The Catholic Church Under the Nazi Regime

 Unappreciated, loyal, and unwittingly resistant. The Catholic Church in Austria under the Nazi regime, 1938–45 

Because of the heavy toll it suffered, the Catholic clergy was counted among the most prominent victim groups of the Nazi era after 1945, which earned it moral credibility. It was not until a play by the writer Rolf Hochhuth, who died in 2020 (“The Deputy,” 1963), that a discussion was sparked about the churches’ “silence” regarding Nazi crimes, and accusations of collaboration began to mount against them. Since then, a heated debate has raged over how to interpret the behavior of the churches during this period—both that of their congregations and their clergy. This lecture outlines the complexity of the phenomenon and concludes with an attempt at a nuanced assessment. Speaker: Associate Professor (ret.) DDr. Rupert Klieber (University of Vienna) Start: 7:00 p.m. at the ZME