Confessing Church

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The Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) was a Christian resistance movement in Nazi Germany. In 1933 the Gleichschaltung forced Protestant churches to merge into the Protestant Reich Church and support Nazi ideology. Opposition was forced to go "underground" to meet. In 1934, a group of pastors and congregations re-affirmed in the Barmen declaration the focus of the church on Christ and their opposition against Nazi ideology.

Many of the leaders of the Confessing Church, such as Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were sent to concentration camps, and some died there. Christians who did not agree with the Nazis thus were without leadership. The Confessing Church engaged in various forms of resistance, notably hiding Jews from the Nazi regime. The Confessing Church is a unique example of a crypto-Christian movement operating in a majority Christian country.

For the unrelated movement with a similar name in present-day North America, see Confessing Movement.

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