The Nazis saw Christianity as a competing authority and attempted to seize control of Protestant churches and their institutions.

Some German Protestants supported the regime and tried to synthesize Christianity and Nazi ideology. Leaders of the German Christians’ Faith Movement proclaimed, "In the person of the Fuhrer we behold the One sent from God who places Germany int eh presence of the Lord of history."

Hundreds of other Protestant clergyman formed an opposition group, the confessional church, and were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps.

In exchange for a Vatican promise of neutrality, the German Catholic Church was allowed to remain independent of direct Nazi control. Nevertheless, Catholic schools were persecuted so vigorously that by 1939, there were few left in Germany.