Visible Support for the NKFD

At the initiative of Josef Kayser, all of the Protestant and Catholic clergy present at the assembly on June 16, 1944 were given “ecumenical” chaplains’ pectoral crosses for their ministry in the camps. The Wehrmacht chaplains’ pectoral crosses had either been confiscated when they had been taken prisoner or they had discarded them themselves out of fear of reprisals.

The new pectoral crosses visually underscored the theologians’ support for the NKFD. The June 25, 1944 issue of “Free Germany” pictured six pastors who had attended the assembly wearing their chaplains’ pectoral crosses.