{"id":21643,"date":"2022-03-07T14:01:06","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T22:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21643"},"modified":"2022-03-07T14:01:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T22:01:08","slug":"bio-martin-niemoller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/07\/bio-martin-niemoller\/","title":{"rendered":"BIO: MARTIN NIEM\u00d6LLER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/tr>
MARTIN NIEM\u00d6LLER<\/th><\/tr>
Niem\u00f6ller at St. James\u2019 Church<\/a>, The Hague<\/a>, in May 1952<\/td><\/tr>
BORN<\/th>Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niem\u00f6ller
14 January 1892
Lippstadt<\/a>, German Empire<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
DIED<\/th>6 March 1984 (aged 92)
Wiesbaden<\/a>, West Germany<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
SPOUSE(S)<\/th>Else Bruner \u200b(m. 1919)\u200b[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/td><\/tr>
CHILDREN<\/th>6[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/td><\/tr>
CHURCH<\/th>Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union<\/a>
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau<\/a>
Confessing Church<\/a>
Evangelical Church in Germany<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
WRITINGS<\/th>First they came \u2026<\/a><\/em><\/td><\/tr>
CONGREGATIONS SERVED<\/th>St. Anne\u2019s in Dahlem, Germany<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
OFFICES HELD<\/th>President, Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau<\/a> (1945\u20131961)
President, World Council of Churches<\/a> (1961\u20131968)<\/td><\/tr>
TITLE<\/th>Ordained pastor
<\/td><\/tr>
Military career<\/td><\/tr>
ALLEGIANCE<\/th>German Empire<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
SERVICE\/BRANCH<\/th>Imperial German Navy<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
BATTLES\/WARS<\/th>World War I<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me\u2014and there was no one left to speak for me.\u201d\u2014Martin Niem\u00f6ller<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niem\u00f6ller<\/strong> (German: [\u02c8ma\u0281ti\u02d0n \u02c8ni\u02d0m\u0153l\u0250]<\/a> (listen<\/a>); 14 January 1892 \u2013 6 March 1984) was a German theologian<\/a> and Lutheran<\/a> pastor.[2]<\/a><\/sup>[3]<\/a><\/sup> He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi<\/a> regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem \u201cFirst they came \u2026<\/a>\u201c. The poem exists in many versions; the one featured on the United States Holocaust Memorial<\/a> reads: \u201cFirst they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out\u2014Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me\u2014and there was no one left to speak for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller was a national conservative<\/a> and initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler<\/a>,[4]<\/a><\/sup> but he became one of the founders of the Confessing Church<\/a>, which opposed the Nazification of German Protestant churches. He opposed the Nazis\u2019 Aryan Paragraph<\/a>,[5]<\/a><\/sup> but was also a self-identified antisemite<\/a>.[6]<\/a><\/sup> For his opposition to the Nazis\u2019 state control of the churches, Niem\u00f6ller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen<\/a> and Dachau concentration camps<\/a> from 1938 to 1945.[7]<\/a><\/sup>[8]<\/a><\/sup> He narrowly escaped execution. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help victims of the Nazis.[5]<\/a><\/sup> He turned away from his earlier nationalistic beliefs and was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt<\/a><\/em>.[5]<\/a><\/sup> From the 1950s on, he was a vocal pacifist<\/a> and anti-war<\/a> activist, and vice-chair of War Resisters\u2019 International<\/a> from 1966 to 1972.[9]<\/a><\/sup> He met with Ho Chi Minh<\/a> during the Vietnam War<\/a> and was a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament<\/a>.[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth and World War I participation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller was born in Lippstadt<\/a>, then in the Prussian<\/a> Province of Westphalia<\/a> (now in North Rhine-Westphalia<\/a>), on 14 January 1892 to the Lutheran<\/a> pastor Heinrich Niem\u00f6ller and his wife Pauline (n\u00e9e M\u00fcller), and grew up in a very conservative home.[5]<\/a><\/sup> In 1900, the family moved to Elberfeld<\/a> where he finished school, taking his abitur<\/a> exam in 1908.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He began a career as an officer<\/a> of the Imperial Navy<\/a> of the German Empire<\/a>, and in 1915, was assigned to U-boats<\/a>. His first boat was SMS Th\u00fcringen<\/em><\/a>. In October of that year, he joined the submarine mother boat Vulkan<\/em><\/a>, followed by training on the submarine U-3<\/em><\/a>. In February 1916, he became second officer on U-73<\/em><\/a>, which was assigned to the Mediterranean<\/a> in April 1916.[11]<\/a><\/sup> There the submarine fought on the Saloniki front<\/a>, patrolled in the Strait of Otranto<\/a> and from December 1916 onward, planted many mines<\/a> in front of Port Said<\/a> and was involved in commerce raiding<\/a>. Flying a French flag as a ruse of war<\/a>, the SM U-73<\/em> sailed past British warships and torpedoed<\/a> two Allied troopships and a British man-of-war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 1917, Niem\u00f6ller was navigator<\/a> of U-39<\/em><\/a>. Later he returned to Kiel<\/a>, and in August 1917, he became first officer on U-151<\/em><\/a>, which attacked numerous ships at Gibraltar<\/a>, in the Bay of Biscay<\/a>, and other places. During this time, the SM U-151<\/em> crew set a record by sinking 55,000 tons of Allied ships in 115 days at sea. In June 1918, he became commander of the UC-67<\/em><\/a>. Under his command, UC-67<\/em> achieved a temporary closing of the French port of Marseille<\/a> by sinking ships in the area, by torpedoes, and by the laying of mines.[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his achievements, Niem\u00f6ller was awarded the Iron Cross<\/a> First Class. When the war drew to a close, he decided to become a preacher, a story he later recounted in his book Vom U-Boot zur Kanzel<\/em> (From U-boat to Pulpit<\/em>). At war\u2019s end, Niem\u00f6ller resigned his commission, as he rejected the new democratic government of the German Empire that formed after the abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weimar Republic and education as pastor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On 20 July 1919, he married Else Bremer (20 July 1890 \u2013 7 August 1961). That same year, he began working at a farm in Wersen near Osnabr\u00fcck<\/a> but gave up becoming a farmer as he could not afford to buy his own farm. He subsequently pursued his earlier idea of becoming a Lutheran pastor and studied Protestant theology<\/a> at the Westphalian Wilhelms-University<\/a> in M\u00fcnster<\/a> from 1919 to 1923. His motivation was his ambition to give a disordered society meaning and order through the Gospel<\/a> and church bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Ruhr Uprising<\/a> in 1920, he was battalion<\/a> commander of the \u201cIII. Bataillon der Akademischen Wehr M\u00fcnster\u201d belonging to the paramilitary Freikorps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller was ordained on 29 June 1924.[11]<\/a><\/sup> Subsequently, the united<\/a> Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union<\/a> appointed him curate of M\u00fcnster\u2019s Church of the Redeemer. After serving as the superintendent of the Inner Mission<\/a> in the old-Prussian ecclesiastical province of Westphalia, Niem\u00f6ller in 1931 became pastor of the Jesus Christus Kirche (comprising a congregation together with St. Anne\u2019s Church) in Dahlem<\/a>, an affluent suburb of Berlin<\/a>.[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role in Nazi Germany<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like most Protestant pastors, Niem\u00f6ller was a national conservative, and openly supported the conservative opponents of the Weimar Republic<\/a>. He thus welcomed Hitler\u2019s accession to power in 1933, believing that it would bring a national revival.[13]<\/a><\/sup>:\u200a235\u200a<\/sup> In his autobiography, From U-Boat to Pulpit<\/em> published in the spring of 1933, he called the time of \u201cthe System\u201d (a pejorative name for the Weimar Republic) the \u201cyears of darkness\u201d and hailed Adolf Hitler for beginning a \u201cnational revival\u201d.[13]<\/a><\/sup>:\u200a235\u200a<\/sup> Niem\u00f6ller\u2019s autobiography received positive reviews in Nazi newspapers and was a bestseller.[13]<\/a><\/sup>:\u200a235\u200a<\/sup> However, he decidedly opposed the Nazis\u2019 \u201cAryan Paragraph<\/a>\u201d to Jewish converts to Lutheranism. In 1936, he signed the petition of a group of Protestant churchmen which sharply criticized Nazi policies and declared the Aryan Paragraph incompatible with the Christian virtue of charity<\/a>.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nazi regime reacted with mass arrests and charges against almost 800 pastors and ecclesiastical lawyers.[14]<\/a><\/sup> In 1933, Niem\u00f6ller founded the Pfarrernotbund<\/a><\/em>, an organization of pastors to \u201ccombat rising discrimination against Christians of Jewish background\u201d.[12]<\/a><\/sup> By the autumn of 1934, Niem\u00f6ller joined other Lutheran and Protestant churchmen such as Karl Barth<\/a> and Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/a> in founding the Confessional Church<\/a>, a Protestant group that opposed the Nazification of the German Protestant churches<\/a>.[12]<\/a><\/sup> Author and Nobel Prize<\/a> laureate Thomas Mann<\/a> published Niem\u00f6ller\u2019s sermons in the United States and praised his bravery.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Niem\u00f6ller only gradually abandoned his national conservative views. Even as he opposed the Nazis, he made pejorative remarks about Jews of faith while protecting \u2013 in his own church \u2013 baptised Christians, persecuted as Jews by the Nazis, due to their forefathers\u2019 Jewish descent. In one sermon in 1935, he remarked: \u201cWhat is the reason for [their] obvious punishment, which has lasted for thousands of years? Dear brethren, the reason is easily given: the Jews brought the Christ of God to the cross!\u201d[15]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has led to controversy about his attitude toward Jews and to accusations of anti-Judaism<\/a>. Holocaust<\/a> historian Robert Michael argues that Niem\u00f6ller\u2019s statements were a result of traditional anti-Semitism, and that Niem\u00f6ller agreed with the Nazis\u2019 position on the \u201cJewish question\u201d at that time.[6]<\/a><\/sup>[16]<\/a><\/sup> American sociologist Werner Cohn<\/a> lived as a Jew in Nazi Germany<\/a>, and he also reports on antisemitic statements by Niem\u00f6ller.[17]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, Niem\u00f6ller\u2019s ambivalent and often contradictory behaviour during the Nazi period makes him a controversial figure among those who opposed the Nazis. Even his motives are disputed. Historian Raimund Lammersdorf considers Niem\u00f6ller \u201can opportunist who had no quarrel with Hitler politically and only began to oppose the Nazis when Hitler threatened to attack the churches\u201d.[18]<\/a><\/sup> Others have disputed this view and emphasize the risks that Niem\u00f6ller took while opposing the Nazis.[5]<\/a><\/sup> Nonetheless, Niem\u00f6ller\u2019s behaviour contrasts sharply with the much more broad-minded attitudes of other Confessing Church<\/a> activists such as Hermann Maas<\/a>. Pastor and liberal politician Maas \u2014 unlike Niem\u00f6ller \u2014 belonged to those who unequivocally opposed every form of antisemitism<\/a> and was later accorded the title Righteous Among the Nations<\/a><\/em> by Yad Vashem<\/a>.[19]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imprisonment and liberation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller was arrested on 1 July 1937. On 2 March 1938, he was tried by a \u201cSpecial Court\u201d<\/a> for activities against the State. He was given Sonder- und Ehrenhaft<\/a> status. He received a 2,000 Reichmarks fine and seven-months imprisonment. But as he had been detained pre-trial for longer than the seven-month jail term, he was released by the Court after sentencing. However, he was immediately rearrested by Himmler<\/a>\u2018s Gestapo<\/a>\u2014presumably because Rudolf Hess<\/a> found the sentence too lenient and decided to take \u201cmerciless action\u201d against him.[13]<\/a><\/sup> He was interned in Sachsenhausen<\/a> and Dachau concentration camps<\/a> for \u201cprotective custody\u201d from 1938 to 1945.[20]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He volunteered in September 1939 to become a U-boat commander; his offer was rejected.[21]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His former cellmate, Leo Stein, was released from Sachsenhausen to go to America, and he wrote an article about Niem\u00f6ller for The National Jewish Monthly<\/em> in 1941.[4]<\/a><\/sup> Stein reports having asked Niem\u00f6ller why he ever supported the Nazi Party<\/a>, to which Niem\u00f6ller replied:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find myself wondering about that too. I wonder about it as much as I regret it. Still, it is true that Hitler betrayed me. I had an audience with him, as a representative of the Protestant Church, shortly before he became Chancellor, in 1932. Hitler promised me on his word of honor, to protect the Church, and not to issue any anti-Church laws. He also agreed not to allow pogroms<\/a> against the Jews, assuring me as follows: \u201cThere will be restrictions against the Jews, but there will be no ghettos, no pogroms, in Germany.\u201d<\/p>

I really believed, given the widespread anti-Semitism in Germany, at that time\u2014that Jews should avoid aspiring to Government positions or seats in the Reichstag. There were many Jews, especially among the Zionists, who took a similar stand. Hitler\u2019s assurance satisfied me at the time. On the other hand, I hated the growing atheistic movement, which was fostered and promoted by the Social Democrats and the Communists. Their hostility toward the Church made me pin my hopes on Hitler for a while.<\/p>

I am paying for that mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In late April 1945, Niem\u00f6ller \u2013 together with about 140 high-ranking prisoners \u2013 was transported to the Alpenfestung<\/a>. The group possibly were to be used as hostages in surrender negotiations. The transport\u2019s SS guards had orders to kill everyone if liberation by the advancing Western Allies<\/a> became imminent. However, in the south Tyrol<\/a> region, regular German troops<\/a> took the inmates into protective custody. The entire group was eventually liberated by advanced units of the U.S. Seventh Army<\/a>.[22]<\/a><\/sup>[23]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later life and death<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1947, he was denied Nazi victim status.[24]<\/a><\/sup> According to Lammersdorf, there had been some attempts to whitewash his past, which were soon followed by harsh criticism because of his role as an NSDAP supporter and his attitude toward Jews.[18]<\/a><\/sup> Niem\u00f6ller himself never denied his own guilt in the time of the Nazi regime. In 1959, he was asked about his former attitude toward Jews by Alfred Wiener<\/a>, a Jewish researcher into racism and war crimes committed by the Nazi regime. In a letter to Wiener, Niem\u00f6ller stated that his eight-year imprisonment by the Nazis became the turning point in his life, after which he viewed things differently.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller was president of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau<\/a> from 1947 to 1961. He was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt<\/a>, signed by leading figures in the German Protestant churches. The document acknowledged that the churches had not done enough to resist the Nazis.[25]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the impact of a meeting with Otto Hahn<\/a> (referred to as the \u201cfather of nuclear chemistry<\/a>\u201c) in July 1954, Niem\u00f6ller became an ardent pacifist<\/a> and campaigner for nuclear disarmament<\/a>.[10]<\/a><\/sup> He was soon a leading figure in the post-war German peace movement<\/a> and was even brought to court in 1959 because he had spoken about the military in a very unflattering way.[26]<\/a><\/sup>[failed verification<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup> His visit to North Vietnam<\/a>\u2018s communist ruler Ho Chi Minh<\/a> at the height of the Vietnam War<\/a> caused an uproar. Niem\u00f6ller also took active part in protests against the Vietnam War and the NATO Double-Track Decision<\/a>.[27]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1961, he became president of the World Council of Churches<\/a>.[12]<\/a><\/sup> He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize<\/a> in December 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gave a sermon at the 30 April 1967 dedication of a Protestant \u201cChurch of Atonement\u201d in the former Dachau concentration camp, which in 1965 had been partially restored as a memorial site.[28]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niem\u00f6ller died at Wiesbaden<\/a>, West Germany<\/a>, on 6 March 1984, at the age of 92.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More at: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ma<\/a>rtin_Niem%C3%B6ller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MARTIN NIEM\u00d6LLER Niem\u00f6ller at St. James\u2019 Church, The Hague, in May 1952 BORN Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niem\u00f6ller14 January 1892Lippstadt, German Empire DIED 6 March 1984 (aged 92)Wiesbaden, West Germany SPOUSE(S) Else Bruner \u200b(m. 1919)\u200b[1] CHILDREN 6[1] CHURCH Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian UnionProtestant Church in Hesse and NassauConfessing ChurchEvangelical Church in Germany… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21644,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21643\/revisions\/21644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}