Thread by @thirdreichpast

University Press), Volume I, which compiles pre-1932 addresses from original German newspapers like the Völkischer Beobachter. An online version is accessible via the Internet Archive: archive.org/details/speech…. x.com/Cab00seSSJ4/st…

April 1922 Munich speech excerpt matching your description.

For the original German transcript, refer to Max Domarus' "Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, 1932–1945 .amazon.com/Hitler-Speeche…

hitler-archive.com/speeches.php

What did Hitler mean when he said he wanted to fight all established religions? I thought he was a devoted christian?

The speech is an early address by Adolf Hitler delivered in Munich, in the early 1920s (exact date uncertain, but stylistically and contextually from the period when he was building the nascent Nazi Party, around 1920–1922).

Excerpt from the Speech Here's the key section (translated into English the original was in German), where Hitler refers to himself and the Nazi movement in the third person to dramatize the perceived absurdity of their goals:

"When I first entered this city, then even my best friends abandoned me. They could not understand how an otherwise reasonable man suddenly got the idea in his head to fight an entire world of realities.

They said. 'What does this poor soul want?'
He has neither money, nor does he have a name. He hasn’t got a single newspaper behind him. He hasn’t got a party. He’s got everything against him. He wants to fight against everything.

He wants to fight the employers, yet he also wants to fight the proletariat.

He wants to fight against the democratic state, yet against autonomous regions as well. He wants to fight all established religions. He wants to fight Capital, yet also the trade unions.

There is nothing this man does not want to fight! He wants to build a new state, a new society! And he hasn’t gotten a single person behind him! A madman who wants to go out alone and declare war against a majority in all areas!

It wasn’t so easy, this struggle. Despite everything, gradually small victories began to show. Against the silencing methods, as well as the ridicule and mockery, later, against the flood of lies and slander. And finally against the terror.

The young movement began to establish itself. [...]
Long live our movement! Long live our German folk! Long live our German Reich! Sieg heil!"

The speech continues in this vein, transitioning to a triumphant note about the party's growing success

And the "immortality of our Folk" (Volk, emphasizing racial/national destiny). It's a classic example of Hitler's oratorical style: self-mythologizing, repetitive for emphasis, and building from underdog struggle to inevitable victory.

What Did Hitler Mean by "Fight All Established Religions"?In this context, the phrase isn't a detailed theological attack but part of a broader rhetorical litany portraying National Socialism as a total revolution.

A "war against everything" that defined the old, corrupt Weimar-era order. Hitler is mocking how critics viewed the Nazis as unrealistic radicals for simultaneously challenging

Economic powers: Capitalists and unions/proletariat ( both sides of class conflict).

Political structures: The democratic republic and regional autonomies (federalism).

Social/cultural pillars: Including "all established religions" as entrenched institutions allied with the status quo.

The "fight" here means subordinating or dismantling their influence to make way for a unified, Nazi-dominated state. Religions (primarily christianity, as the dominant faith in Germany).

Were seen as obstacles because churches often supported the Weimar system or opposed extremism.

They promoted universalism and charity, clashing with Nazi racial hierarchy and eugenics.
Clergy criticized Nazi violence ( against ,jews or political opponents).

This wasn't about abolishing personal faith outright but depriving organized religion of independent power. The Nazis aimed to "coordinate" (Gleichschaltung) churches under state control, replacing traditional doctrines with ones compatible with Aryan supremacy.

Was Hitler a devoted christian? No, not in any genuine, orthodox sense despite occasional public nods to christianity for political gain. His "devotion" was tactical.

Public persona: Early on (1920s–1930s), Hitler invoked god, providence, and christian symbols to woo conservative voters. For example, in Mein Kampf (1925), he called himself "acting in accordance with the will of the almighty creator" by fighting jews.

Party platforms like the 1920 NSDAP 25-Point Program demanded "positive christianity" (a Nazified version stripping jewish elements and emphasizing anti-semitism).

Private reality: Hitler despised christianity as a "jewish invention" that promoted weakness, equality, and pacifism ideas antithetical to Nazi strength-worship and conquest.

In private monologues ( Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944), he called it a "rebellion against natural law" and predicted its end:

"Our epoch will certainly see the end of the disease of christianity. It will last another hundred years, two hundred years perhaps." He admired Islam and Shintoism more for their martial ethos.

Nazi policy: They persecuted dissenting clergy (thousands of priests sent to Dachau), closed catholic schools, and promoted alternatives like the pro-Nazi "German christians" movement or Himmler's Neo-Pagan SS rituals.

Post-war plans (Generalplan Ost) envisioned eradicating churches in conquered territories.

Historians like Richard J. Evans (The Third Reich Trilogy) and Ian Kershaw (Hitler: A Biography) describe this as opportunistic hypocrisy

Hitler needed christian voters but viewed religion as a tool for state control, not personal belief.

All of the most significant members of the NSDAP, including Hitler himself, Himmler, Rosenberg, Goebbels, Bormann, and Heydrich, to name just a few, all attacked christianity and its churches.

All of these men held their positions of power within the highest ranks of the Third Reich and were tolerated.

Hitler hated christianity and aimed to replace it after the war.

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