REACTION OF PROTESTANT CLERGY TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC IN GERMANY

Abstract

The article deals with the process of reaction of evangelical churches in Germany to the November Revolution and the subsequent establishment of the republican system. At the beginning of the article the processes taking place in the church environment in Germany against the background of political and social changes caused by the defeat in the First World War and the revolutionary events of 1918 – 1919 are revealed. The Church loses its former position in the state system of the country. The secularization policy pursued by the Social Democratic government separates church and state. In response, the Evangelical churches hold several church congresses, at which the German Evangelical Church Union is formed to defend the interests of 28 regional Protestant churches. The article examines the main directions of anti-republican and antidemocratic activities of Protestant clergy. Attention is paid to descriptions of the realities of the Weimar Republic in the works of Protestant theologians and functionaries of evangelical churches. The importance of separation from state structures for church organizations and the ideological justification of this process are considered. The views of Protestant pastor and theologian Otto Dibelius on the goals and tasks of building an independent, united evangelical church are revealed. The main causes and nature of resistance to democratic processes within the church are highlighted. The article also examines the attitude towards the republic on the part of the liberal circles of evangelical Christians in Germany. The peculiarities of the perception of the democratic transformation in Germany by the Protestant population are characterized. The author makes a conclusion about the anti-republican and anti-democratic activities of the Evangelical churches, which largely influenced the right-wing turn in the political life of Weimar Germany in the second half of the 1920s.

Keywords

• protestantism
• evangelical church
• weimar germany
• republic
• november revolution