And the Witnesses Were Silent: The Confessing Church and the Persecution of the Jews

Translator’s Note

xi translator’s note Readers familiar with the German edition of this book will notice that numerous changes have been made for the English edition; the text has been abridged and revised. All changes were made for the sake of clarity, and Dr. Gerlach has been extraordinarily helpful in advising the editor. Editorial interjections appear in square brackets throughout the text. Authorial interjections within quoted material are set in italics within square brackets. A glossary of terms translated from the German has been added. Two terms, in particular, should be noted. Throughout this book evangelisch is translated as ‘‘Evangelical’’ where it refers specifically to the Evangelical Church of Germany or offices of that institution; it is translated as ‘‘Protestant ’’ when referring to theologians, pastors, and other members of that church. The second term is Judenchristen (Jewish Christians); some documents refer to the same group of people as ‘‘non-Aryan’’ Christians. Both terms reflect the Nazi racial laws and the ideology that preceded them (latenineteenth -century church thinkers and leaders also spoke of ‘‘Jewish Christians’’). Under Nazi law, these people were categorized as nonAryan or Jewish; the degree of that designation depended on the religious ancestry of their grandparents. As Gerlach’s work shows, conversion to Christianity did not protect these people from Nazi persecution. Gerlach’s wording is followed here; Judenchristen is translated as ‘‘Jewish Christians’’ and nichtarische Christen as ‘‘non-Aryan Christians.’’ This conveys the tone of the discussion within the church, since the church viewed the situation of the Judenchristen as both racially and theologically significant. ‘‘Non-Aryan’’ and ‘‘Aryan’’ have not been enclosed in quotation marks, although the author and editor are aware that these are ideological concepts, not legitimate ones. Unless otherwise noted, all translations and page numbers of material from Eberhard Bethge’s biography Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Klaus Scholder’s two-volume The Churches and the Third Reich, and Bonhoeffer’s Ethics (Ethik) and Letters and Papers from Prison (Widerstand und Ergebung) are from the English editions of those works. A list of relevant works available in English has been appended to the bibliographical notes. And the Witnesses Were Silent ...