In April 1929, the 20-year old, Maximilian T., wrote to Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the archbishop of and Freising, and asked, “Is it true that the Catholic clergy is of the general opinion that a devout Catholic cannot be an antisemite?” One week later, Father Dr. Rudolf Hindringer, secretary to Cardinal Faulhaber, answered Maximilian in a brief letter. Hindringer wrote, “If antisemitism means hatred against a particular group of people it is not permitted according to Catholic moral teaching.” However, he added, “It is different if, without hatred, you pursue the objective that a group of people in a system of finance or in the civil service should not have so great an influence in proportion to their number and spiritual importance.” This brief exchange between a young National Socialist and an archdiocesan official offers insights into the difficult situation that existed between Catholics and Jews in the 1920s. Though most Church officials did not wish to promote antisemitism openly, at the same time, in their written and spoken rhetoric, they continued to reveal their prejudices toward and mistrust of Jews. Yet some Church officials were still open to overtures made by the Jewish community and endeavored to combat antisemitism when it appeared. .
This paper will examine the complex relationship between Jews and Catholics at the cusp of Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor and immediately thereafter. To reexamine Faulhaber's relationship with Jews living in, it will utilize material from Cardinal Faulhaber’s papers in the Munich Archdiocesan archive, papers that have only recently been available to scholars. These materials offer a corrective to the readings offered by previous historians, showing the often contradictory relationship Faulhaber had with's Jews.