The German Latter-day Saints as Outsiders

The German citizenry during World War II belonged principally to the Catholic and Protestant churches. Latter-day Saints represented one of the tiniest religious groups in the nation. Several eyewitnesses admitted being somewhat ashamed to tell friends and relatives that the local branch met not in a large and beautiful church but in a Hinterhaus, often a former factory or office building or a backstreet restaurant. Unlike their neighbors of other faiths, the Saints attended church services twice on Sunday and met for activities as often as four times during the week.

Latter-day Saint youth were often left out of religious instruction in school because they did not fit either the Catholic or the Protestant mold. To serve a mission (usually within the confines of the East German Mission), they separated themselves from their non-LDS friends and appeared to be fanatics. When it came time to marry, LDS young adults looked to distant branches for partners or chose non-LDS spouses, hoping for a subsequent conversion. Many longed for the day when they could enter the temple in Salt Lake City (the closest one to Germany at the time). Only two Saints in this mission are known to have been endowed in the temple, and no couples were sealed there before or during the war.

Just as the Saints could not point to ostentatious meetinghouses, neither could they identify members of the Church in the higher socioeconomic strata. This investigation has not yielded evidence of Latter-day Saints as doctors, lawyers, or teachers; university graduates were extremely rare. The men of the Church in the East German Mission were primarily laborers and craftsmen. A few owned their own shops as carpenters or glazers. Several were supervisors in local factories, but there is no evidence of Church members who sat on boards of directors or owned industries and department stores. As the war escalated, many of the men in the Church who were not drafted were required to increase their work weeks to sixty hours or more and many were compelled to work on Sundays (see the story of Anton Larisch of the Görlitz and Halberstadt Branches).

Latter-day Saints and the German Experience in World War II

As mentioned above, the population of Germany in 1939 was approximately eighty million. Just over thirteen thousand of the inhabitants of the Reich were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It appears that they shared nearly all of the wartime experiences of their neighbors—the average citizens and families in Germany. Just as their non-Mormon countrymen, Latter-day Saints attended schools, worked in factories, lived in huge apartment complexes in large cities, bought their food in small specialty shops, participated in local harvest festivals, and swam in city lakes. They dreamed of owning their own home or an automobile or of enjoying the convenience of a telephone in the home.

Most Latter-day Saints attended parades and watched Hitler and his troops pass in review. Some raised their arms in the Nazi salute and greeted others with the obligatory “Heil Hitler!” They sang the national anthem in movie theaters with their neighbors and in schools with their classmates. Some believed that Hitler’s plans to regain German territory from neighboring countries (especially from Poland and Czechoslovakia) were justified and his methods appropriate.

A few members of the Church belonged to the Nazi Party but most avoided political involvement and seldom spoke of Hitler at home. Most Latter-day Saint boys and girls wore the uniforms of various branches of the Hitler Youth for a year or longer. Young men and young women answered the call to serve in government labor programs such as Pflichtjahr and Reichsarbeitsdienst. Most recalled enjoying their term of service and believed it an important contribution to their nation, though it usually meant a delay in their occupational progress. Declining to serve in Hitler’s Germany was not an option.

Under the universal conscription laws passed in Germany in 1935, Latter-day Saint men served in the German army, navy, and air force, as well as in elite combat forces such as Heinrich Himmler’s Waffen-SS and as paratroopers. They were there when Germany mounted offensives against Poland, France, and the Soviet Union and were still there when the Allies struck back and invaded the fatherland. Just as their Catholic and Protestant comrades, Latter-day Saint German soldiers were buried where they fell. Some lost limbs and returned home as invalids, while others suffered for years from wounds unseen. They died as prisoners of war thousands of miles from home. The final resting places of many LDS German soldiers remain unknown.

Latter-day Saint men too old to be drafted were pressed into service as local auxiliary police or in the Volkssturm (home guard). For most of them, this was something to be avoided and some were able to do so (thanks to the confusion that reigned in the final months of the war). Women, too, were compelled to serve in soup kitchens, hospitals, refugee shelters, and in other critical war capacities. Many had to leave the home and replace men as full-time employees in factories and offices. Some were pressed into temporary service in hospitals or in constructing fortifications around the cities. However, most women were thinking more of their families and how they might later survive the Soviet invasion or escape to the West.

Some female Church members were honored by the government with the Mutterkreuz for giving birth to five or more children. (Eyewitness accounts support the assumption that no LDS women gave birth to children specifically for their country.) They bore children without the attendance of their husbands and raised those children for years in the absence of the fathers. Latter-day Saint women contributed to relief programs with donations of money, goods, or labor. To provide for their children, they stood in long lines to purchase food on ration coupons and made do with less and less as the war drew to a close.

When Germany came under attack from the air, Latter-day Saint civilians huddled in air-raid shelters, praying for heavenly protection. They died there in significant numbers—some as family groups (such as the Fischers of the Chemnitz Center Branch). Some members of the Church died in their basement shelters or in their apartments, were killed in artillery barrages, or were killed by invading soldiers as they ran through the streets for cover. Many witnessed and some died in the horrific firebombing of Dresden in February 1945. Church members died of disease or starvation during the long trek to the west after being forced from their homes by the invaders or subsequent occupation forces. Several young women or members of the Relief Society suffered physical abuse at the hands of their conquerors, the mental scars of which, in some cases, never disappeared. Latter-day Saints assisted in fighting fires and rescuing neighbors after air raids and from other life-threatening calamities.

Approximately 60 percent of the members of the Church in the East German Mission lost their homes. Many more lost some or all of their personal property—in some cases their most cherished possessions. They lost pets, farm animals, photographs, heirlooms, genealogical documents, personal scriptures, the money in their savings accounts, silverware—everything but the clothes on their backs. Many of the buildings in which they held their meetings were destroyed. Membership records, hymnals, chairs, and pulpits vanished and usually could not be replaced for years.

German citizens who were not of “Aryan” (Caucasian) ancestry or who criticized Hitler’s government were subject to incarceration in jails and concentration camps. Such was the fate of several Latter-day Saints (such as Elisabeth Jung Süss of the Chemnitz Center Branch). Thousands of mentally or physically infirm persons became victims of government sterilization and euthanasia programs; at least two members of the Church in the West German Mission were among the mentally impaired persons who were put to death in secret. Annalies Höhle of the Dresden Altstadt Branch (Dresden District) considered her son a potential victim but was able to protect him from such a fate.

Nearly everything experienced by the general populace in Hitler’s Third Reich was experienced by one or more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the East German Mission.

Lest the impression be made that the war years meant nothing but death and suffering for the Saints of the East German Mission, it should be clearly stated that they enjoyed good times as well. Eyewitnesses often told of joyous occasions in the home or with other Church members—visits by soldier fathers and brothers on leave, Christmas holidays, wedding celebrations, the births of sons and daughters, and baptismal ceremonies for member children and converts. One of the most frequently mentioned Church events was the district conference that usually lasted two or three days and to which members often traveled substantial distances. Those from out of town were usually housed in the homes of local members, and friendships were born and cultivated. Such events were especially meaningful for young adults. Life for the Saints in many locations in Germany did not involve personal suffering until the final stages of the war.

Final Comments

One of the goals of this research was to ascertain how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the East German Mission fared during the years of 1939 to 1945. Another goal was to determine the losses they suffered as individuals, families, and branches. In this regard, I offer the following conclusions based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses:

The National Socialist Party and the Latter-day Saints of the East German Mission

A few adult Latter-day Saints joined the National Socialist Party. Others were asked to do so but found ways to decline the invitation or avoid the issue altogether. Some were pressured to join but declined and suffered penalties for their recalcitrance. Of those who joined, some did so only because it was required of them as employees of the government, such as Max Hegewald (district president in Dresden and a bailiff in the Freiberg City Court). Based on the stories told and written by eyewitnesses, it appears that fewer than three percent of the Latter-day Saints in the East German Mission joined the Nazi Party. Douglas F. Tobler, a professor of German history, estimated that “only about five percent of Mormon adults either joined the party or its various organizations. . . . The overwhelming majority of German Mormons remained apolitical and quiescent.” There is no indication that any Latter-day Saint had a significant leadership position within the party. Reports of party members making overt political statements in branch meeting facilities are rare. Even rarer were Saints who belonged to other political parties.

Eyewitnesses are in agreement that some of those Saints who were known to be members of the Nazi Party were enthusiastic about Adolf Hitler’s leadership in the early years and convinced that the Führer had the answers to Germany’s problems, but those individuals did not promote their political views or agenda in Church meetings. Only in rare instances was a portrait of Adolf Hitler seen in a Church facility and never on a lasting basis (see Breslau South Branch chapter).

Photographs of Latter-day Saint homes (interior and exterior) rarely show pictures of Adolf Hitler or the German swastika flag (see Berlin East Branch chapter). However, to avoid flying the flag on specific occasions meant to risk incurring the wrath of a fanatical neighbor (and there was often one living close by). Eyewitnesses told of parents who did their best to simply keep out of sight rather than to openly oppose the government. Survivors also recalled hearing infrequent criticism of Hitler or the party from their parents, who understood that they dare not voice such criticism outside of the home.

While it could be suggested that Latter-day Saints should have opposed the rise of Hitler in the 1930s through political activism, historians generally agree that such opposition could only have led to personal and collective suffering for the dissidents and their families (and possibly for the Church). Any overt or violent resistance after 1933 could have merited capital punishment, as is evident from the deaths of thousands of alleged revolutionaries in Germany, especially after the abortive plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. If there is any question of guilt on the part of Latter-day Saints for tolerating an evil government (and in my mind there is not), they certainly paid a terrible price for their lack of action.

Several eyewitnesses have admitted that one or more of their parents listened to broadcasts of BBC London or Moscow. Such actions were, of course, illegal, but there is no record of any Latter-day Saint being charged with that crime. In all cases, it was believed that information received through this medium was never transmitted to persons outside of the immediate family—even to trusted friends at church.

In many ways, it appears that the leaders of the mission, the districts, the branches, and the families increased their efforts to safeguard the Saints and support the branches during the war years. They could neither stop nor (as they learned later) win the war, but they could care for the members, maintain Church worship services and programs, and in general keep the Church alive until the war ended. In this regard, they were immensely successful.

In general, German Latter-day Saints found it possible to live their lives as good German citizens who had no valid reason to rebel against the government, even if it meant leaving their homes and Church callings to fight and die in far-off lands. According to eyewitnesses, most adult Saints did not like Adolf Hitler in 1939 because they saw in his overt militarism the prospect of another devastating war. Regarding military service, they often quoted the twelfth article of faith (“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, and rulers”) to justify serving Hitler’s government. Latter-day Saint soldiers often expressed a hope for two things: that they would not be compelled to hurt their fellow man and that they might return to their families in good health. For many, the first wish was fulfilled; for most, the second was as well.

The Latter-day Saint Family under Fire

As Hitler and his cronies gained power in the nation, the family came under increasing pressure. National Socialist philosophy emphasized the importance of the Party over that of the family and the Church. Organizations such as the Hitler Youth served in part to take young Germans from their homes and place them in an atmosphere where they could be schooled carefully in the Nazi concept of patriotism and the philosophies of the party. Children were raised to serve Führer, Volk, und Vaterland rather than God, church, and country. Fortunately, it seems that in many cases, the goal was not achieved among Latter-day Saint youth.

It is evident that many parents in the Church understood that while some aspects of the Hitler Youth program were positive, others were sinister. In some cases, the parents of eyewitnesses forbade their children to join the Hitlerjugend or the Bund Deutscher Mädel at age fourteen, insisting that the programs of the Church would provide the necessary education, training, and entertainment. Although such non-compliance was not tolerated under the law, most Latter-day Saint parents got away with it. According to eyewitnesses, punishments for non-cooperation were rare and seldom had any lasting effect.

Another method used by the party to weaken the influence of parents in the lives of their children was the program under which schoolchildren were moved as school classes to rural settings. Under the auspices of protecting the children from harm through air raids by Allied forces, teachers (required by law to be members of the party) and party leaders often used the setting to indoctrinate the children. The program was called Kinderlandverschickung, and in the case of nearly every eyewitness interviewed, this absence from home prevented any contact with the Church. When Latter-day Saint mothers independently took their children away from the big cities, they rarely had the opportunity to attend Church services. The absence from formal worship was perceived as a very negative aspect of life during the war. The corresponding decline in member populations also had a negative effect on the programs of the local branch.

The national labor service required of teenage boys and girls (under programs called Reichsarbeitsdienst and Pflichtjahr of Landjahr) also separated family members. For as much as a year at a time, Latter-day Saint youth lived too far from home to visit their families and were totally subject to the leadership of Party officials. Again, none of the eyewitnesses reported ever having had the opportunity to attend church during this period of their lives and few were able to take or study the holy scriptures.

Any time a country goes to war, fathers are removed from their homes. When a lengthy war is fought and lost, many fathers do not return to their families. When German Saints were away at the front, their wives and children survived without the presence of patriarchal and priesthood leadership in the home—in some instances for as long as eight to ten years. The eyewitnesses expressed universal sadness regarding this aspect of their lives. Furloughs granted German Latter-day Saint soldiers were rare and brief—sometimes just long enough to produce another child who was then brought into the world to be raised by a mother without a father. Several children of Latter-day Saint soldiers never saw their fathers.

The East German Mission in Isolation

After the United States and Germany declared war upon each other in December 1941, communications between the office of the East German Mission in Berlin and the headquarters of the Church in Salt Lake City were interrupted. This state of isolation persisted until the summer of 1945 (forty-two months), when attempts were made to re-establish the connection. President Max Zimmer of the Swiss Mission traveled into Germany to inquire regarding the status of both German missions and their leaders. Several American soldiers who had served in the German missions before the war were allowed to travel to Berlin and Frankfurt to ascertain the fate of the members. Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles arrived in the fall of 1945 to establish a system through which welfare supplies could be distributed to the surviving Latter-day Saints.

It was learned in 1945 that the German Saints had maintained meeting schedules and branch activities as consistently as possible since 1939—at times under challenging conditions. There is no evidence that Church procedures or practices were altered or allowed to deviate from the established norms. Tithing funds were paid, collected, and transferred to the mission office carefully throughout the war and after, as is evident from the accounts of eyewitnesses like Marie Jenschewski of the Königsberg Branch. Church literature was produced and distributed faithfully until paper shortages or government regulations hindered the effort.

The work of the priesthood was carried on faithfully and correctly throughout the war. Babies were blessed, children and converts were baptized, blessings of healing and comfort were given, miracles were performed. The priesthood was conferred upon worthy brethren all over the mission. Priesthood leaders who were absent or killed were replaced via the established means. Meetings were conducted and presided over by the proper authorities. In cases where no priesthood holders were present to preside over the ordinance of the sacrament, there simply was no such ordinance. In the absence of priesthood leadership, women did not usurp authority or stewardship but simply held study groups, Primary classes, and choir rehearsals in an attempt to maintain the community of the Saints.

Eyewitnesses attested to the dedication of the Saints to the branches and programs of the Church. In cases where the branch organization broke down totally, individual members prayed, read the scriptures, fasted, and taught their families the gospel. Many eyewitnesses told of their attempts to find a branch of the Church whenever they found themselves away from home. For them, life was not complete without regular interaction with the Saints.

A short explanation regarding priesthood ordinations in those days is warranted. Ordinations were not done primarily on the basis of age but rather on the basis of need in the branch. Whereas some young men were ordained deacons soon after turning twelve, advancement within the Aaronic Priesthood followed no regular pattern thereafter. Almost exactly one-half of the male members over twelve years of age in 1939 were not holders of the priesthood, though some were quite active in the branch.

Ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood took place when the man was needed as a branch leader. Many men became elders after the age of thirty or forty. Because there was no stake of Zion in Germany until 1961, there were no high priests in that country during the war.

The German Government and the East German Mission

From the testimony of eyewitnesses and the surviving records of the East German Mission, it is evident that the government of Germany made no attempt during the Hitler era to shut down The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that nation. The only reliable report of intervention by the government came when the Berlin police instructed leaders of the mission to have the members avoid singing hymns featuring words associated with the Jewish culture, such as Zion and Israel (see the East German Mission chapter). In fact, with the exception of rare and short-lived episodes of police inquiries and the occasional private harassment of individual Saints by local Nazi Party leaders, members of the Church and the branches to which they belonged in the East German Mission were never at risk of extinction. The government either had no intention at the time of eradicating the Church, or did not consider the 13,000 members of the Church in Germany worthy of special attention.

Several eyewitnesses told of seeing official observers in church meetings. Such observers always entered without fanfare, were recognized as “strangers,” inevitably sat on the back row, and avoided any kind of participation. Not one account of an interruption of meetings by such officials was proffered.