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Talk:Crucifix Decrees

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Article is very problematic

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This article takes two isolated events—one lasting 21 days in 1936 and another lasting 6 days in 1941—and weaves them together to form a non-existent 6 year long coordinated policy. The article also claims the decrees were part of a wider official Nazi plan to secularize "public life." But these brief efforts were widely opposed by Nazi officials both below and above Julius Pauly (administrator of schools and Churches) and Adolf Wagner (Gauleiter, and Minister of Education in Bavaria). In both cases the national party acted swiftly and the orders were reversed.[1] Both men were Lutherans. Pauly enacted his policy believing it would decrease confessional differences in an effort to strengthen German nationalism. It backfired catastrophically. Wagner on the other hand was anti-Catholic, and historians attribute his motives to this bias. But as a fervent Lutheran he was not in favor of secularism. The other event cited is the 1937 case of Phillip Klein. After replacing the Catholic headmaster, Klein did not remove crucifixes, but he did move them to a less prominent position above the classroom doors, ordering that portraits of Hitler be placed at the forefront of the classroom. Plutarch09 (talk) 16:29, 15 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ^ Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 244. Wagner's "action provoked such unrest that Hitler personally interceded to reverse the order, threatening Wagner that he would send him to Dachau 'if he should do anything so stupid again.'"