In Germany last week nothing was clearer than that Realmleader Hitler either cannot or will not cause Nazis to desist from their attack upon Jesus Christ. The attack last week was in fuller, more exuberant cry than at any time since the Nazis took power. It was more vituperative than China's anti-foreignism of 1926-27, and was exceeded in blasphemy only by Soviet Russia's campaign against all religion a decade ago.
Rosenberg, The philosophic basis of the Nazi campaign has been firmly laid by Dr. Alfred Rosenberg, arrogant right-hand idea-man to the Realmleader. In his The Myth of the Twentieth Century he laughs the Old Testament out of court by describing its most famed characters as "pimps and cattle-dealers." Jesus he takes seriously but concludes:
"The religion of Jesus was undoubtedly the preaching of love . . . but the German religious movement, which wishes to develop into a people's church, must declare that it unconditionally subordinates the ideal of neighborly love to the ideal of national honor . . . The churches, handed over to it again, will, little by little, put the fiery spirit of the hero . . . in place of the crucifixion."
Youth. The principal agent of the Rosenberg philosophy is the Nazi Youth organization. Youth spoke thrice last week:
1) "Besides the rock of Jesus Christ there is another: Adolf Hitler. It remains to be seen which of the two is stronger. On the one sit the old women. On the other stands the young generation."— Youth Leader Hartmann-Lautenbacher.
2) "The number of those who have decided to turn away from Christianity entirely is greater than is generally realized. Dr. Alfred Rosenberg's Twentieth Century is a book that . . . points the way. . . . The religious faith of the German people must be decided by political elements, the Storm Troops and the Hitler Youth."-Youth Leader Joachim Benedicte.
3) "The time has come to take up the fight against Christianity. Germans! Liberate yourselves from the cultures of alien priests! . . . Abandon the Jewish-Christian conception of sin, pity and loving the enemy! Be hard! Pity and mercy be damned! Praise that which steels. Christianity's totality claim is a thing of the past. Germans shall and must realize their conversion to Christianity was a crime against the race and the people which put them completely at the mercy of powers outside the State."—Youth Press Agent August Hoppe.
Pagan Cults. That the German people were betrayed into Christianity by Emperor Charlemagne 1,100 years ago is a proposition only recently established by Dr. Rosenberg. Charlemagne represented an "alien principle" (Christianity) whereas the Saxons with whom he did battle were archetypal Nazis fighting for "blood and soil." Charlemagne slew 4,500 Saxons at Verden and there this spring Dr. Rosenberg had a monument of 4,500 stone blocks erected in their honor. Unmoved by twits from the Catholic press for rewriting history to suit his own beliefs, Dr. Rosenberg orated: "After, 1,000 years . . . the will of the old Saxons became victorious through national socialism."