Bishop Von Galen, a Nazi Resistor?

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Bishop Von Galen, a Nazi Resistor? Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen has been called both a staunch Nazi resistor, as well as a Nazi sympathizer. Over time scholars have uncovered a grim picture of von Galen, in contrast to the brilliant beam of hope he was thought of as he represented the Church as the state emerged from war. Scholars and theologians have questioned the lengths he was willing to take in his opposition to the Nazis. In the three renowned sermons he gave in 1941, Bishop von Galen was most adamant about his resistance to Nazi ideology. However, when his selectivity for those he spoke up for is taken into account the effects of his sermons are diluted. While Bishop von Galen may have voiced some resistance, he fell short in his full protection of the German people, rather addressing only issues that were direct concerns of the church. Time has been an indicator in critics’ view of von Galen’s actions during World War II. In Beth Griech-Polelle’s book, Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism, the author evaluates his role in the Nazi era, distinguishing his selective resistance from the complicity and silence he showed toward other issues. Polelle attacks Dr. Johannes Neuhäusler’s account of abundant defiance shown by German Priests. Neuhäusler, much like other scholars and theologians with publications shortly following the war, painted a picture of great resistance and resilience by clergy in defiance to the Nazi regime and brutality. Neuhäusler, in particular, was inspired by his own time spent in Gestapo prisons and later in concentration camps; he would have benefited from this positive portrayal socially, religiously and politically, which might have led him to omit stories that contrasted this depiction. Polelle uses Bishop von Galen, specifically to illustrate the church’s role and largely discredits the golden
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