It's a shame that only one reviewer has preceded me. If Catholics were reading this book, there would probably be many trying to undermine it, as there are the excellent book by another Roman Catholic scholar, John Cornwell.

Cornwell's book may be making a bigger splash because of his controversial title, "Hitler's Pope, the secret history of Pius XII". Both authors are obviously pained, as Catholics themselves, by the facts which they uncovered, and are not happy to be exposing the shameful record of their church regarding the Holocaust. But loyalty to God does not allow them to hide or misrepresent the truth about their church. And for that they are to be praised - by God, if not by all of their fellow Catholics! -

The prior reviewer does a great job of summarizing Gordon Zahn's book. I urge Christians as well as Jews to read both of these books, (...)

This book exposes the powerful support for Hitler and his war on the part of the German Catholic hierarchy.

These men were, for the most part, anti-Nazi.

Their protests, however, were limited to complaints about harassment of Catholics, confiscation of religious property and the creation a new pagan cult.

For the most part they urged their flocks to support the Nazis, especially in World War Two.

Prohibitions against support of unjust wars had no affect on them and Zahn enumerates the reasons why.

First of all, Catholic teaching led them to support the secular government.

In this regard, the Pope's recognition of Hitler's regime as legitimate set a tragic example for all Catholics to follow.

Second, like most Germans, they were pained by their country's set-backs in World War One and yearned for Germany to attain the glorious role it deserved on the world stage.

Another contributing factor was, apparently, the important role that obedience to authority and duty to the fatherland played in German culture.

Finally, these men feared Communism. Communists had staged a number of unsuccessful coups in Germany in the years following World War One and Hitler was against Bolshevism.

Ironically, Zahn repeatedly refers to these men as heroes while portraying them as leaders gone astray.

Some had been active in the inter-war peace movement but Zahn quotes sermon after sermon in which they urge their congregations to serve loyally and lavish praise upon soldiers "defending" their country.

In a number of asides Zahn also calls into question the role of the bishops' opposite numbers in the Allied camp whom, he feels, betrayed their callings as well when they did not oppose the bombing of cities and demand for an unconditional surrender.

Most of the well-known heroes of World War II are military figures. This book tells the story of another sort of hero, Franz Jaegerstaetter, an Austrian peasant farmer and husband and father of three daughters, who refused to perform his military service in the Nazi army on grounds of conscience. He was executed in Berlin on August 9, 1943 by the Nazis for his conscientious objection, "in solitary witness" to peace. The author, Gordon Zahn, an American conscientious objector during World War II and a sociologist, does a masterful job of capturing the social and religious context in which Jaegerstaetter's refusal to fight became possible. Zahn interviewed a number of villagers in St. Radegund -- including the widow and children of Jaegerstaetter -- to gain an understanding of the development of this uneducated farmer's faith in God and his convictions against war. The author is able to unravel the mystery of how such a simple man could have withstood the criticism and ostracization of his neighbors, the disapproval of his family, and the unwillingness of his Catholic church leaders (with the exception of his parish priest) to support his objection. In telling the story of a single brave man, the author is able to illustrate the possibility for any of us to stand against the social pressure citizens of every nation feel to support their government's involvement in wars, be they just or unjust. In the Preface, Zahn notes that Daniel Ellsberg has often acknowledged that it was the inspiration he felt after reading this book that led him to release the Pentagon Papers to the media in his effort to end the Vietnam War. It is also interesting to note that this book brought Jaegerstaetter's story to the attention of later Church authorities in Austria, who have begun an "investigation" of Franz's life and death in a first step toward his possible canonization as a saint in the Catholic Church. This story told in this book has moved government and church authorities to rethink their understanding and acceptance of war; it will move any reader to do the same.