The Grey Book

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The Grey Book

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Grey Book, by Johan M. Snoek This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
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Title: The Grey Book
Author: Johan M. Snoek
Release Date: January 23, 2005 [EBook #14764]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREY BOOK ***
Copyright (C) 1969 Johan M. Snoek.

Produced by the nephew of the author.

Transcriber's Note: (Gutenberg preparation by Ge J. Snoek 2004: [email protected] The original printed paper book pages are marked as right aligned, (because lots of pages are referenced: omitting page nrs troubles comfortable searching, while footnotes are marked/numbered between square [123] hooks.)

JOHAN M. SNOEK
THE GREY BOOK
A COLLECTION OF PROTESTS AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM AND PERSECUTION OF JEWS ISSUED BY NON-ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND CHURCH LEADERS DURING HITLERS RULE
INTRODUCTION BY URIEL TAL
Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V. dr. H.J. Prakke & H.M.G. Prakke--Assen, 1969
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION (by Uriel Tal)

Part I
1 PROBLEMS OF EVALUATION
2 FACTORS LEADING TO PUBLIC PROTESTS 3 RESULTS 4 HELP TO CHRISTIANS OF JEWISH ORIGIN 5 "MERCY-BAPTISMS"

Part II
6 HISTORICAL EVENTS
7 GERMANY 8 THE NETHERLANDS 9 BELGIUM 10 FRANCE 11 SWITZERLAND 12 DENMARK 13 SWEDEN 14 HUNGARY 15 RUMANIA 16 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 17 THE UNITED STATES 18 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF CHURCHES

Part III
19 HISTORICAL EVENTS, 1939-1945
20 GERMANY 21 NORWAY 22 THE NETHERLANDS 23 FRANCE 24 YUGOSLAVIA 25 GREECE 26 DENMARK 27 SLOVAKIA 28 RUMANIA 29 BULGARIA 30 HUNGARY 31 SWITZERLAND 32 SWEDEN 33 GREAT BRITAIN 34 THE UNITED STATES 35 THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES 36 TERRITORIES IN WHICH THE CHURCHES REMAINED SILENT 37 IN CONCLUSION APPENDIX I APPENDIX II BIBLIOGRAPHY PERIODICALS AND REPORTS
INTRODUCTION (by Uriel Tal)
The protests of the non-Roman Catholic Churches against the persecution and extermination of the Jews during the Nazi period, carefully compiled and amply documented in this volume, possess a significance that is not confined to the history of Christian-Jewish relations. They constitute an important chapter in the history of Christianity itself in that they reveal the deeper aspects of the Church's antagonism to the anti-religious and hence anti-Christian character of Nazi anti-semitism. The well-attested facts presented to us in this volume are a clear confirmation of the Church's reputation of Nazi doctrines, not only when these doctrines were directed against the Jews but, first and foremost, when they threatened the very existence of the Church itself, both as a system of theological doctrines and beliefs and as an historical institution. The Church regarded freedom, freedom of man as well as its own, as an inalienable right rooted in the nature of man as a rational being created in God's image. Hence, when the Church was deprived at the right of self-determination, it felt its very existence endangered, and it was then that it recognized the full symbolic import of Jewish persecution. This view was plainly set forth at the beginning of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi-regime in Holland, by D. J. Slotemaker de Bruine, Protestant pastor and Minister of State, who declared:
"...Freedom of the spirit is our life-blood. By that I mean freedom in questions of the spirit, freedom of conscience, freedom of the Church, freedom of instruction, freedom of the Word of God, freedom to bear witness..." [1] In the light of this statement it is obvious that the Church was provoked to raise its voice in protest chiefly because the Nazis appropriated the messianic structure of religion which they exploited to their own ideological and political ends. This was made clear already in the early days of the Third Reich by "Die Geistlichen Mitglieder der Vorlaufigen Leitung der Evangelischen Kirche" who, in a memorandum (Denkschrift) addressed to the Fuehrer (May 1936), accuse Hitler of pursuing a policy that is not only directed against the Church but which is designed "to de-Christianize the German people" (das deutsche Volk zu entchristlichen), quoting, among other things, the words of Reichsorganisationsleiter Dr. Robert Ley:
"The Party lays total claim to the soul of the German people...and hence we demand the last German, whether Protestant or Catholic..." [2]
To those Church circles that raised their voices in protest this totalitarian structure of the Nazi regime presented a double threat to the very existence of the Church. First, the pseudo-religious and pseudomessianic character of Nazism was calculated to weaken the Church from within and to mislead the Christian community, especially its youth. It became increasingly clear to these circles that the Nazi racial doctrine - which Hitler and also the "Deutsche Christen" had called positive Christianity in their first formulation as early as 5 May 1932