Two Altars

In the official churches, loyalty to Christ was subsumed into loyalty to Hitler, as symbolized by combining the cross and the swastika on the altar. No conflict could ever be allowed to develop between them. In practice this meant loyalty to Hitler determined one’s actual conduct in the world, while Christ’s lordship was relegated to one’s private, inner, religious life. The banner hanging in the makeshift chapel at Bonhoeffer’s seminary makes a different confession. The Nazi slogan was Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer (“One people, one nation, one leader”). The banner counters with Ephesians 4:5, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”