18 Facts About Christian Mergenthaler

Julius Christian Mergenthaler was a German Nazi Party politician who served as the Ministerprasident and culture minister of Wurttemberg for nearly the entire duration of Nazi Germany.

Christian Mergenthaler served as a deputy in the Wurttemberg Landtag for nine years, and in the Reichstag for one term.

Christian Mergenthaler was a member of the Nazi paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung, and rose to the rank of SA-Obergruppenfuhrer.

Christian Mergenthaler attended the local Volksschule between 1894 and 1898 and then graduated from the Gymnasium in Bad Cannstatt in 1902.

Christian Mergenthaler performed mandatory military service as a one-year volunteer between 1908 and 1909 with the 13th Foot Artillery Regiment, headquartered in Ulm.

Christian Mergenthaler then passed the second state examination in 1911, and was employed as a senior teacher in the grammar and high schools in Leonberg.

Christian Mergenthaler returned to military service during the First World War as an artillery battery commander in the 24th Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment, much of that time at the front.

In 1920, Christian Mergenthaler became a Gymnasium professor in the town of Schwabisch Hall.

Christian Mergenthaler co-founded the local chapter of the Nazi Party in Schwabisch Hall in 1922, and became heavily engaged in propaganda activities as a public speaker.

Christian Mergenthaler won a seat in the Reichstag from electoral constituency 31 but only served there until the next election in November 1924.

Christian Mergenthaler hesitated to do so until 1927 because he thought Adolf Hitler's dictatorial style was harmful to the cause.

Christian Mergenthaler, since 1927, was a long-serving member in the Party's paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung, and he attained the rank of SA-Obergruppenfuhrer in November 1938.

Christian Mergenthaler always wore his SA uniform at public events.

Clearly overshadowed by Murr, who held the highest Party and governmental posts, Christian Mergenthaler nonetheless remained influential in his position as culture minister.

Christian Mergenthaler ruthlessly pursued teachers and principals who did not follow Nazi ideology, either transferring or removing them from their jobs.

Christian Mergenthaler led a fierce "ideological struggle" with the Church, especially the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Wurttemberg and its bishop, Theophil Wurm.

Christian Mergenthaler intervened in parochial schools and banned teaching of parts of the Bible that he thought contrary to the "moral sense of the Germanic race", cut State contributions to the churches, forbade pastors who had not pledged allegiance to Hitler and, in 1939, finally ordered the introduction of a Nazi-tinged "Intuitive World Curriculum" in place of all religious education.

Christian Mergenthaler moved to Bad Durrheim in 1977 where he died in September 1980.