How did Germany's Christians respond to Nazism? In "Twisted Cross, "
Doris Bergen addresses one important element of this response by
focusing on the 600,000 self-described "German Christians, " who sought
to expunge all Jewish elements from the Christian church. In a process
that became more daring as Nazi plans for genocide unfolded, this group
of Protestant lay people and clergy rejected the Old Testament, ousted
people defined as non-Aryans from their congregations, denied the Jewish
ancestry of Jesus, and removed Hebrew words like "Hallelujah" from
hymns.