How did the holocaust affect the non Jews at the time?

Answer 1

Read this message from Martin Niemoeller who was a German pastor imprisoned in Dachau. "First the Nazis went after the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not object. Then they went after the Catholics, but I was not a Catholic, so I did not object. Then they went after the Trade-Unionists, but I was not a Trade-Unionist, so I did not object. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to object."

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There are several version of that Niemoeller saying. None of the original ones by Niemoeller himself ever mentioned the Catholics for the very simple reason that 'they' never 'went after' the Catholics for their Catholicism. Recently, however, it's become very fashionable to claim that one's religious or ethnic group was persecuted by the Nazis, and in some parts of the world the Catholics seem to be jumping on to the Holocaust bandwagon.

The 'message' from above was in a textbook. Here is the citation.

Ed. L. Miller, Jon Jensen, Questions that Matter: An Invitation to Philosophy, (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2009), pp. 456.

And upon further research I have found mention of the Catholic church. Niemoeller himself could not remember the wording of his original message and it was the opinion of Harold Marcuse of UC Santa Barbara that he probably would not have mentioned the Catholic church but only the Protestant church. No where does it say that the Catholic church was 'never' mentioned. There are truly different opinions on the matter, but nothing definite. And to further muddy the waters there were more Catholic clergy in the concentration camps than Protestant, by a large number. There was also mention of Howard Samuels, among others, as someone who he thought added names for his own agenda, notably the Industrialists.

The use of the word 'never' is too strong. And although they might not have gone after them for their Catholicism specifically it might have been because of the Nazi's atheistic stance. I do not personally care who was on the original list (eg. Catholics, or schools, or Industrialists, etc.), the theme for the message is the important part: Do not stand by and watch other groups be oppressed because you might be next.

And either way you have to admit Catholics are non-Jews and were affected by the Holocaust, which was the question in the first place.

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Catholics were allowed to practise their religion with very little interference. How many Catholics were killed for simply being Catholic - not for being suspected members of or sympathizers with the Polish resistance? The notion that the Catholic Church was persecuted (in a way that the Protestant churches were not) or that the lot of the Catholics was comparable to that of the Jews is a recent myth and highly misleading, not to say downright dishonest.

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Honesty is not a strong point of any religious or political group. And whether or not Catholics were in the original message, Neimoeller was only pointing out groups that he was not a part of. He was not explaining the Nazi's reasoning or championing one group over another, nor was he lying. It seems that Neimoeller left out a great many groups that he could have mentioned. That someone else would add their own group seems plausible, and if the research can be believed, it did happen. The original statement would have to be shown for it to be known for sure. And since Neimoeller could not remember what he originally said this will never happen. This could be the answer to the question above then: Some groups were targeted by Hitler and the Nazis for their religious or political affiliation, others were targeted equally (ie. not in numbers or name, but in being persecuted), just not for the same reasons. I still like Neimoeller's quote even if all of the groups are wrong, because it really isn't about this group or that group, its about all people and how we fail each other because we are different. It could even be said that the statement points out the problem with looking at different groups as if it had some bearing on why they should be treated different. It is too bad that events get twisted over time because it overshadows the original problem and it increases the chance we shall forget.