Adolf Hitler and Mormonism

Hitler apparently had an acquaintance with Mormonism. In the mid-1930s, elders were invited to visit universities and teach Germans the game of basketball. They also went to army camps and taught the sport. 22 In the town of Gera, the missionaries played a local team and were introduced by the mayor, who along with other officials of the town watched the elders win. After the game, "which was well attended, the missionaries gave a slide-lecture to a large audience and the mayor of the city helped pass out LDS tracts." Another account stated, "Herr Hitler has sought the services of the elders to teach basketball to the teams he hopes will achieve victory in the Olympic games." During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, four American missionaries were asked to referee the basketball games.

The German-Austrian Mission records indicate that in 1936 European Mission President Joseph F. Merrill and mission head Roy A. Welker took advantage of the favorable attitude Nazis had toward Mormonism because missionaries had bolstered the German Olympic hopes. On June 11 the two Mormon officials sent a telegram to the German chancellor. It stated that LDS Church books were being sent to all the high government officials. Hitler also inaugurated the Mormon custom of a monthly "Fast Sunday" and a campaign among young people to refrain from smoking and drinking. (The German dictator himself abstained.) The Church was treated relatively well in Germany during these years when one realized that the Nazi government banned some churches and denounced the Pope in 1937. Chapter 8 on World War II years, however, dispels any notion that Mormons received preferential treatment. The conclusion must not be drawn that Hitler was favorable toward Latter-day Saints. How much the similarities between some of Hitler's policies and LDS practices were influenced by Mormonism is open to question.

Both Germany under Hitler and Mormonism promoted genealogical research, but this also was probably only a coincidence. Actually Germany's interest in genealogy occurred because Germans were anxious to prove they had no Jewish blood. The quest for this life-saving knowledge of one's ancestors by most citizens helped German saints get access to heretofore unavailable records. Consequently they were able to do their duty in regard to this significant principle of Mormonism, too.

A basic fundamental belief of Mormons is that all mankind, both the living and the dead, must have certain ordinances performed, such as baptism (John 3:5), in order to return to God's presence. For this reason Latter-day Saints build temples. Mormons teach that this work for the dead must be done by proxy in these edifices. Even before German members had access to a temple of their own, they accomplished the preliminary steps for such ordinances through genealogical research.

Germany was potentially a fertile area for this kind of study, because this highly socialized country kept abundant records. Because the Mormons were unpopular and severely opposed in Germany, access to vital statistics was denied members of the Church prior to Nazism. During the 1920s genealogical work in the Church had been organized and encouraged on a more formal basis. During the Jewish persecution under Hitler prior to World War II, the needed records were suddenly made available. A government order decreed that all Germans should have access to these documents. Said one Mormon official who was arrested and charged with being Jewish: "I had to prove that I was an Aryan. I only needed to show the investigating officers my lines for three generations. Were they surprised when I showed them my family group sheets going back eight generations. I passed with flying colors." Another report said, "With the necessity of having to prove that one's grandmother was not a Jew, the old record books have been dusted off and stand ready and waiting for our use. The saints, instead of being refused, have in some cases received letters of patriotism because of their research." The Church was on the verge of purchasing many records prior to the war but was denied this right. Many branch presidents were questioned about the LDS attitude toward Jews at this time. Some German officials even proposed rewriting the New Testament "to show that Jesus was not a Jew."