Luftwaffe personnel and Nazi-party membership

[Graham Boak]

Rudel was another staunch Nazi - though we could fill entire noticeboards listing them one at a time!

Moelders apparently was a staunch Catholic. Conspiracy theories about his death centre around a letter of protest said to have been written by him, after certain Nazi policies were introduced that discriminated against Catholics, or certain Catholics, or some things that Catholics held to be important.

If true, then given that Nazi-ism was based on pagan pre-Christian ideologies, it seems strange that he took so long to cotton on. But it seems that persecution of Jews, Slavs, Communists, socialists, gypsies and homosexuals were ok, just not Catholics. I suppose there is a last straw for everyone, and we all turn blind eyes to aspects of our own societies that we would not personally favour.

It has been said, in several sources, that the Luftwaffe was the most nazified of the German armed services, presumably excluding the SS. However, there are equally as many tales of more traditional a-political attitudes, and distaste for the politically-driven (and those who chose the political route largely to further their career).

Nazi society was devoted to the elite: favours given to those who rose to the top and displayed signs of superior capabilities. The heads of major industries would naturally fall into this category, and anyone standing out would be suspect and a target for the Party. The fate of the Junkers company was perhaps an early lesson to the others.