Zusammenfassung / Abstract
The Encyclical „Mit brennender Sorge“ is seen as a turning point in the confrontation between the Catholic Church and the ideology of National Socialism. Prepared by a selected group of German bishops and enforced by the Secretary of State Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XI. published his document in German language on 14th of March 1937. The officials of the National Socialism regime where totally surprised, so that the Encyclical could be offered in all Catholic Churches in Germany. As an answer of wroth many Catholic priests and laymen suffered persecution, some of them where later killed in prisons and concentration camps.