Bethge

In 1932, Hitler gave his personal assurance to prominent pastor and veteran WWI Naval Chaplain Martin Niemöller that he would keep his hands off the church and never institute a pogrom against the Jews. But in order to conform German culture to his schemes, Hitler needed to compromise the church. Thus accelerated the church struggle, in which German Christians abandoned whole segments of the bible that did not fit Nazi objectives, and the Confessing Church found itself increasingly at odds with the culture around it.