German Faith Movement
Encyclopedia
The German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung) was closely associated with Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
during the Third Reich (1933–1945) and sought to move Germany
away from Christianity
towards a religion based on "immediate experience" of God. Hauer was a professor at the University of Tübingen.
) and German literature was used as scripture. Hauer had worked as a missionary in India and was influenced in particular by the Bhagavad Gita
. Ceremonies of the movement involved sermons, German classical music and political hymns.
Hauer was considered by contemporary observers as a genuinely religious man, though his political sentiments were also commented on.
The German Faith Movement was favorably assessed by the Swiss religious psychologist Carl Jung
in his 1936 essay "Wotan". The context is one of acute concern about what was happening overall in Germany - Jung speaks of Ergriffenheit, explained in the English version as "a state of being seized or possessed", and characterizes Germany as "infected... rolling towards perdition". However, Jung sees the German Faith Movement as "decent and well-meaning people who honestly admit their Ergriffenheit and try to come to terms with this new and undeniable fact." He commends Hauer's book Deutsche Gottschau as an attempt "to build a bridge between the dark forces of life and the shining world of historical ideas".
The movement had around 200,000 followers at its height (less than 0.3% of the population). Following the Nazi accession to power, it obtained rights of civil tolerance from Rudolf Hess
, but never the preferential treatment from the Nazi state for which Hauer campaigned.
The development of the German Faith Movement revolved around four main themes:
Similar movements have remained active in Germany since 1945 outside mainstream educational and social structures.
Many members of the Neo-Pagan community do not hold any racist, Nazi, extreme right-wing or racial supremacist believe and most Neo-Pagan groups reject Racism and Nazism,.
London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Written with Karl Heim & Karl Adam; trans. from German by T.S.K. Scott-Craig & R.E. Davies.
Nanko, Ulrich (1993); Die Deutsche Glaubensbewegung. Eine historische und soziologische Untersuchung (German: the German Faith Movement - a historical and sociological examination); Religionswissenschaftliche Reihe Bd. 4. Diagonal, Marburg (Lahn). ISBN 3-927165-16-6
Poewe, Karla (2005); New Religions and the Nazis; Routledge. ISBN 0415290244
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer was a German Indologist and religious studies writer. He was the founder of the German Faith Movement.-Biography:...
during the Third Reich (1933–1945) and sought to move Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
away from Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
towards a religion based on "immediate experience" of God. Hauer was a professor at the University of Tübingen.
History
Instead of the Bible, a combination of Indian (HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
) and German literature was used as scripture. Hauer had worked as a missionary in India and was influenced in particular by the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
. Ceremonies of the movement involved sermons, German classical music and political hymns.
Hauer was considered by contemporary observers as a genuinely religious man, though his political sentiments were also commented on.
The German Faith Movement was favorably assessed by the Swiss religious psychologist Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
in his 1936 essay "Wotan". The context is one of acute concern about what was happening overall in Germany - Jung speaks of Ergriffenheit, explained in the English version as "a state of being seized or possessed", and characterizes Germany as "infected... rolling towards perdition". However, Jung sees the German Faith Movement as "decent and well-meaning people who honestly admit their Ergriffenheit and try to come to terms with this new and undeniable fact." He commends Hauer's book Deutsche Gottschau as an attempt "to build a bridge between the dark forces of life and the shining world of historical ideas".
The movement had around 200,000 followers at its height (less than 0.3% of the population). Following the Nazi accession to power, it obtained rights of civil tolerance from Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
, but never the preferential treatment from the Nazi state for which Hauer campaigned.
The development of the German Faith Movement revolved around four main themes:
- the propagation of the 'blood and soilBlood and soilBlood and Soil refers to an ideology that focuses on ethnicity based on two factors, descent and homeland/Heimat...
' ideology - the replacement of Christian ceremonies by pagan equivalents; the most favoured pagan deity being the sun, as can be seen from the flag of the faith movement
- the rejection of Christian ethics
- the cult of Hitler's personality.
Similar movements have remained active in Germany since 1945 outside mainstream educational and social structures.
Many members of the Neo-Pagan community do not hold any racist, Nazi, extreme right-wing or racial supremacist believe and most Neo-Pagan groups reject Racism and Nazism,.
See also
- Neopaganism in German-speaking EuropeNeopaganism in German-speaking EuropeNeopaganism in German-speaking Europe has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.Schmid distinguishes four main currents:...
- Nazism and ReligionNazism and religionThis article gives an overview about religion in Nazi Germany and the Nazis' complex and shifting policy towards religion."The German census of May 1939 indicates that 54 percent of Germans considered themselves Protestant and 40 percent considered themselves Catholic, with only 3.5 percent...
- German ChristiansGerman ChristiansThe Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles...
- Positive ChristianityPositive ChristianityPositive Christianity was a slogan of Nazi propaganda adopted at the NSDAP congress 1920 to express a worldview which is Christian, non-confessional, vigorously opposed to the spirit of "Jewish Materialism", and oriented to the principle of voluntary association of those with a common...
Literature
Hauer, William et al. (1937); Germany's New Religion: The German Faith Movement;London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Written with Karl Heim & Karl Adam; trans. from German by T.S.K. Scott-Craig & R.E. Davies.
Nanko, Ulrich (1993); Die Deutsche Glaubensbewegung. Eine historische und soziologische Untersuchung (German: the German Faith Movement - a historical and sociological examination); Religionswissenschaftliche Reihe Bd. 4. Diagonal, Marburg (Lahn). ISBN 3-927165-16-6
Poewe, Karla (2005); New Religions and the Nazis; Routledge. ISBN 0415290244