This small volume presents in book form a selection of texts from the fascinating online exhibition Widerstand!? Evangelische Christinnen und Christen Nationalsozialismus (‘Resistance?! Protestant Christians under the Nazi Regime’; https://de.evangelischer-widerstand.de; limited English version, often with very poor translations, https://en.evangelischer-widerstand.de/). Taking a broad definition of resistance, the exhibition seeks to show the spectrum of Protestant opposition and resistance to the National Socialist regime and its ideology. It explores developments before 1933, in the periods 1933–4, 1935–9, 1939–42 and 1943–5, and the writing of the history of resistance after 1945. Within these chronological periods, resistance is considered by region (Bavaria, Middle Germany, the Rhineland and Württemberg) and through biographical accounts of those involved: the landing page of the exhibition presents its scope in visual form through representative figures placed on a map of Germany. The ‘Chronology’ section of the exhibition traces the actions and policy of the National Socialist regime towards the Protestant Churches and outlines the response of the Protestant majority, allowing specific acts of resistance to be understood in context. It is the texts from this section of the exhibition that have been reworked by Hermle, Lepp and Oelke for this book. The exhibition also explores regional differences and the particular biographies of individuals, both presented by period, but these regional and personal aspects have not been incorporated into the book. In consequence, much of the most interesting – and often poignant – material in the exhibition cannot be found in this book.

The book's origins are reflected in its format: this is not a coherent text, but a series of short articles, largely without references. Moreover, the underlying structure of the exhibition's approach to the particular periods is replicated in the book, and the same topic may therefore be treated under different themes. For instance, for the period 1935–9 one chapter section discusses how National Socialist policy sought to suppress church women's groups, while another chapter section considers resistance to this policy. Whilst the online exhibition uses links to relate these texts to one another and to other texts showing the response of women's groups and individual women, the book provides neither cross-references nor a thematic index to help the reader make such connections. The only way to identify related chapter sections is by a careful perusal of the table of contents. The book does include an index of names, and also a list of the sixty-four people (including nine women) whose biographies were included in the exhibition, but although these give some indication of the range of people who in some way resisted the National Socialist regime, they do not help with the tracing of themes.

Despite its structural problems, the book provides a useful summary of National Socialist policies towards the Protestant Churches (although its coverage of this area is less comprehensive than the material offered in the exhibition), showing how the Churches’ ability to function was systematically eroded through the imposing of central organisational structures; the regulation of church finances, including the prohibition of unauthorised collections; the suppression of women's work and youth work; the control of church elections; the closure of church schools and kindergartens; the banning of parish magazines and the organs of the church press; the censorship of intercessions and the forbidding of the naming in prayer of those who had been arrested; and the arrest of those who questioned or objected to these measures. The different ways in which these policies were resisted becomes clear, and so too do the focus of these protests. Very few Protestants protested against the regime's treatment of Jews, for instance; moreover, even those in the Confessing Church who were most radically opposed to the regime's church policies supported the war effort. The complexities of resistance become apparent: there were pastors who were members of the NSDAP, or in the SA, who became supporters of the Confessing Church. The efficiency of the regime in suppressing resistance is also clear: not only were many of those who protested arrested, but also by 1944 nearly half of all Protestant pastors had been conscripted into the armed forces. Parishes were kept running by the efforts of pastors’ wives and of the growing number of female ministers, known as ‘Vikarinnen’ or female curates.

Reproductions of photographs and a range of important key documents complement the text; however, in the book these are so small that it is impossible to read them. Here too the exhibition is far better presented, with images of documents which can be enlarged and therefore read, complemented in some cases by transcripts; detailed information about provenance is also provided. The exhibition also offers resources in other media, such as recordings of Hitler's radio broadcasts, which could not be included in the book, and it includes extensive bibliographies for each of the themes. In comparison, the book provides only limited information about the sources of the vast bulk of the material.

Despite its limitations, this book does offer a useful introduction to the response of the German Protestant Churches to the National Socialist regime. It also gives a good sense of the range of those responses, making clear that the majority conformed and only a tiny minority offered any form of resistance. For the details of that resistance, and for the regional impact of the National Socialists’ church policies, readers would be well advised to explore the far superior resources offered by the exhibition itself.