A PRECURSER TO NAZISM

by Jim Walker

Originated Aug 7, 1996

Additions Nov 20, 2005

No apologist can claim that Martin Luther bore his anti-Jewishness out of youthful naivete', uneducation, or out of unfounded Christianity. On the contrary, Luther in his youth expressed a great optimism about Jewish conversion to Christianity. But in his later years, Luther began to realize that the Jews would not convert to his wishes. His anti-Jewishness grew slowly over time. His logic came not from science or reason, but rather from Scripture and his Faith. His "On the Jews and Their Lies" shows remarkable study into the Bible and fanatical biblical reasoning. Luther, at age 60 wrote this dangerous "little" book at the prime of his maturity, and in full knowledge in support of his beliefs and Christianity.

Few people today realize that Luther wrote 'On the Jews and Their Lies.' (He also wrote such works like "Against the Sabbatarians.") Freethinkers should become aware of the anti-Semitic influence that Luther has brought on the world. His vehement attack on Jews and his powerful influence on the German faithful has brought a new hypothesis to mind: that the Jewish holocaust, and indeed, the eliminationist form of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany may not have occurred without the influence from Luther's book: A must read!

 "On the Jews and Their Lies."

Hitler refers to Martin Luther as one of the great 

reformers of history, and as such, one of the “great warriors of this World.”109 It cannot 

be mere coincidence that Hitler’s anti-Jewish sentiment of the 1930s and 1940s mirrors 

that of Luther’s anti-Semitism of the 1500s. In fact, the Nazis themselves acknowledged 

Martin Luther as their spiritual leader. When on trial in Nuremberg, Germany after 

World War II, one of Hitler’s top officials declared, 

Dr. Martin Luther would very probably sit in my place in the defendants’ dock

today, if this book had been taken into consideration by the prosecution. 

Martin Luther writes that the Jews are a serpent’s brood and one should burn 

down their synagogues and destroy them.110

 Although Martin Luther has never been put on trial, the Nazis seemed to think that he 

was just as guilty as they (or, that they were just as innocent as he was). Some people in 

Hitler’s time went so far as to believe that Hitler was the reincarnation of Luther; the 

Minister of Education in Nazi Germany wrote: 

Since Martin Luther closed his eyes, no such son of our people has appeared 

again. It has been decided that we shall be the first to witness his reappearance… I

think the time is past when one may not say the names of Hitler and Luther in the 

same breath. They belong together – they are of the same old stamp.111

However people like to believe it, there is no denying the fact that Martin Luther and 

Adolf Hitler are inseparably linked with their extreme anti-Semitism and nationalism. It 

is because of this link that “the line from Luther to Hitler runs straight; and that one of the 

main causes which turned Germany into a country of barbarians, was Martin Luther and his German Reformation.