Gen. Erich Ludendorff, Quartermaster General of the Imperial German Armies during the World War, today proclaimed an open battle against Christianity and the “caste of priests” as his Neopagan doctrines were given the official status of a religion by the Nazi regime, the Havas News Agency reported.
The 72-year-old warrior, who recently became reconciled with Chancellor Adolf Hitler after a coolness of several years, thus climaxes a State-church conflict which reached a serious crisis in recent weeks.
Gen. Ludendorff and his wife, Dr. Matilda von Kemnitz founded the Neopagan, anti-Semitic religion in 1926. The doctrine has never had the official sanction of the Nazi government, but today the World War leader announced to all his followers that his religion of “German understanding of God” has been granted full and equal status with Catholicism and Protestantism in the Reich.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.