Seventh-day Adventist Publications and The Nazi Temptation

Volume 8, Number 3"physically, mentally and morally according tothe National Socialist world view.,,82On the next level of Nazi indoctrination, theLabor Service, Adventists· found a satisfyingrationalization for participation. Johannes Langholfwrote that Adventists approved, in accordancewith their biblical understanding, everyeffort that brought people closer to work. "Weexpect every member," he continued "to followthe divine command, 'pray and work.' It wouldbe absolutely contrary to our understanding ifwe refuse the Labor Service." The author, however,was fully aware that a significant percentageof the Labor Service participants weremembers of the SA, SS and Stahlhe1m, the mostfanatical Nazi groups who indoctrinated andmilitarized the youth. 83The outcome of all this was that mostAdventist students joined the Hitler Youth, theBDM [Association of German Girls] , the Labor"After the passage of the law, thechurch supported sterilization,either through direct statementsor the reprinting of non-Adventistarticles. Schizophrenics,epileptics, blind, crippledallwere to be sterilized."Service and the German Red Cross. 84 And, in1937, the Adventist college town, Friedensauvoted 100 percent for Adolf Hitler. 85At least some Adventists came to supportsterilization, whose overriding aim, like that ofmost Nazi programs, was the protection of theGerman blood. Years before his assumption ofpower Hitler had demanded in Mein Kampf thesterilization of all physical and mental degenerates.Until July 14, 1933, however, no sterilizationlaw existed. The issue, therefore, was openfor discussion. An author in Staat und Kirchetook a clear stand against it. He wrote: "... onehas to warn emphatically against the promulgationof the sterilization law."86After the passage of the law, though, discussionceased and the church supported sterilizationeither through direct Adventist statementsor through the reprinting of non-Adventistarticles. The mentally weak, schizophrenics,epileptics, blind, deaf, crippled, alcoholics, drugaddicts-all were to be sterilized. 87"This law," an article in the Seventh-dayAdventist paper ]ugend-Leitstern said, was "agreat advance in the uplifting of our people."Because it was for the good of the nation aswell as for the individual, the article argued, theethic of the state and of Christianity were in fullaccord on this point. "The national socialiststate is aware of its responsibility to heightenthe physical and moral values of its peoplethrough purification of its blood."88 Althoughsterilization was hard on the patient, it was said,once he understood the contribution he is makingto the well-being of his people he wouldaccept it. 89"Only sterilization can protect a people fromthe decline of their race," another articleclaimed. 90 Furthermore, some writers suggested,the chronically ill should be sterilizedbecause they place too great a financial burdenon the state, for the costs go into the billions ofreichsmarks. 1Adventistwriters alsoapproved Hitler'sforeign policy and, eventually, the war, probablybecause of Nazi pressure but also because of theassumption that the Fuhrer was a man of peaceand did not want war. As Kurt Sinz, editor ofAdventbote, said, "The Fuhrer of the Germanpeople ... works with truly passionate seriousnessand with all his might for the understandingof nations. But do the other nations want thesame?,,92The other nations did not have the samepeaceful intentions as the Fuhrer. They hadalways opposed the rightful claims of Germanyand of all German-speaking peoples, Adventistwriters argued. When Germans in Austria werebrought into the Reich, a German Adventist. wrote, "We share the happiness over their returnhome to the motherland."93The Austrian Adventists responded withenthusiasm. "The eternal God had done morefor us than we ever expected ... ," they wrote tothe Adventbote. Austria had been falling backinto medieval conditions while Germany was risingfast. "A strong hand, an arm directed byGod has saved this miserable and enslaved Germanland in the last hour from the abyss." Thestrong hand and arm was Adolf Hitler. Through19