Moral dilemmas of the Gauḍīya Mission:

Nazi Germany

Abstract

This article critically examines the moral dilemmas faced by the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Mission during its activities in Nazi Germany (1934–1935), focusing on the actions of Svāmī Bhakti Hṛdaya Bon Mahārāja and his German secretary, Ernst-Georg Schulze (later Svāmī Sadānanda Dāsa). While previous scholarship has either framed Bon’s engagement with the Nazi regime as opportunistic (Broo 1999) or absolved him of ideological alignment (Sardella 2013), this study argues that their collaboration—despite philosophical opposition to Nazi racial ideology—constituted a moral and spiritual failure. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s concept of the "Banality of Evil," the article highlights how Bon and Schulze’s willingness to ingratiate themselves with Nazi officials, including greeting crowds with "Heil Hitler" and courting Nazi propagandists like Alfred Rosenberg, reflected a troubling lack of empathy for the regime’s victims, particularly Jews.