During WWII, 10% of all Seventh-day Adventist church members lived in Germany. Following World War I, German Adventists, like many of their countrymen, felt humiliation and anger as a result of the Treaty of Versailles and the hardships it imposed on the German people. (more)
That anger fueled the rise of the Nazis, and like many other people, many Adventists were attracted to Adolf Hitler.
One German Adventist believed that in the years preceding Hitler’s rise to power, there was a lack of leadership and direction for Germany – “a great shortage of true führers today.” He believed a people, a church, or a land that had no good leader was destined for perdition. Was this Adventist drawing a Biblical parallel to the ascension of Adolph Hitler? What was the response of the Adventist church in Germany?
Adventists’ appreciation of Hitler was based on “principor,” the leader principle, which meant that leaders should have the freedom of absolute control over the areas and people they were responsible for. According to some SDA church leaders, the leader principle meant a church administrator should have absolute control over the pastors and members in his territory.
Following WWII, German Adventists were praised for the way they dealt with the Nazis – but how true are these stories of the SDA church’s resistance to Hitler and his tyranny against Jews and others?
In 2005, SDA church leaders in Germany and Austria publicly apologized for articles in WWII-era Adventist publications glorifying Adolf Hitler and agreeing with his ideology of anti-Semitism. The Nazi regime believed Hitler was a “savior from God”. Many Adventist leaders admired Hitler’s conviction. How did the Nazis’ politics of confusion and anti-Semitism influence Adventist practices? While Hitler and the Nazi Party were persecuting Jews during the Holocaust, were they also supporting the Adventist church in Germany?
Before and during World War II, many members and leaders of the German Seventh-day Adventist church were sympathetic to Hitler and even praised his vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol as being Adventist in nature. Given the social and political climate of Nazi Germany during this time, to what lengths was the Adventist church willing to go in order to survive?
Beginning in 1926, a woman named Halda Yost was in charge of a German Adventist welfare organization that brought the Adventist church much good will in German society and elevated it to levels of great influence.
Did Yost, using her contacts in the Nazi propaganda ministry, work with a Nazi ambassador and a prominent Adventist General Conference member to promote Hitler in the United States? Was the Adventist church trying to curry favor with the Nazis by supporting Yost in her speaking tour across America?
Unlike many Christian denominations that opposed Hitler and the Nazis during WWII, the Seventh-day Adventist church in Germany chose a position of tolerance and appeasement. Did the German Adventist church print pro-Nazi tracts and support the regime in other ways in order to avoid persecution or were many Adventists actually supportive of Hitler and his anti-Semitism?
Many German Adventist men were conscripted into military service despite their objection to fighting. How did those who were drafted respond to the command that they take up arms as part of the German army? How did Adventists respond to the atrocities of the Holocaust?