Pronouncement of the Catholic Teachers' Association, 1 April 1933
Pronouncement of the Catholic Teachers' Association of the German Reich, 1 April 1933
Source: J. Noakes & G. Pridham, Documents on Nazism 1919-1945, (London, 1974), pp.196-197.
As in the August days of 1914, a feeling of national and German emotion has seized our people. The status quo has been overthrown and new objectives have been set for a new, developing German nation and a new German state. Regrettably, the Catholic leadership and Catholic elements have been as little involved in this change as they were in the foundation of Bismarck's Reich. Thanks to the warning summons of Adolf Hitler and his movement, and to his work, we have succeeded in breaking through the un-German spirit, which prevailed in the revolution of 1918. Now the whole German nation in all its various parts, including the Catholics, has been summoned to co-operate and to build a new order. At this critical moment, Catholicism must not once again stand aside, adopting a wait-and-see attitude. We will lend a hand to help with the construction of a new Reich and a new nation, putting our trust in the leader of the German and voelkisch movement. If an appeal is made to the natural and true impulses and groups of our historic nationality in its totality, the Catholic element cannot be dispensed with. Over the past centuries, it has become our destiny for the nature of the German character to grow out of Catholicism and the national characteristics of the German race. After a period of decline, we now have the duty of participating in the reorientation towards a rise and a renaissance. We must - and here we agree completely with the leader of the national movement - we must first become an internally unified nation of German men and women. We must put aside everything which divides us and shake hands across the barriers which have hitherto been overemphasised, in order once more to become a nation which believes in honour, cleanliness, and loyalty. The essence of the practising Catholic population, as it has emerged in associations, status groups, and modes of life, is coming to the fore in order to consider what specific Catholic contribution can be made to the national task.
