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"Fascism" and "Catholic right-wing" were synonymous at the time. Hitler had signed a treaty with the Holy See to basically allow them to control schools in Germ
by DCKing 12y ago
"Fascism" and "Catholic right-wing" were synonymous at the time. Hitler had signed a treaty with the Holy See to basically allow them to control schools in Germany in exchange for a thumbs up for the regime, and this meant the Vatican was backtracking. Hitler thought they were allies; and the Vatican was important for Nazi power, so yeah, that move pissed him off.
- waps 12y agoGiven that they clearly did not have the church on their side, isn't that a massive conflict ? Also the wikipedia page states that because of the German (pre-nazi) agreement with the vatican that was seen as lending legitimacy to the nazi government, this rebuke by the pope was seen as a great step forward for German catholics, lending legitimacy to an already existing opposition amonst catholics which was then publicly and violently suppressed ... I'd be interested in hearing more.
- DCKing 12y agoThe timespan between the original Reichskonkordat and this letter was six years. It appeared the Nazi regime did not respect the Vatican, and it became apparent soon that their agreement wasn't going to be upheld as expected by the Nazis. In addition, the differences between Nazism and contemporary fascism (which the Church was mostly supportive of) became more apparent over time and drew some criticism as well.