Franz Justus Rarkowski resigns as bishop of the German military. Rarkowski had issued numerous official statements on behalf of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi agenda.
In one pastoral letter, for example, he exhorted German soldiers to always do their duty to the Führer and to God:
"Whatever the times demand in efforts, blood, and tears, whatever the Führer and Supreme Command commands you soldiers to do and whatever your country expects from you: behind all this stands God himself with his will and command."
Rarkowksi explains that a true "Christian soldier" is always
"staunchly loyal to his military oath, to his country, his people, and to his Führer, not out of expectation of reward, not out of fear of punishment, but out of holiest conviction of conscience."
