Martin Luther references from the Nazis

Artifacts
(The article Nazi German artifacts about Martin Luther contains additional photos of items about Luther from the Nazis.)

Luthertag
Luthertag (English: Luther Day) was celebrated by the Nazis.

Quotes about Martin Luther from Nazis

 * “... Among them must be counted the great warriors in this world who, though not understood by the present, are nevertheless prepared to carry the fight for their ideas and ideals to their end. They are the men who some day will be closest to the heart of the people; it almost seems as though every individual feels the duty of compensating in the past for the sins which the present once committed against the great. Their life and work are followed with admiring gratitude and emotion, and especially in days of gloom they have the power to raise up broken hearts and despairing souls. To them belong, not only the truly great statesmen, but all other great reformers as well. Beside Frederick the Great stands Martin Luther as well as Richard Wagner. ...”, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume 1, Chapter 8.


 * “... A few days ago I was in Eisenach and stood on top of the Wartburg, where a great German once translated the Bible. ...”, Adolf Hitler, speech in Schleiz, Thuringia, January 18, 1927. (Hitler is referring to Martin Luther, who translated the Bible at the Wartburg castle.)


 * “Since Martin Luther closed his eyes, no such son of our people has appeared again. It has been decided that we shall be the first to witness his reappearance ... I think the time is past when one may not say the names of Hitler and Luther in the same breath. They belong together; they are of the same old stamp [Schrot und Korn].”, Bernhard Rust.


 * “... in our church the Word of Christ according to the doctrine of Luther remains. ... Righteousness, truth and love should guide us, not only at the level of charity but also in the joyful and active struggles for our Protestant confession of faith.”, Erich Koch.


 * “Through his acts and his spiritual attitude, he began the fight which we will wage today; with Luther, the revolution of German blood and feeling against alien elements of the Volk was begun. To continue and complete his Protestantism, nationalism must make the picture of Luther, of a German fighter, live as an example 'above the barriers of confession' for all German blood comrades.”, Hans Hinkel.


 * “What went for Luther goes for us as well: only through the mirror of our blood and our race are we able to see God as he must be seen.”, Hans Schemm.


 * “Luther's engagement against the decomposing Jewish spirit is clearly evident not only from his writing against the Jews; his life too was idealistically, philosophically antisemitic. Now we Germans of today have the duty to recognize and acknowledge this.”, Hans Schemm.


 * “We wish for nothing as ardently as a powerful Protestant Church which stands on the foundations prepared by the great Reformer Martin Luther. ...”, Hans Schemm.


 * “... what Luther said and wrote about the Jews. No judgment could be sharper.”, Heinrich Himmler, 1940.


 * “Luther saw the Jews above all as murderers of Christ. We see in them destroyers of God's creation, whose defense is the duty of all Germans and also of the German Protestant church.”, Heinz Erich Eisenhuth, 1941.


 * “Antisemitic publications have existed in Germany for centuries. A book I had, written by Dr. Martin Luther, was, for instance, confiscated. Dr. Martin Luther would very probably sit in my place in the defendants' dock today, if this book had been taken into consideration by the Prosecution. In this book The Jews and Their Lies, Dr. Martin Luther writes that the Jews are a serpent's brood and one should burn down their synagogues and destroy them...”, Julius Streicher, 1946.


 * “The Talmud forbids Jews to heal Gentiles. Instead, they must murder them! “The Jew is not a German, but rather a deceiver. He is not a citizen, but rather a butcher.” So wrote Dr. Martin Luther four hundred years ago about that foreign race of the Jews. He would write no differently today. The Jew has remained a deceiver and a butcher until the present day. He has remained so in every area of life. ...”, Karl Holz.


 * “... The great German Martin Luther saw through the Jew, unfortunately too late, and called for burning his synagogues and Jewish schools and covering them with earth “so that no one will ever again be able to see so much as a stone or a cinder of what remains.” Speaking of what we formerly tolerated out of ignorance, Luther went on to say: “I did not know it myself, God forgive us, but now that we know, we may not protect these places any longer. In them, they defame Christ and us, insult us, curse us, spit on us, defile us. To ignore it would be to do these things to ourselves. We must also destroy their dwellings, since there they do the same things they do in their schools.” And Luther further wrote: “Some may think I say too much. I do not say too much, but rather too little, for I see what they write.” ...”, Robert Ley, “Pesthauch der Welt”, 1944.


 * “When Luther turned his attention to the Jews, after he completed his translation of the Bible, he left behind “on the Jews and their Lies" for posterity.”, Walter Buch.


 * “Many people confess their amazement that Hitler preaches ideas which they have always held.... From the Middle Ages we can look to the same example in Martin Luther. What stirred in the soul and spirit of the German people of that time, finally found expression in his person, in his words and deeds.”, Walter Buch.

Trust No Fox on His Green Heath and No Jew on His Oath
The title of the antisemitic Nazi book Trust No Fox on His Green Heath and No Jew on His Oath, published in 1936 by Julius Streicher's publishing house, refers to words by Martin Luther: “Trau keinem Wolf auf wilder Heiden / Auch keinem Juden auf seine Eiden ...” (English: “Trust no wolf in wild heathland / Also no Jew on his oath ...”).