St. Mary's Church in London, as with most of the German Churches in England, maintained their independence from the Church bodies in Germany, even while they were associated with Church groups in Germany. They did accept financial aid from the German government in the 1930s and this was to haunt them. The German government influenced the Church bodies and, through them, the Germans attempted to influence the Churches who were abroad.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer attempted to alert the congregations in England of the dangers that lurked behind the phrases in Germany such as "German Christians", "heroic Jesus", "positive Christianity", and "reawakened German life". The statements were made by the leaders who were affiliated the German state. It was these individuals who wanted to insert the word "Ayran" into the Church documents. Even more, they wanted to require that members be Ayran and not married to non-Ayran people.
The English congregations were aroused and spoke against the proposals. The Church Council at St. Mary's passed the following resolution:
"The undersigned church council hereby declares unanimously that it refuses to recognize the present church government now presided over by Reichsbishop Ludwig Mueller. For St. Mary's German Lutheran Church a church government which denies in its aims and methods the most elementary principles of the Evangelical faith is no longer acceptable. The church council further notes that the un-Evangelical actions of the Reich church government during the last 18 months have immensely damaged the reputation of the German Reich abroad. . . ."
The Church Council at St. Mary's refused their facilities to groups of German youths on the grounds that it was not feasible to move the furniture due to the labor and the expense involved.
The number of pupils in the school fell drastically, especially of children of German nationals. The German office overseeing foreign schools felt that the number of pupils was so low at St. Mary's that it, the office, could no longer warrant the payment of any fees to help the Church. The end result was that the school was closed in 1939. At this time the number of pupils was only 18.
During this time, many exiles from Germany in England found a comfortable reception and home in the German congregations. They became very active and made a contribution to the life and work of the Churches.
(22 Mar 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.