate the affairs of the Protestant churches. The evangelical people or the Protestants will in any case reject me. But you can be sure: I will protect the rights and freedoms of the churches and not let them be touched, so that you need have no fears about the future of the Church.’

Hitler was also ready to discuss with the Bishop his views on the Jewish question: ‘As for the Jews, I am just carrying on with the same policy which the Catholic Church has adopted for fifteen hundred years, when it has regarded the Jews as dangerous and pushed them into ghettos etc., because it knew what the Jews were like. I don't put race above religion, but I do see the danger in the representatives of this race for Church and State, and perhaps I am doing Christianity a great service.’

The same fair words are evident in a letter from Hitler to Cardinal Bertram two days later. He promised the Cardinal the good will and support of the new government, expressed his regrets at the attacks on the priests – which were solely the result of the bitter experiences of the Nazis before 1933 – and undertook to carry out an investigation of all complaints.

It is significant of the attitude of the Bishops at the time that they allowed these specious promises to ally whatever doubts they may still have had on the desirability of a Concordat. The more enthusiastic among them were prepared to believe that Hitler had ‘revealed’ his true attitude to Bishop Berning, that the Nazi government would soon settle down to a conservative authoritarianism, and that a relationship with the church could be established along Italian lines.’ (7)

We can see from Conway’s discussion that the ‘religion over race’ quote is actually part of something that Hitler is alleged to have said to Bishop Berning – some of what Hitler is alleged to have said to Berning is unlikely to have been Hitler such as his attack on Alfred Rosenberg’s ‘Myth of the Twentieth Century’ – referring not race in general but rather Hitler is saying in effect:

‘Don’t worry I am simply carrying out the same anti-jewish policies the Catholic Church has endorsed through most of its history so don’t believe atrocity propaganda about alleged mass murders of jews in the foreign newspapers.’

This latter point is vital context to what Hitler is actually talking about here since he is saying ‘we are going to isolate, ghettoize and expel the jews from Germany’ but we are not going to ‘mass murder them’ as the international news media of the day were routinely claiming and which formed the foundation of the jewish boycott of Germany in April 1933 around the same time that Hitler is alleged to have said these words. (8)

Thus, we see that the alleged ‘I Do Not Place Race Over Religion’ Adolf Hitler quote, while arguably real words that Hitler spoke – again remember these are being reported second hand at least two-three decades after they allegedly happened – were to Bishop Berning of Onsabruck in a private meeting concerning the resolution of the jewish question not in a ‘speech to NSDAP leaders in Berlin’.

Hence the quote does not mean that Hitler put ‘religion over race’ but rather that Hitler is stating that his policies would be - and were - in accord with the historic position on the jewish question enunciated by the Roman Catholic Church.

References

(1) John Conway, 1968, ‘The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-45’, 1^st Edition, Ryerson Press: Toronto, p. 26

(2) Ibid., p. 25

(3) Ibid.

(4) William Brustein, 1996, ‘The Logic of Evil: The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925-1933’, 1^st Edition, Yale University Press: New Haven, pp. 106-108

(5) Edgar Ansel Mowrer, 1937, ‘Germany Puts The Clock Back’, 2^nd Edition, Penguin: London, pp. 121; 156

(6) Conway, Op. Cit., p. 25

(7) Ibid, pp. 25-26

(8) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/the-origins-of-the-german-boycott