Martin Luther in Nazi Germany

This article is about the Reformation leader. For the contemporary NSDAP member, see Martin Luther (diplomat).
Detail from Cranach the Younger portrait of Martin Luther.
Third Reich postcard of Martin Luther.

The German Reformation theologian Martin Luther was widely lauded in Nazi Germany prior to the Nazi government's dissolution in 1945, with German leadership praising his seminal position in German history while leveraging his antisemitism and folk hero status to further legitimize their own positive Christian religious policies and Germanic ethnonationalism.[1] Luther was seen as both a cross-confessional figurehead and as a symbol of German Protestant support for the Nazi regime in particular, with a religious leader even comparing Führer Adolf Hitler to Luther directly.[2]

A major aspect of this ideological relationship was Martin Luther's birthday on November 10, the 450th anniversary of which was celebrated as a national holiday, the Luthertag, in 1933.[3]

  1. ^ Lindquist, David H., Luther’s Antisemitism in Historical Context: A Necessary Discussion for Christian Educators. Routledge, via The Wikipedia Library, 2013
  2. ^ Richard Steigmann-Gall, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945, (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p.138.
  3. ^ Miller, Emily McFarlan and Heneghan, Tom, "The Nazis Exploited Martin Luther's Legacy. This Berlin Exhibit Highlights How." Sojourners, 20 October 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2023.