NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMAN WORKERS PARTY Berlin—Wilhelmstrasse 64 The Deputy of the Fuehrer
Munich—Brown House
5 April 1940 III/Dr Kl.-Pu
[Stamped]
Office Rosenberg
Rec'd Nr 1028 M April 9, 1940
Submitted to R April 9
Copy AR and Urban H Personal!
To
Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg Berlin W 35 Margaretenstr. 17
Subject: "Church Services
Enclosed please find a copy of the letter of the High Command of the Navy as well as a copy of my reply of this date, for your personal information.
Heil Hitler! by [illegible] signed: M BORMANN
2 enclosures
114
068—PS
NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMAN WORKERS PARTY Berlin—Wilhelmstrasse 64 The Deputy of the Fuehrer
Munich—Brown House April 5, 1940 III/Dr. Kl-Pu
To the High Command of the Navy Berlin W 35, Tirpitzufer 72/76
Subject: "Church Services" Your letter of 9 Feb 1940—AMA/
M Wehr lib B. Nr 896
In the opinion of the party the term "Church Service" cannot be objected to. I consider it fitting since it properly implies meetings arranged and organized by the churches.
Those Germans who are not members of a Christian Church may be offended by an announcement in a daily newspaper that only the members of the Christian confession are holding a "divine service". After the National Socialist State has created the conception "God-believing" [Gottgläubig] especially for those Germans who confess the belief in God and who have placed their lives in the "Service of God"—without being members of a Christian confession—it can no longer be justified to refer exclusively to the Services arranged by the Christian confessions as' "Divifte Services", even in the National Socialist dailies.
Heil Hitler!
signed: M BORMANN (acting)
Copy
The High Command of the Navy, AMA/M Wehr lib B Nr 896 Berlin W 35, Tirpitzufer 72/76 Feb 9, 1940 To the office of the Deputy of the Fuehrer.
With reference to the letter of the Supreme Commander of the Navy dated Oct' 24, 1939 and the reply of the Deputy of the Fuehrer dated Nov 3, 1939 I inform you that in the Wilhelmshaven newspapers the expression "Church Services" is still being changed to "Divine Services".
The High Command requests that this regulation, apparently issued erroneously to all principal newspapers by the Chief Press Agency in Bremen, be revoked.
signed: 115
Heil Hitler!
by [illegible] [signature illegible]
115
068 PS
Rear Admiral and Headquarters Commandant in the Supreme Headquarters of the Navy, certified a true copy: signed: PAFF
Letters on the proper use of the terms "church service" (for church members) and "divine service" (for non-church-members)
Authors
Martin Bormann (Chief, Party Chancellery, deputy to Hess, then Hitler)
Martin Bormann
German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (1900-1945)
- Born: 1900-07-17 1900-06-17 (Halberstadt)
- Died: 1945-05-02 (Berlin)
- Country of citizenship: German Empire; Nazi Germany; Weimar Republic
- Occupation: farmer; military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Schutzstaffel
- Participant in: Aryanization; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant; since: 1945-11-19)
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer; soldier
Date: 05 April 1940
Literal Title: Subject: "Church Services["]
Defendants: Martin Bormann, Alfred Rosenberg
Total Pages: 2
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-068
Citation: IMT (page 255)
HLSL Item No.: 450424
Notes:Bormann signed the first two items (one to Rosenberg), both on 5 April; the letter from the High Command of the Navy to Bormann (9 February 1940) was signed by the headquarters commandant (who is not named).
Trial Issues
Conspiracy (and Common plan, in IMT) (IMT, NMT 1, 3, 4) IMT count 1: common plan or conspiracy (IMT) Nazi regime (rise, consolidation, economic control, and militarization) (I… Persecution of political, religious, and ethnic ("racial") groups (IMT, NM…
Document Summary
PS-68: Letter from Bormann to Rosenberg, 5 April 1940, with two enclosures: letter from the high command of the navy to the deputy to the FÜhrer, 9 february 1940, and the latter’s answer, 5 April 1940, concerning the substitution of the word "kirchendienst" (church service) for "gottesdienst" (lit. God’s service)