Schlatter's role in the time of the Third Reich is subject of a scholarly debate. According to Robert Yarbrough's condensed English edition of Werner Neuer's 933 page German biography of Schlatter, the latter belonged to the Christlicher Volksdienst (Christian Public Service Party), who followed with concern the strengthening of the Nazi Party at the end of the Weimar years. In fact, already in 1931 Schlatter commented critically on the view of man and ethic of the Nazi movement in a personal letter to his son Theodor, February 8, 1931. Yarbrough's description of what followed the latter is very insightful: "After Hitler forcibly seized power in January 1933, Schlatter's fears grew increasingly strong. He bemoaned the 'strangulation of the [German] parliament' that resulted from the Act of Enablement ... and the disregard for the existing legal order by the 'almighty' Nazis: 'They have assumed a power that no one in Germany ever possessed until now' ... He was especially troubled by the militarization of the German populace and the way it was being 'trained and nurtured for war' ... For the church Schlatter feared the worst ... He feared a church that would be totally conformed to the state, 'a so-called church ... whose role would be to work with the state and for its interests' and which would amount to little 'more than window dressing' (June 26, 1933)" p149. According to historian Saul Friedländer in his Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939-1945, Schlatter belonged to a "hard core of Jew haters" who considered the Nazi anti-Semitic laws too mild. Friedländer claims that the latter comes from a popular 1935 pamphlet by Schlatter, Wird der Jude über uns siegen? Ein Wort für die Weihnacht [Will the Jew be Victorious Over Us?: A Word for Christmas] that regrets the "favorable situation" of the Jews in contemporary Germany. However, a careful read of the latter reveals that Schlatter nowhere made the claim that he was a "hard core" "Jew hater" as Friedländer claims. In fact, Werner Neuer and Robert Yarbrough who studies the same pamphlet in detail have convincingly shown that Schlatter was in fact warning Christians against the unbiblical racism and power of the Nazi regime,. The latter seems to make sense because the booklet was forbidden and confiscated by the Gestapo and set on the list of damaging and undesirable writing. Though his advocates are correct in arguing that Schlatter was