Friday 24 October 2008

A Nazi prayer

Is this not evidence for the depth of the sickness and insanity that gripped Germany in WWII?

Führer, mein Führer, von Gott mir gegeben,
beschütze und erhalte noch lange mein Leben.
Du hast Deutschland gerettet aus tiefster Not,
dir danke ich für mein täglich Brot.
Bleib lange noch bei mir, verlass mich nicht,
Führer, mein Führer, mein Glaube, mein Licht.
Heil, mein Führer.

Tischgebet in einem NS-Waisenhaus

4 comments:

Halden said...

Could you provide a translation? Alas my German...does not...exist.

Phil Sumpter said...

I'm not a great translator but I think the sense comes accross:

Leader (Führer), my Leader, given to me by God,
protect and maintain my life evermore,
You have saved Germany from deepest distress,
I thank you for my daily bread.
Remain with me a long time, do not leave me,
Leader, my Leader, my faith, my light.
Heil! My Leader!


Grace in a Nazi orphanage

I don't really understand this. Did they really divinize Hitler? Or was prayer so perfunctory they they could mouth platitudes without having to think about the meaning?

Anonymous said...

Could you cite the source for this, Phil?

Phil Sumpter said...

Hi David,

my wife teaches "religion" here in Germany and it was part of her class material. The quote doesn't have bibliographical reference. If you need it, you could try and contact RAAbitz publishing house and ask them. Here's all the information we could get on it:

Unterichtsreihe entwickelt von Simon Zolg aus Herrenberg, published by RAABitz Religion, Beitrag 4, unter dem Abschnitt F (Kirche und Kirchengeschichte). Überschrift: Zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand - ein Lernzirkel zur Kirche im Nationalsozialismus.

Hope that helps.