Paul Schneider

The Story of Paul Schneider – one Christian man stands against the Nazis.

Paul Schneider & his wife

Paul Schneider was an eighteen year old German soldier in the First World War, for his bravery he was awarded the Iron Cross. In the same army another German soldier was recognised for bravery, Adolf Hitler.

When the war ended Paul Schneider decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and study theology, from his letters and diaries we know that Paul really struggled with many Christian issues, he had been taught that the bible was full of error and contradiction, he found the ideas of German Communism And Socialism appealing. As a German he did not like the Treaty Of Versailles and felt Germany had been humiliated by it.

Just before Christmas 1921 his struggles came to an end, and he experienced a personal conversion to Christ, he came to understand that man is a sinner, and in real need of redemption, and that the Bible is the Word of God. Now Schneider felt he had an urgent message to preach; the biblical gospel that salvation is by repentance and faith in Christ.

In the years leading up to his ordination Paul was employed for a while as part of a working gang in a blast furnace near Dortmund, he also worked for the Berlin City Mission, becoming acquainted with poor and wretched men – he wanted to understand ordinary working men.

In 1925 he became the assistant pastor at Essen, the next year his father died, and Paul was called to be his successor at his father’s church in Hochelheim. His first sermon was based on 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which declares that all scripture is God-breathed, which means it is without error. This and other examples demonstrate he was a bold and powerful preacher, much respected and loved by those whom he ministered to.

On 30th January 1933 Hitler came to power and life in Germany began to change. Over half the people of Hochelheim freely voted for the Nazis, nevertheless from an early stage Schneider spoke out against wrong policies and actions. He would never use the greeting ‘Heil Hitler’ as he considered it a form of idolatry.

Some ‘Christians’ who called themselves, ‘German Christians’ accepted Nazism, and Schneider would have nothing to do with them because they accepted Hitler’s anti-semitic policies. He posted anti Nazi notices on his bulletin board. Unfortunately the elders of the church would not support him in his stance, and he was forced to take a new pastorate with two churches, one in Dickenschied and the other in nearby Wormrath.

In June 1934 Schneider was leading a funeral service of a young man who had been a member of Hitler Youth. As he walked ahead of the coffin he could see a parade of the Hitler Youth with bands and flags. At the end of the service the local Nazi Leader spoke at length asserting that this young man would now be in the Nazi battalion in heaven. Paul Schneider felt he had to step in and explain the truth of the gospel at this point, and that there was no Nazi battalion in heaven. The Nazi leader stormed away and the parade broke up. A week after the funeral Schneider was arrested and imprisoned for a week – on his release he was given a strong warning to stop opposing the wishes of the state. Schneider made it clear that while he did not deliberately intend to antagonise the state, he must respect the truth of the gospel. He had started a collision course with a totalitarian state.

During the winter of 1935-36 the Nazis warned Schneider on twelve separate occasions. They resented the fact that faithful Christians had organised themselves into ‘The Confessing Church’. He also resisted pressure put on Christian Youth groups to integrate into Hitler Youth, and kept praying and collecting for a mission to Jews that his church supported.

When Hitler ordered German troops to occupy the Rhineland, the Nazis organised a vote, to indicate that German people approved of his actions. On the voting paper there was no place to say ‘no’, so the inevitable result was 99% in favour! Paul Schneider decided not to vote. Nazis graffitied his house in red paint after this event abusing his decision. Paul wrote at this time, “National Socialism becomes more obviously opposed to biblical Christianity every day” this was definitely the case.

On 31st May 1937 two Gestapo agents burst into his study and arrested him, he was given no time to pack any belongings and was taken to Koblenz for questioning. There he was held in an underground cell, no charges were brought against him, or questions asked, but he was treated like a prisoner he was released eight weeks later on the condition that he left the Rhineland area where he was living and working. For the short term he went to recover and receive medical attention outside the Rhineland. He refused to be bullied by the Nazis and was determined to return to his pulpit, although his wife tried to persuade him against such action, pointing out that he would only be rearrested should he go back. During his first sermon back in the Rhineland he was again arrested, as one of Hitler’s personal prisoners, someone the Fuhrer himself was keen to see silenced.

On 25th November 1937 Schneider was taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, all the time the guards said if he would just sign a piece of paper to say that he would not preach anymore he could be free. Like the other prisoners he worked a 16hour shifts but constantly maintained his Christian witness, he fasted every Friday and gave his meagre rations away.

On 20th April 1938 Adolf Hitler celebrated his 49th birthday, the prisoners were ordered to line up, remove their hats and salute the Nazi swatika flag. Paul Schneider refused to do this and was struck 25 times with an oxhide whip – then his bleeding body was left in solitary confinement for the next fifteen months.

On Sunday 28th August 1938 Paul preached through the bars of his cell to men lined up for roll call – after two minutes guards rushed into his cell and pulled him away from the bars, he was once again tied to the rack and given another twenty five strokes of the whip.

In January 1939 two prisoners who tried to escape were hanged in front of the inmates, Schneider called out through the window, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I witness against the murder of these fellow prisoners….” The response was another twenty five lashes.

A guard said to him, “If we released you, what would you do?” Paul replied, “I would go to the nearest town, and the first kerbstone would become a pulpit from which I would denounce the brutal crimes committed here” for saying that he was suspended by his wrists from the window bars, with his feet off the floor for hours.

Some survivors recall hearing Schneider preach from his cell on numerous occasions Every time he did this his tortures increased but his faith in the Lord grew stronger.

Finally on 18th July 1939 the starved, beaten, bleeding Paul Schneider died when the camp doctor injected him with a massive overdose of strophanthin. He was 41 years old.

Related pages: History Mrs March Year Ten Year Eleven

Category: History

Author: Mrs March