Christianity During World War Two

In the reading for tomorrow, christianity becomes a factor in the main characters life. With christianity, also comes the priest of the church. The priest in Painted Bird actually has good intentions for the little boy. While being spat on and physically abused during a cart ride, the priest walks along side, trying to protect the boy. Then, it appears the priest, in a way saves him from death by the Nazi's. It was very interesting to me when the Nazi's did not kill the boy, but instead gave him to the priest. It made me wonder if a priest was still held with high regard to Nazi's during world war two.

I found an article online that briefly described the roles of christianity, including different forms, during world war 2. The article states mainly that Germany was over 50 percent protestant. The next largest religion was Catholicism. By reading the article, I gathered that both sects initially gave into the Nazi demands, many think by intense pressure. But by the middle to end of the war, did not hold their stance of agreeing. Both started separate movements to try and end the holocaust. It says that almost all other sects of christianity were considered enemies of germany, and some, like Jehovah's witnesses, were even sent to concentration camps. Here is the link to the website, which I encourage reading, as my interpretation of it may be limited due to having hardly any knowledge of religious jargon.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005206