pencil sketch of a Nazi by Dr K Prabhakar Rao

CHRISTIAN MERGENTHALER. POLITICIAN NAZI GERMANY WW II

Julius Christian Mergenthaler (8 November 1884 – 11 September 1980), was a Nazi German politician, member of the Reichstag and Württemberg Landtag, Ministerpräsident of Württemberg and Culture Minister.Mergenthaler's time as Culture Minister saw the creation of a new college for primary school teachers, the building of schools for gifted elementary students in rural areas and the expansion of vocational training. These seemingly progressive reforms were accompanied by a strict enforcement of National Socialism in school management. He ruthlessly pursued teachers and principals who did not follow Nazi ideology, either transferring or removing them from their jobs. Young teachers were under particularly massive pressure to join the Nazi party.

Mergenthaler also led a fierce "ideological struggle" with the church, especially the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg and its Bishop, Theophil Wurm. For this he specifically used the school as a weapon. Mergenthaler intervened in parochial schools and banned teaching of parts of the Bible which he thought contrary to the "moral sense of the Germanic race", cut State contributions to the churches, forbade pastors who had not pledged allegiance to Hitler, and finally in 1939 ordered the introduction of a Nazi-tinged "Intuitive World Curriculum" in place of all religious education. His harsh crackdown created confusion and discord, hurting his cause more than helping it. At the local level, his actions led to bitter conflicts between the Church, the Nazi Party and the school bureaucracy which alienated the devout population of Württemberg. His most extreme measures were even curtailed by the Gauleiter and the National Nazi government.From 1945 to 1949, Mergenthaler was interned by the Allies at Balingen, a subcamp of the former Nazi Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp. In his 1948 Denazification trial he was convicted as a "Major Offender" (German: : Hauptschuldig) and lodged no objection. After release, he secluded himself in his house in Korntal-Münchingen and was no longer seen in public. In 1951 he received a living allowance, and after being pardoned in 1953, a full teacher's pension. He died in Bad Dürrheim in 1980.