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For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This fifth installment covers July 1 to June 31, 1933 -- and is devoted entirely to two separate, but intertwined phenomena: Nazi collaborators and the Catholic Church. We cover the different valences of resistance and collaborations in Germany in 1933 -- from culture war stuff, to Nazification, to practices like the Hitler salute. But we also cover the tricky situation of the Catholic Center Party in 1933, and the "Reichskonkordat", which gave the Catholic Church a measure of autonomy within the Nazi state ... but at the cost of an oath of loyalty to Hitler's state.

Comments

Jenice Anderson

Just on the topic of the nazi salute, I knew a German guy whose grandmother started doing the salute and a “heil H” when she got dementia. She did live through WWII, I don’t know the extent of her family’s collaboration. But it’s interesting that as she lost sense of reality her brain went back to a reality and a time when she did that to greet people.

James Talley

Most nuanced depiction of Catholic involvement in Nazi Germany I've ever encountered, without becoming an apologetic. Thank you!

Katie

I went to catholic school K-12 and didn’t know any of this, including the political origins of papal infallibility. I was already bitter and lapsed, but Jesus Christ, just when you think the Vatican couldn’t be any worse, there is a new bottom as Moira said. Thank you for this, simply incredible work

A Shade In Shades

Thanks for a great episode - I never knew about the extent and influence of Catholicism in Germany. *Glenn Kessler voice* I got curious and there is actually a 300m long rail line and single railway station in the Vatican City which opened in 1933. Although the trains have always been owned/operated by the Italian national railways. One Pinocchio for "the Catholic Church never has to worry about running trains."

Leo Steinmetz

Omg thanks for the shoutout! It was very lovely to meet Moira, it turns out in addition to being a tremendous journalist, thinker, podcaster, and poster, she is also very friendly and enjoys dancing with Russian grandmas. I look forward to hopefully randomly meeting Adrian at some other wedding.

Julia

That was really interesting, I knew more about the involvement of the Vatican after the war to get nazis out of Europe. But I was also wondering how much of a role the “church tax” for members played in the negotiations? As an Austrian catholic I was also surprised that Hitler really thought he would have to get the clergy under control. Maybe that’s more an Austrian thing than a German but most catholics don’t listen to the priest when it comes to their worldviews, that is separate from church and as far as I know from grandparents etc, it was also like that back then. As you said, it’s more a tradition than a believe system

Pascale Andor

I have read all the Robert Langdon books so the number of listeners who read Dan Brown books is not zero. Also, the movie with Ewan McGregor as the Camerlingo is “Angels & Demons”. The better story imo.