Moroni and the Swastika: Mormons in Nazi Germany

Moroni and the Swastika: Mormons in Nazi Germany is a book written by David Conley Nelson, expected to go on sale Feb. 10, 2015. The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press.
The book discusses the relationship The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had with the Nazi government throughout the war. In contrast to 42 small German religious sects that were shut down by the Nazi government, and to Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses that were actively persecuted, Nelson writes that "almost fourteen thousand Mormons worshiped without undue hindrance". Nelson attributes this at least partially to the values shared between the LDS Church and Nazi's, such as an "interest in genealogy, sports and large families" and to Mormon willingness to serve in Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth.
Thus rather than opposing the Nazi government due to its ideologies, the Mormons looked at the commonalities they had with the Nazi's and supported the government until the end of the war. Nelson writes that after the war, Mormons tried to forget their approach to the government of the Third Reich, and eventually developed an alternative history describing courage and suffering by ordinary German Mormons. According to Nelson, "the inconvenient past is being conveniently discarded, and an alternate narrative has been written".

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