Though politically the 1920s had been a period of upheaval for Germany, the new Weimar Republic's greatest challenge did not begin until the waning days of the decade. The stock market crash in October of 1929 in the United States soon had its effect in other countries. Germany, heavily indebted to American investors and financiers, and deeply dependent on it as a market, soon felt the economic pressure to a severity perhaps unparalleled among the industrial nations of the world, with the possible exception of Japan. Germany's unemployment reached 35 percent at the peak of the Depression, while the highest rate in the United States was only 25 percent.

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The Depression had a serious impact on the Church and its membership in Germany. In many of the larger branches which were mostly in urban areas, few members were employed, draining the Church financially in two ways. First, the membership as a whole demanded more economic assistance, and second, the membership had a lower income overall and therefore, paid less tithes and offerings needed to support the Church in Europe. Church members in the United States were also suffering under hard times and could not lend as much aid to the Saints in Europe as was done in the past.

John A. Widtsoe, who was European Mission President at the time, had observed the situation in Europe firsthand, and being deeply involved in welfare relief, had perhaps a more accurate understanding of the situation. He believed that unless there was an easing of the tension, people would overthrow the new democracies in Europe replacing them with more radical governments.

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Widtsoe taught that "War is inevitable in Europe...not because the people want it but because they believe it is sure to come." He believed that the Versailles Treaty with its harsh penalties against Germany had brought Hitler to the political forefront because it "pushed Germany into a second rate nation and sooner or later the outbreak, putting Hitler into power, was to come."

It was, however, Communism, and not National Socialism which was most feared by Americans, including Mormon Church leaders. This was, in part, prompted by the Red Scare and the successes of Communism in Russia. In 1936 the Church's First Presidency ran an article warning members about the "Red Menace" which threatened American and foreign democracies. The greatest fear was that the Depression was the seedbed upon which these radical movements could grow.

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While a few turned to religion for answers, most looked to political leaders to solve their problems. In Germany the greatest beneficiary of the German quest for answers was Adolf Hitler. . . . Furthermore, no one foresaw the terror Hitler would create by his police state which insured his power even in the final days of the Second World War. Many believed, as did the Deseret News, that if he came to power he would "probably put into effect none of these revolutionary doctrines." Most were convinced that public opinion and the Weimar Republic's constitutional restraints would keep him in check. They also believed that the other alternatives, particularly Communism, posed the greater threat and that Hitler could most likely be controlled by less radical and more experienced leaders who surrounded him. They misjudged the extent to which the Weimar Constitution and the German polity could be manipulated.

Young Mormons, including American missionaries, were often mesmerized by Hitler. They were impressed that Hitler espoused some of the more unique teachings of the Church. He did not smoke or drink, and instituted a fast day where the money saved from fasting helped the poor. . . . A few believed that Hitler got some of these ideas from the Church since the fast day was introduced shortly after Nazi officials had confiscated some LDS literature. High-ranking Nazis had also been given Mormon literature, and rumors circulated that Hitler had read the Book of Mormon. One former missionary believed that he had encountered and preached to Hitler in 1927, concluding that this had helped soften the Nazi attitude toward Mormons. Whether these claims are true shall perhaps never be proven, but many Mormons liked to believe that they were having some influence on the inner circles of government.

Mormons were also pleased with Hitler's attempts to institute what they perceived to be a higher morality within Germany. Prostitutes and homosexuals were arrested, and many of the decadent cabarets, for which Weimar Berlin was famous, were closed or closely monitored. Nazis and Mormons held common beliefs about the importance of marriage and of raising large families, as well as the need to trace one's genealogy. Their motives, however, were deeply divergent. Mormons wanted large families to build the kingdom of God, while the National Socialists sought to enlarge and strengthen their Aryan kingdom. Nazis did genealogy to prove their non-Jewish heritage while Mormons traced their family roots to redeem their kindred dead. Even the Nazi attitude toward prostitution and homosexuality seems to have been motivated more to cleanse the Aryan race than to improve popular morality.

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It should always be remembered that the true motives behind Nazi actions were not always evident, and many doctrines like their intentions regarding jews were not evident to most of the world until after the end of the Second World War. It is therefore most important when judging these supporters of Nazism to see them from their 1930s perspective when the entire Nazi demon had not fully manifest itself.

Most members of the Church in Germany, however, remained apolitical, though there were a few who became involved in the Nazi party. At least one branch suspected that one of its members was working with the local police against the Church, and that member was eventually excommunicated. Most Mormons who became deeply entrenched in Nazi party politics became so involved that they had little time for Church activity, or they became so alienated from the Church that they had their membership terminated. Close ties with a religion, particularly one viewed by many Germans to be as radical as Mormonism, meant that one’s upward mobility within the Nazi party would be severely limited. At least a dozen party members were excommunicated by Francis Salzner in 1934.

It is evident that though some missionaries may have been somewhat enamored of Hitler and some attempted to find similarities between Nazism and the Church, these similarities were at best superficial, as is evidenced by those who could not be both Mormons and Nazis at the same time.

Primarily, German-Mormons, like other Germans, feared what this capricious government might do to them and their religion. Some Nazi harassment of Mormons occurred, but these were isolated incidents, and were mostly limited to such things as the abolition of the Boy Scouts because they competed with the Hitler Youth, and the closure of Church meetings during Nazi rallies. But such action applied to any organization—religious or secular. Though there was no official Nazi policy toward Mormonism, evidence indicates that a roundup of Mormons en masse as was done with Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others may have been in the Nazi plan, though probably not focused directly against Mormonism, but against religion in general. Many priests were arrested and sent to camps for opposing the regime. At least some Nazis had toyed with the idea of establishing an Aryan Church founded in Teutonic traditions mixed with Christian doctrine. But these movements which did not have official approval were distrusted by the regime.

Though Hitler could ill afford to arrest all Lutherans and Catholics, since this would involve most of the population, he did, and would likely have continued to arrest members of smaller religious factions, who, unlike the predominant faiths, had little power against him. One Mormon official, Otto Berndt, when questioned by police in Hamburg, was informed by a Nazi officer that "When we have this war behind us, when we have the time to devote to it and after we have eliminated the Jews, you Mormons are next!" If this statement truly represented the policy of the Third Reich and not the opinion of one local official, then perhaps Mormons could be found somewhere on the hierarchy of enemies of the Reich, albeit perhaps among the lesser enemies. What put Mormons more toward the bottom of the list and religions like Jehovah's Witnesses closer to the top were their attitudes toward nations as a whole. Mormons, under the Twelfth Article of Faith supported, or at least did not oppose the regime and thus were treated more favorably. Jehovah's Witnesses, unlike Mormons, refused to pay homage to any government, and refused to serve in the German military. Hence, they found themselves near the top of the list of dissidents and undesirables.

Mormons and some other religious groups feared being moved nearer the top of the list because of doctrines which tied them to Judaism. Most of these religions believed in the Old Testament which because of its "jewishness" could be construed as subversive. . . . Mormons who take a special interest in Judaism and profess beliefs about the gathering of the Jews in the last days, had sound reasons to fear reprisals from Nazis though it appears that these beliefs were seldom denied they were not emphasized in Germany throughout the Nazi era.

It appears that for the vast majority of Mormons the primary goal was to endure the Reich until it no longer threatened them. Mormons believed that the Kingdom of God was eternal, and the Thousand Year Reich, even if it truly did last one thousand years, as Hitler predicted, would not outlast the reign of God. Therefore, if they put up with the inconvenience it was hoped that this too would pass and something more to their liking would take its place. James E. Talmage, upon reading of book burnings in the New Nazi state wrote: "If the regrettable act is expressive of the German mind and spirit—which is to be greatly doubted—it is an evidence suggestive of an impending fall of the German nation." He was right, but it took a world war and the lives of uncounted millions before his fears were realized.