Did the Nazis Spy on the Church?

The government of Adolf Hitler spied on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during World War II. Recently uncovered documents offer an unprecedented glimpse into how the Third Reich monitored the Church and subjected its membership to systematic surveillance, censorship, and intimidation. A 1937 report even details notes made about President Heber J. Grant during a series of sermons. This interview with Stephen O. Smoot explores key insights into Church-state tensions, missionary activity, and the persecution of individual members, including resistance figures like Helmuth Hübener as part of the story of Mormonism around the world in the time leading up to World War II.

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Nazi Surveillance of Latter-day Saints

What new documents about Nazis and Latter-day Saints did you examine with the B. H. Roberts Foundation?

In my work for the B. H. Roberts Foundation, I examined a 500-page dossier from the Nazi Party’s intelligence agency, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), preserved in the Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) in Berlin. This collection includes surveillance reports on Church meetings, internal Nazi correspondence about the Church, and files on individual Latter-day Saints and missionaries, offering unprecedented insight into how the Nazi regime viewed and monitored the Church.

How large was the Church in Germany during the 1930s?

When Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, there were roughly 8,000 Latter-day Saints in Germany and Austria. By 1939, when war broke out, that number had grown to about 13,000 members. Although small relative to Germany’s overall population and other Christian denominations, it represented one of the strongest Latter-day Saint communities outside North America.

President Heber J. Grant (center) is seen at a 1937 meeting in Germany with the Nazi flag displayed in the background. Local members were subjected to systematic and coordinated surveillance by the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler.

Systematic Monitoring Across Nazi Germany

What was the extent of surveillance on Latter-day Saints in Nazi Germany?

The Nazis monitored the Church nationwide through informants, interrogations of missionaries, and observation of meetings. Local leaders and members were scrutinized, and senior Nazi officials received regular reports on Church activities and publications. The surveillance was systematic and coordinated throughout the Reich, not limited to isolated incidents.

Why were the Nazis suspicious of Latter-day Saints?

Suspicion stemmed largely from the Church’s foreign base in the United States. Its missionary efforts, teachings on political neutrality and pacifism, and financial ties to America also raised concerns. Nazi officials additionally objected to perceived “Jewish influences” in Church practices, such as Sabbath observance and tithing, and resented funds flowing from Germany to Church headquarters in the United States.

Latter-day Saint doctrines were deemed bizarre or deviant, and there were also (of course!) suspicions of secret polygamy still being practiced in the Church.

Listen to Stephen Smoot discuss Nazi concerns with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during World War II in this episode of For All the Saints with Ben Hancock.

What did the Nazis say about President Heber J. Grant in a 1937 surveillance report?

The SD tracked President Heber J. Grant closely during his 1937 visit, recording his movements and sermons. One report by a Fräulein Peycke detailed his address in Berlin in July 1937, where she expressed concerns that the Saints might be exploited by Jews or Freemasons because of how “rather primitive” they and their teachings appeared to be.

This monitoring reflected Nazi fears of foreign influence. The SD reports also confirm other sources that President Grant confined his remarks strictly to religious themes and avoided politics.

Heber J. Grant Quotes for Latter-day Saints

Government Actions Against the Church

How did the German government warn Latter-day Saints?

Nazi officials explicitly warned Church leaders to prevent any “anti-state” political activity or “propaganda” by members or missionaries, threatening that “the strictest state police measures would be carried out against the sect” if ignored.

Roy A. Welker, president of the German-Austrian Mission, heeded these warnings, instructing missionaries to avoid political discussion entirely in their labors.

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What actions did the Nazis take against Latter-day Saints?

The regime detained missionaries, confiscated Church literature, banned affiliated organizations like the Boy Scouts, and pressured members to join Nazi groups. Proselytizing was restricted, meetings were monitored, and members sometimes lost jobs or faced police interrogation.

A handful of Saints were sent to concentration camps; due to, in one instance, one member having Jewish ancestry, and, in another instance, for vocally criticizing the regime.

Did the Nazis target Latter-day Saint literature?

James E. Talmage’s Articles of Faith was banned by government officials because its content was deemed unsuitable to Nazi ideology.

Other materials were also censored or confiscated, such as the tract “Divine Authority.” The SD dossier contains several confiscated tracts that were taken from missionaries or local members.

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How did the Church respond to the Nazi party?

Church leaders instructed missionaries and members to obey the law, avoid political involvement, and focus on religious activity. The Church adopted political neutrality and an accommodationist stance toward the regime. The evidence strongly indicates this was done as a pragmatic strategy to ensure survival, not as an endorsement of Nazism.

In fact, both privately and publicly, Church leaders denounced Nazism as incompatible with the gospel—a position even noted in an important 1938 report within the SD dossier, which stated, “the teachings of the Mormons are incompatible with the National Socialist worldview,” and that “the American sect leadership is still shamelessly agitating against National Socialist Germany today. Thus, there can be no talk of a pro-German attitude” among Church leaders.

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Was the Church ever officially banned in Nazi Germany?

No. Despite extensive surveillance and occasional restrictions, the Church was never formally banned in Nazi Germany. There were, however, debates among Nazi officials and police over banning it for ideological incompatibility and persistent nuisance from proselytizing.

Careful navigation of political realities and an emphasis on neutrality allowed the Church to survive when other minority religious groups were outlawed.

Latter-day Saint Resistance and Persecution

Who was Paul Herbert Schieck?

Paul Herbert Schieck was a Latter-day Saint from Freiberg who, in 1936, refused to perform the Nazi salute or sing party anthems at work following a broadcast of one of Hitler’s speeches. His defiance led to his arrest and the loss of his factory job.

During his police interrogation, Schieck explicitly stated that his belief in Zion was incompatible with supporting the Nazi regime. The documents pertaining to his arrest and interrogation are in the SD dossier. His story, which has previously been unknown, powerfully illustrates how some Church members resisted Nazi demands out of deep religious conviction.

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Who was Helmuth Hübener?

Helmuth Hübener was a 17-year-old Latter-day Saint from Hamburg who, with friends (including fellow branch members), listened to banned BBC broadcasts and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets.

Arrested in 1942, he was executed by beheading in the infamous Plötzensee prison, becoming the youngest person sentenced to death by the Nazi People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof).

Helmuth Hübener standing between Rudolf “Rudi” Wobbe on the left and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe on the right, members of the Latter-day Saint resistance against Nazi Germany. — Helmuth Hübener (center), shown with fellow Latter-day Saint resistance members Rudolf “Rudi” Wobbe (left) and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe (right), was executed at age 17 for opposing the Nazi regime.

How does the Sicherheitsdienst dossier show how the Church handled the situation with Helmuth Hübener and his friends?

The dossier ends in 1939 and so does not directly address Helmuth Hübener. However, it provides crucial context by illustrating, for instance, the intense pressure local Church leaders faced, which partly helps explain their response when Hübener’s case arose later.

For example, his posthumous excommunication, according to district president Otto Berndt, was carried out partly to appease Nazi officials by showing them that the boy acted alone and without Church involvement.

(Berndt, for his part, objected to the excommunication, which was instigated by Hübener’s pro-Nazi branch president but overturned by the First Presidency in 1948 when contact was reestablished after the war.)

Watch the story of Latter-day Saint teen Helmuth Hübener—executed by the Nazis for defying Hitler—in Truth & Conviction by Angel Studios.

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About the Scholar

Stephen O. Smoot is the author of groundbreaking work in researching Nazi attitudes towards Latter-day Saints. He is a doctoral student in Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature at the Catholic University of America. He previously earned a Master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations from the University of Toronto and Bachelor’s degrees in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and German Studies from Brigham Young University.