From..................... Human Quest

Sept-Oct 95

page 20

THE FABRICATED LUTHER:

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SHIRER MYTH

By Uwe Siemon-Netto

Published by Concordia, $12.99, paper.

Review by OZZIE MALAND

Visitors to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D C.. can view a film which expresses the viewpoint that Martin Luther's advocacy of submission to government had a significant part in Hitler's successful takeover in Germany. The finger pointing at Luther began long before William L. Shirer wrote 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich', but Shirer is identified as the main perpetrator of an erroneous myth.

Siemon-Netto details the Roman Catholic backgrounds of Hitler and most of his entourage, asks how Luther's rebellion against authority [the pope's] can be seen as paving the way for any leader [fuhrer] and cites St. Augustine as the foremost religious writer in the Christian heritage to advocate civic submission.

However the most interesting parts of this book have to do with the author's love of traditions and heroes associated with the Lutheran faith, and the question of whether such love is delusional, illusional, or based on a special connection to the Almighty Creator.

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