In view of a symposium announced for November 16th & 17th, 2023 under the dual auspices of the University of Strasbourg (Université de Strasbourg) and the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine (Union des Églises Protestantes d’Alsace et de Lorraine – UÉPAL) on “Protestantism and Protestant pastors in the years 1940 to 1945”, this paper attempts to shed light on one aspect of the work of Carl Maurer, the church president at the time.

The biographical sketches of the nineteen pastors recruited during those dramatic years, who came from Germany or worked there, show how Carl Maurer, who was appointed by the German authorities but sought to gain the trust of the pastorate, specifically took in people who almost without exception had conflicts with the National Socialist authorities, and often belonged to the Confessing Church in a very clear way.

In the appendix, the memorandum (“Mémoire”), which Maurer handed over in 1945 to his successor Robert Hoepffner, whose presidency (1938-1954) has been interrupted by the German occupation, is published for the first time.