The guilt for the martyrdom of six million Jews by the Nazis rests to some extent on the Protestant church in Germany, Pastor Niemoller, leading Protestant churchman in Germany and wartime foe of the Hitler regime, declared in a lecture in Kiel, Germany, it was reported here today.
The church “condoned” National Socialism and “had not taken an unambiguous stand against anti-Semitism,” Pastor Niemoller charged. “By keeping silent when the Jews had been deprived of their rights as human beings, the church had shared in this guilt.” In conclusion, the Protestant clergyman questioned whether the church had genuinely atoned for its guilt-laden past,” and whether it was not in danger of succumbing to new temptations in other spheres.
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