Munich, January 6, 2024 (KAP/KNA) According to historian Andreas Wirsching, Munich Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber had a rather distant relationship with his fellow Jews who were persecuted under the Nazi regime. Faulhaber was considered a friend of the Jews even before 1933, said the director of the Institute for Contemporary History in a conversation with “Neues Ruhrwort” published over the weekend. “But if you look closely, which I think is important, Faulhaber's friendship with the Jews is very limited.”
The cardinal viewed ancient Israel and the Old Testament as important traditions for Christianity. According to Wirsching, Faulhaber only defended his Jewish contemporaries “when they were called non-Aryan Christians, who were naturally considered Jews according to Nazi legislation, but were baptized Christians.”
The historian emphasized that baptism was always the decisive factor for the cleric. “Faulhaber was definitely not racist, but you also shouldn't turn it around and say he was a great hero.” A critical edition of the diaries of Michael von Faulhaber (1869-1952), which he kept between 1911 and 1952, has been in operation since 2015. The Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), among other institutions, is involved in the project long term.
In his diary entries, Faulhaber reveals himself to be an extremely complex personality, emphasized Wirsching, director of the IfZ, in the interview with “Neues Ruhrwort”. The cardinal was an important preacher and intensive pastor. In addition, he was active in the political sphere and maintained contacts with a large number of people.
“What is striking is his great hostility to democracy and to the Weimar Republic in particular, which for him represents the rise of Bolshevism and the decline of morals, whatever exactly one means by that, and for him it is a form of government and a method of government that differs from that which has turned away from God,” Wirsching said. “In this respect, 1918 was a much more profound turning point for him than 1933.”
During the Nazi era, the Munich cardinal, like other important representatives of the Church, insisted for a long time that it would be possible to negotiate with Adolf Hitler on an equal footing. To the outside world he presented himself as a strategist. This also applies to the encyclical “With Ardent Concern”, in which Pope Pius XI. on Palm Sunday 1937 strongly condemned National Socialism and for which Faulhaber wrote the draft.
“What we find is a very extensive self-referentiality of Catholicism or the official church”, says Wirsching. There was almost no contact with Protestants, for example. “Faulhaber operates entirely within this subsystem of the Catholic Church.” On the one hand, this is impressive because Catholicism is a very diverse structure. “But it is also frustrating to see how blindness arises in relation to what is happening in the world. But this is the weakness of both Christian churches.”