German Confessional Church: Instructions regarding racial origins

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1556 WL 1273
Held at	: Wiener Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: German Confessional Church: Instructions regarding racial origins
Date(s)	: 1939-1957
Level of description	: collection
Extent	: 1 folder
Name of creator(s)	: German Confessional Church

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In Germany in 1933, the Protestant faith was divided into 28 churches with 45 million members. On 4 April 1933, Hitler appointed Ludwig Müller as National Bishop to lead all protestants in an all embracing German Christian Church. As a result of the creation of the new German Christian Church, 200 pastors led a breakaway church, the Confessional Church. 7,000 of the 17,000 pastors in Germany joined the church and its leaders included Pastor Martin Niemöller, who felt that the church should be independent of the state.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of German Confessional Church, 1939-1957, relate to racial origins and aryanism within the German Confessional Church and comprise copies of correspondence including a letter from the temporary directorate of the German Evangelical Church to its regional administrations asking that clergymen submit proof of their Aryan origin, 1939; letter to the temporary directorate of the German Evangelical Church from Alberz and Böhm regarding emigration of those who are non-aryan or related to non-aryans from the German Confessional Church, 1939, and a letter from Alfred Wiener to Pastor Niemoeller, 1957.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
German

System of arrangement:

Arranged in original order.

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Finding aids:

A detailed description exists on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Archival Information

Archival history:

These copies of correspondence of the directorate of the German Confessional Church were sent to Alfred Wiener from Pastor Niemoeller with a letter dated 9 September 1957.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Pastor Niemoeller .

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Germany, 1919-45 by Martin Collier and Philip Pedley (Heinemann Educational, Oxford, 2000).
Compiled by Samantha Velumyl.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
March 2008