Moroni and the Swastika: Mormons in Nazi Germany Hardcover – February 26, 2015

An interesting, well-researched, but ultimately biased and structurally flawed book. Nelson addresses a subject that is little known or studied, especially as Mormon historiography is still mainly focused on the history of Mormonism in America. His book is indicative of the greatly changed geographic and demographic membership of the LDS Church in the decades since WWII as today more Mormons live outside the United States than within its borders. An international church needs an international history. However, Nelson's professed hostility towards organized religion in general, and the LDS Church specifically, combined with the lack of context in regards to other Christian faiths in Nazi Germany results in a skewed perspective of Mormonism and its interaction with Nazism. The biggest structural flaw in the book is the fact that Nelson misleadingly compares the LDS Church with the Jehovah's Witnesses. While this may seem at first glace appropriate (both were small, American headquartered, and minority churches) it is a false comparison because, as Nelson admits in the book, Mormon doctrine towards the state is much more in line with the attitudes of the mainline Catholic and Evangelical (Lutheran) Churches in Germany. The Jehavoh's Witnesses stand out almost uniquely among the Christian sects (along with German Quakers) in Germany in their attitude towards the state in general and the Nazis specifically. Mormons should be placed in context with wider Christian responses to Nazism. This lack of context is a severe weakness. Nelson does not even cite Richard J. Evans recent work "The Third Reich in Power," a basic work of synthesis for a popular audience, that has an entire section of the book dealing with religion in Nazi Germany. Nor does he reference the Condordat signed between the Catholic Church and the Nazi regime or the "German Christians" who openly favored the Nazi regime. Vice versa he does not reference the widespread persecution of Catholics who resisted the regime or the actions of the Confessing Church that were also punished by the Nazis. Yet, in his conclusion Nelson argues that Catholics and Protestants did not accommodate themselves with the regime and that they did not suffer for it, and then suggests that the Mormons went further than needed to in order to ingratiate themselves with the Nazis. With more context it is clear that the LDS Church did not have some sort of special affinity with Nazism due to a supposed "Mormon Sonderweg." Nelson is most convincing when he argues that Mormons in Germany under the Nazis acted pretty much like most other ordinary (Christian) Germans: some became convinced Nazis, others resisted, and the majority tried to adapt to the new regime and often, as Richard J. Evans argues, retreated into the private sphere and their private lives. Nelson also claims that the Mormons "prospered" under the Third Reich, but he offers no definition of what constitutes prosperity (wealth? increase in membership? favoritism from the state?) or demonstrate it. Nevertheless, Nelson effectively illustrates the early history of the Mormon Church in Germany during the 19th Century. His exploration of Mormons in Wiemar Germany was also very interesting and his analysis of the "practice run" of evacuation from Germany in case of war that contributed to the safe removal of missionaries in 1939 was enlightening. His chapters on Mormons in Germany between 1933 and 1939 was wide-ranging, well-organized, and indicative of the gamut of Mormon experiences during the period. Nelson does not examine the war years of 1939 to 1945 and its affects on the Mormon community as intensively. The discussion of memory of the war was interesting and suggestive, however it also misses out on placing it within the wider developments of memory in Germany. Frank Biess' "Homecomings" illustrates how Catholic and Protestant Churches were integral in creating a narrative of redemptive suffering and sacrifice in the post-war years. It would be interesting to see how much Mormon memory actually had in common with these wider developments in Germany. Nelson's book is far from the final word on the topic of Mormons in Nazi Germany, nor is it conclusive, but it hopefully it will act as a lightening rod to attract more attention to the subject and foster further research from German, Mormon, and religious historians.

This is a fine, comprehensive history of the Mormon Church's interaction with the Nazi government during the 1930s and the Second World War. Mr. Nelson has done a herculean job of tracking down obscure source material and presenting it in a coherent and systematic fashion. And the story he tells—which certainly needed to be told—casts in stark relief the price individuals and organizations pay when they allow their desire to get along, fit in, and conform, to pervert their understanding of the difference between right and wrong.There is often a tendency to excuse appeasement of tyrants and acceptance of injustice on the grounds that it was the prevailing culture at the time ("lots of people hated Jews back then") or that it was necessary in order to survive. Mr. Nelson effectively rebuts those notions by showing how other faiths were able to navigate these treacherous waters in a way that allowed them to remain true to their Christian beliefs without imperiling their existence. And the fact that the Mormon Church has been something less than forthright about this period in its history only compounds the mistakes that were made. I do, however, have a few criticisms.First, the author is guilty, at times, of "presentism," i.e., of writing from the perspective of someone who already knows how the story ends and thus has the benefit of hindsight that the participants did not enjoy.Second, his tone is frequently, for want of a better word, "snarky." There is no need, for example, to use the word "troika"—with its inherent Soviet connotations—to describe the leaders of the church.Finally, while historical analysis is both appropriate and helpful to our understanding of events, excessive commentary and editorializing is not. Too often the author comes across as strident, to the point that the reader begins to question his objectivity. This is a story that doesn't require hyperbole; it would have been better if he had simply let the historical record speak for itself.The foregoing notwithstanding, this is a welcome addition to the field of Mormon history, and I hope Mr. Nelson is already thinking about his next book.