• DOI:10.1017/S0008938914001897
• Corpus ID: 146472475

Were the National Socialists a Völkisch Party? Paganism, Christianity, and the Nazi Christmas

@article{Koehne2014WereTN,
  title={Were the National Socialists a V{\"o}lkisch Party? Paganism, Christianity, and the Nazi Christmas},
  author={Samuel Koehne},
  journal={Central European History},
  year={2014},
  volume={47},
  pages={760 - 790}
}

• S. Koehne
• Published 1 December 2014
• History
• Central European History

A trend in studies about National Socialism and religion in recent years argues for a deliberate distinction between the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and the antisemitic völkisch movement of nineteenth-century Germany. This article challenges that contention. Several researchers have published comprehensive studies on the heterogeneous nature of Christian responses to the Nazis, but a comparable approach looking at how the Nazis viewed religion has not yet been undertaken. A study of the latter type is certainly necessary, given that one of the consistent features of the völkisch movement was its diversity. As Roger Griffin has argued, a “striking feature of the sub-culture . . . was just how prolific and variegated it was . . . [T]he only denominator common to all was the myth of national rebirth.” In short, the völkisch movement contained a colorful, varied, and often bewildering range of religious beliefs.