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Abstract

This study focuses on the relationship between the German Evangelical Church and the Nazi state from 1933-1945 and the reasons why the Church did not oppose state policies of persecution of the Jews. Through primary sources of sermons, synodal decisions, and memoirs, this study finds that during the years of the Third Reich, the German Evangelical Church retreated into itself. The internal conflicts that some historians have termed "the Church Struggle" distracted the Church from problems in the state. While some individuals within the Church did oppose state policies, the German Evangelical Church, as an institution, only protested when it felt directly threatened by the state.