Perhaps most ominous of all, the synod declared that henceforth every new pastor was required upon his ordination to swear an oath “of service” to Adolf Hitler. Müller, the former navy chaplain, would not be outdone by the army, who had sworn their oath of personal fealty to the Führer. The oath that new pastors would take read: “I swear before God . . . that I . . . will be true and obedient to the Führer of the German people and state, Adolf Hitler.”
