On 5 March 1934 the Landessynode of the Protestant Church of the Palatinate (Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz) passed a unanimous motion declaring its support ‘openly and joyfully’ for the newly constituted Evangelical Church of Germany and its leader, Reichsbischof Müller, and affirming its willingness to use the Church's resources to support the National Socialist state ‘fully and completely’. Led by its bishop, Ludwig Diehl, who since April 1927 had been a committed member of the NSDAP, the Church of the Palatinate thus aligned itself with the National Socialist state and the ‘German Christians’. Only a small minority of the Palatine clergy associated themselves with the Confessing Church, and the members of the Pastors League (Pfarrerbruderschaft) in the Palatinate worked closely with the German Christians. Despite these historical realities, the post-war narrative tended to place the Pfälzische Landeskirche in the context of resistance to National Socialism. This substantial collection of essays and resources seeks to correct the previous narrative by presenting a systematic and complete account of the history of the Protestant Church of the Palatinate under National Socialism. It does so in the form of thirty-six thematic essays, complemented by seventy-nine biographical sketches of key figures (seventy-four men and five women). This is a significant collection, extensively illustrated and integrating research by more than sixty contributors, to which it is not possible to do full justice in this review.

The volume opens with Harry Oelke's overview of relationships between the Church of the Palatinate and the other Landeskirchen during 1933–45. The first section of the volume then presents in greater detail the situation in the Pfälzische Landeskirche. Erich Schunk discusses the experience of the Church during the Weimar Republic, and in particular the constitutional changes which removed it from the jurisdiction of the (Catholic) king of Bavaria and gave it a Landesbischof and a Landessynode which proved politically divided and largely ineffective. Caroline Klausing explores the conversion of the Palatine electorate from predominantly liberal in 1920 to strong support for the NSDAP by 1932, showing that the Protestant areas of the Palatinate early became National Socialist strongholds. Pia Nordblom focuses on 1933, analysing voting patterns and the underlying concerns that drove them, including the (misguided) hope that National Socialism represented a new Christianising energy which would benefit the Churches. The new regime brought rapid change: church youth groups were integrated with the Hitlerjugend and the Bund Deutscher Mädel, and by the end of November 1933 over half the active pastors in the Palatinate had declared themselves as German Christians, who were seen as offering a middle way in the political divisions that split the Church's leadership. Joachim Conrad traces the decision of the Pfälzische Landeskirche to integrate with the newly-established Reichskirche, which – in contrast to the situation of other Landeskirchen, such as that of the Rhineland – met with little resistance; the reordering of the Landessynode was one consequence of this move. Erich Schunk outlines developments between 1934 and 1939, and particularly the ongoing struggles over the role of the Landessynode which reveal the underlying debates regarding the role of democracy in church government. A particular challenge was the annexation of the Saar: Jörg Rauber considers the interplay between political and ecclesiastical interests in the area's reintegration into Germany in 1935. Walter Rummel investigates the situation of the Church, and particularly of local congregations, during the Second World War, showing how church services, and especially funerals, witnessed to conflicts between Christian and National Socialist world views, for instance when the regime sought to forbid the reading of the names of the fallen in church services. After the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1940, the Protestant Churches of Lorraine fell under the jurisdiction of the Church of thePalatinate. Siegfried Hermle shows the complexities of this process, which brought together Churches with different confessions and different financial systems. Finally, Gabriele Strüber addresses the engagement of the Pfälzische Landeskirche with – or its suppression of – its National Socialist past between 1945 and 1949, at the same time highlighting the important role of the Churches in post-war reconstruction.

The second section turns to church structures, organisations and groups. The Church of the Palatinate was early integrated into the Reichskirche, and the Landesbischof was a member of its Central Board; Franz Maier explores the resulting structures and relationships. Hannes Ziegler outlines the ways in which the Landeskirche related to the political infrastructure of the National Socialist state. The role of church councils is described by Helge Müller (Neustadt and Winzingen), Friedhelm Borggrefe (Ludwigshafen Nord) and Ingo Holzapfel (Kusel). All show the declining influence of the traditional church parties; these parties are the subject of Klaus Blümlein's essay. Thomas Fandel presents the rise of the German Christians and the national church movement. The confessional movement and the Pfarrerbruderschaft were less significant in the Palatinate than in other Landeskirchen; Michael Martin offers a brief assessment of their impact, including a list of those pastors known to have been involved (it would have been helpful to include here cross-references to those whose biographies are in volume ii). Martin Schuck considers the role of Protestant societies: the Evangelischer Bund, which positioned itself against the National Socialist focus on Germanic culture; the Society for Palatine Church History, which remained unpolitical in its publications, although its leaders included convinced National Socialists; and the Pfarrerverein, which sought to maintain a neutral position between German Christians and the Confessing Church, being much helped in this endeavour by the fact that membership in the Pfarrerverein remained a requirement for membership of the pastors’ health insurance scheme.

The Church's compliance with state violence is the subject of the third section. Evidence of anti-semitism can be found in the Church of the Palatinate long before 1933, but so too can evidence of integration of Jews in the community, as Roland Paul shows. Protestant societies supported the boycott of Jewish businesses, and although the Pfälzische Landeskirche did not officially introduce the Arierparagraph, it none the less excluded pastors who could not prove their Aryan heritage. Similarly, Christof Beyer finds that Protestant hospitals and care homes in the Palatinate approved forcible sterilisation of disabled people as early as 1931; there is no indication that the Church protested against the National Socialist euthanasia programme. Karlheinz Lipp highlights the role of anti-Communism in destabilising the Weimar Republic and exacerbating anxiety about democratic systems: a ‘No’ to communism was seen as a ‘Yes’ to National Socialism. Frank-Matthias Hofmann demonstrates the ways in which the Church, its diaconal institutions and its individual members benefitted from forced labour. However, as Markus Sasse observes, even in the Palatinate, where the Protestant Church was largely supportive of the regime, the Church and its pastors were still subject to state measures taken against them which significantly weakened the Church's position.

The final section considers the impact of National Socialism on different areas of church life in fourteen (mostly quite short) thematic essays: church services and church music (Ulrich Loschky), including the introduction of national festivals and the exclusion of ‘Jewish’ music; art and church buildings (Monika Storm), showing the continuation of earlier architectural trends, but also the integration of National Socialist imagery in windows and frescos; youth work (Ingo Holzapfel) and the integration of Protestant youth work into the state provision; academic theology and training for ministry (Karl-Heinz Fix), with attempts to restructure the Heidelberg theology faculty and the Protestant seminary in Speyer; mission (Eberhard Cherdron) and its integration in the national movement, with a counter movement offered by the establishment of bible study weeks by members of the Confessing Church; schools and religious education (Michael Landgraf), including conflicts about teaching the Old Testament, which despite opposition from representatives of the National Socialist regime remained part of the curriculum; diaconal institutions and inner mission (Norbert Friedrich) and women's work (Friedhelm Borggrefe), which grappled with the practical consequences both of the regime's policies in these areas and of the Landeskirche’s integration into the Reichskirche; pastors’ wives (Siegrun Wipfler-Pohl and Gabriele Stuber), who during the war found themselves responsible for areas for which they had received no training, such as pastoral work, bible study or leading services; the complex question of the Protestant press, with its multitude of regional publications, some of which were decidedly critical of the regime (Traudel Himminhöfer); relationships between Protestants and Catholics, and the respective positions of their Churches within the National Socialist state (Klaus Fitschen); mission and ecumenism (Frank Biebinger and Friedhelm Borggrefe); church finances (Karin Kessel), which were significantly influenced both by the reduction of the state's contribution in 1934 and 1939, and by changes to the church tax in 1935, 1939 and 1942; and, finally, pastoral care in the border zone (Frank-Matthias Hoffmann and Christine Lauer), where the population was subject to large scale evacuations and often left heavily dependent on the local clergy for support.

The biographies presented in the second volume show the many different ways in which individuals engaged with, supported or resisted the National Socialist regime. Members of the NSDAP; members of the Pfarrerbruderschaft; SS-leaders; opposition politicians; leaders of the Church's women's work and of the National Socialist women's organisation; a woman excluded from the synod when women were forbidden to be members; the Landesbischof; and many more: this is a rich collection which illustrates the personal realities of the events and issues discussed in the essays. The striking number of death-dates which lie in or after the 1970s also indicates the long influence of this generation in the post-war Church.

These two volumes represent an important contribution to the exploration of the German Churches under National Socialism. The Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz is to be congratulated on its commitment to the exploration of a difficult chapter in its history. The decision to do so has resulted in an impressive collection of resources which deserves to be widely used, and which has also identified significant areas in need of further study.