Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II of collusion between the late Cardinal Verdier and the Jews". Verdier had described World War II as "a crusade ... We are struggling to preserve the freedom of people throughout the world, whether they be great or small peoples, and to preserve their possessions and their very lives. No other war has had aims that are more spiritual, moral, and, in sum, more Christian". On September 9, the Bishop of Quimper was arrested for opposing Nazi plans for Brittany. The Bishop of Strasbourg was prevented from returning from Vichy France to his dioceses and his Cathedral was closed to the
European theatre of World War II European theatre of World War II The European theatre of World War II, also known as the Second European War, was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe, from Germany's and the Soviet Union's joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 until the end of the war with the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe along with the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 (Victory in Europe Day). The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts (the Eastern Front and Western Front) as well as in a massive air war and in the adjoining