Hitler's election poster uses the concordat of Pius XII
The present pope would probably prefer that the shocking-pink poster with Gothic lettering remains out of sight in its museum drawer. For Benedict is doing all he can to advance the canonisation of the Germanophile wartime pope, Pius XII. This poster, however, draws a clear connection between the Reichskonkordat, negotiated by Pius, and Hitler’s rise to power.
Adolf Hitler's election poster that used the concordat of Pius XII. See translation below.
The poster was printed for the Reichstag election of 12 November 1933, when voters were already being presented with a single list of candidates to be approved or rejected as a group: the “Hitler list”. The poster is titled “Why is a Catholic obliged to vote for the parliamentary list of Adolf Hitler?” It answers this question by enumerating the benefits to the Church of the concordat negotiated by Pius XII, and signed just months before.
Naturally, the poster doesn’t mention that the Reichskonkordat also contained a Secret Supplement providing for a future German mobilisation, in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. The secret part of the concordat indicates that already in 1933 the Pope expected Germany to go to war against Russia. And a recently discovered letter shows that ten years later, when this indeed happened, Pius hoped for a German victory. It was a marriage of convenience: Pius got a favourable concordat and a German army to fight Communism, whilst Hitler got the “Catholic vote” to help bring him to power.
And it worked. The German voters had no idea that their Führer and their Pope were conspiring to send them off to war. In the November 1933 election 93% of the unspoiled ballots approved the Nazi decision to withdraw from the League of Nations and 92% endorsed the “Hitler list”. This election doomed the Reichstag to political insignificance. Now posted online for the first time is a clear photo and an English translation of Hitler’s fateful pink election poster.
Translation
Why is a Catholic obliged to vote for the parliamentary list of Adolf Hitler? Because in the National Socialist state intrinsically and through the Reichskonkordat
1. the Faith is protected,
2. peace with the Church is assured,
3. public morality is preserved,
4. Sunday is hallowed,
5. Catholic schools are maintained,
6. the Catholic conscience is no longer burdened,
7. a Catholic has equal rights before the law and in the life of the nation,
8. Catholic organisations and associations, insofar as they exclusively serve religious, charitable and cultural purposes, can operate freely.
Therefore a Catholic is obliged on 12 November [1933] to vote thus:
Referendum: yes
Parliamentary election: Adolf Hitler
Transcription
„Warum muß der Katholik die Reichstagsliste Adolf Hitlers wählen? Weil im nationalsozialistischen Staat an sich und durch das Reichskonkordat
1. die Religion geschützt ist,
2. der kirchliche Frieden gesichert ist,
3. die öffentliche Sittlichkeit gewährt bleibt,
4. der Sonntag geheiligt wird,
5. die Bekenntnisschule erhalten ist,
6. das katholische Gewissen nicht mehr belastet ist,
7. der Katholik vor dem Gesetz und im Staatsleben gleichberechtigt ist,
8. die katholische Vereine u. Verbände, soweit sie ausschließl. religiösen, charativen und kulturellen Zwecken dienen, frei arbeiten können.
Deshalb muß der Katholik am 12. Nov. so wählen: Volksabstimmung: Ja - Reichstagswahl: Adolf Hitler“
Source
Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, DHM 1988/284.41