Martin Niemöller
Martin Niemöller | |
---|---|
Born | Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller 14 January 1892 |
Died | 6 March 1984 | (aged 92)
Alma mater | Westphalian Wilhelm University |
Known for | Co-founding the Confessing Church |
Notable work | "First they came ..." |
Spouse |
Else Bruner
(m. 1919; died 1961) |
Ecclesiastical career | |
Religion | Christianity ( Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (1945–1961) (1961–1968) |
Military career | |
Service/ | First World War
|
Awards | Iron Cross |
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller
Niemöller was a
Youth and World War I participation
Niemöller was born in Lippstadt, the Prussian Province of Westphalia (now in North Rhine-Westphalia), on 14 January 1892 to the Lutheran pastor Heinrich Niemöller and his wife Pauline (née Müller), and grew up in a very conservative home.[6] In 1900, the family moved to Elberfeld where he finished school, taking his Abitur exam in 1908.
He began a career as an officer of the Imperial Navy of the German Empire, and in 1915, was assigned to U-boats. His first boat was SMS Thüringen. In October of that year, he joined the submarine mother boat Vulkan, followed by training on the submarine U-3. In February 1916, he became second officer on U-73, which was assigned to the Mediterranean in April 1916.[11] There the submarine fought on the Saloniki front, patrolled in the Strait of Otranto and from December 1916 onward, planted many mines in front of Port Said and was involved in commerce raiding. Flying a French flag as a ruse of war, the SM U-73 sailed past British warships and torpedoed two Allied troopships and a British man-of-war.
In January 1917, Niemöller was navigator of U-39. Later he returned to Kiel, and in August 1917, he became first officer on U-151, which attacked numerous ships at Gibraltar, in the Bay of Biscay, and other places. During this time, the SM U-151 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. Under his command, UC-67 achieved a temporary closing of the French port of Marseille by sinking ships in the area, by torpedoes, and by the laying of mines.[11]
For his achievements, Niemöller was awarded the
Weimar Republic and education as pastor
In 1919, he married Else Bremer[12] (20 July 1890 – 7 August 1961). That same year, he began working at a farm in Wersen near Osnabrück 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 at the Westphalian Wilhelm University in Münster from 1919 to 1923. His motivation was his ambition to give a disordered society meaning and order through the Gospel and church bodies.
During the
Niemöller was ordained on 29 June 1924.
Role in Nazi Germany
Like most Protestant pastors, Niemöller was a national conservative, and openly supported the conservative opponents of the
The Nazi regime reacted with mass arrests and charges against almost 800 pastors and ecclesiastical lawyers.
However, Niemöller only gradually abandoned his national conservative views. Even as he opposed the Nazis, he made pejorative remarks about Jews of faith while protecting – in his own church – baptised Christians of Jewish descent whom the Nazis persecuted. In one sermon in 1935, he remarked: "What 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!"[16]
This has led to controversy about his attitude toward Jews and to accusations of
Thus, Niemöller's 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. The historian Raimund Lammersdorf considers Niemöller "an opportunist who had no quarrel with Hitler politically and only began to oppose the Nazis when Hitler threatened to attack the churches".[19] Others have disputed this view and emphasize the risks that Niemöller took while opposing the Nazis.[6] Nonetheless, Niemöller's behaviour contrasts sharply with the much more broad-minded attitudes of other Confessing Church activists such as Hermann Maas. Pastor and liberal politician Maas – unlike Niemöller – belonged to those who unequivocally opposed every form of antisemitism and was later accorded the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.[20]
Imprisonment and liberation
Niemöller was arrested on 1 July 1937. On 2 March 1938, he was tried by a
He volunteered in September 1939 to become a U-boat commander; his offer was rejected.[22]
His former cellmate, Leo Stein, was released from Sachsenhausen to go to America, and he wrote an article about Niemöller for The National Jewish Monthly in 1941.[4] Stein reports having asked Niemöller why he ever supported the Nazi Party, to which Niemöller replied:
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 against the Jews, assuring me as follows: "There will be restrictions against the Jews, but there will be no ghettos, no pogroms, in Germany."
I really believed, given the widespread anti-Semitism in Germany, at that time – that 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's 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.
I am paying for that mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.
In late April 1945, Niemöller – together with about 140 high-ranking prisoners – was transported to the
Later life and death
In 1947, Niemöller was denied Nazi victim status.[25] 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.[19] Niemöller 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 Jewish researcher into racism and war crimes committed by the Nazi regime. In a letter to Wiener, Niemöller stated that his eight-year imprisonment by the Nazis became the turning point in his life, after which he viewed things differently.[6]
Niemöller was president of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau from 1947 to 1961. He was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, signed by leading figures in the German Protestant churches. The document acknowledged that the churches had not done enough to resist the Nazis.[26]
Under the impact of a meeting with
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a
In 1961, he became president of the World Council of Churches.[13] He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in December 1966.
He gave a sermon at the 30 April 1967 dedication of a Protestant "Church of Atonement" in the former Dachau concentration camp, which in 1965 had been partially restored as a memorial site.[32]
Niemöller died at Wiesbaden, West Germany, on 6 March 1984, at the age of 92.[1]
Selected writings
- From U-boat to Pulpit, including an Appendix From Pulpit to Prison by Henry Smith Leiper (Chicago, New York: Willett, Clark, 1937).
- Here Stand I! with foreword by James Moffatt, translated by Jane Lymburn (Chicago, New York: Willett, Clark, 1937).
- The Gestapo Defied, Being the Last Twenty-eight Sermons by Martin Niemöller (London [etc.]: W. Hodge and Company, Limited, 1941).
- Of Guilt and Hope, translated by Renee Spodheim (New York: Philosophical Library, [1947]).
- "What is the Church?" Princeton Seminary Bulletin, vol. 40, no. 4 (1947): 10–16.
- "The Word of God is Not Bound", Princeton Seminary Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 1 (1947): 18–23.
- Exile in the Fatherland: Martin Niemöller's Letters from Moabit Prison, translated by Ernst Kaemke, Kathy Elias, and Jacklyn Wilfred; edited by Hubert G. Locke (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., c1986).
- "Dachau Sermons", Martin Niemöller, translated by Robert H. Pfeiffer, Harvard Divinity School 1947 (published by Latimer House Limited, 33 Ludgate Hill, London EC4)
See also
- "First they came ..."
- List of peace activists
- Franz Hildebrandt
- Deutsches Historisches Museum
Notes
- ^ German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈniːmœlɐ] (ⓘ).
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Pace, Eric (8 March 1984). "Martin Niemöller, Resolute Foe of Hitler". The New York Times. p. D22. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ Willey 1964, p. 5.
- ^ "Niemöller, (Friedrich Gustav Emil) Martin" The New Encyclopædia Britannica (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1993), 8:698.
- ^ a b Stein, Leo (May 1941). "NIEMOELLER speaks! An Exclusive Report By One Who Lived 22 Months In Prison With The Famous German Pastor Who Defied Adolf Hitler". The National Jewish Monthly. pp. 284–5, 301–2.
- ^ a b Michael, Robert. Theological Myth, German Antisemitism, and the Holocaust: The Case of Martin Niemoeller, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.1987; 2: 105–122.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Martin Stöhr, "…habe ich geschwiegen". Zur Frage eines Antisemitismus bei Martin Niemöller tr. "...I kept quiet ". On the question of anti-Semitism with Martin Niemöller"
- ^ "GERMANY: Dynamite". Time. 21 February 1938. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ Cross, F.L. and E.A. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 975 sub loco
- ^ Prasad, Devi. War is a Crime against Humanity: the Story of War Resisters' International, London: War Resisters' International, 2005
- ^ ISBN 0-08-032685-4, (vol 2, p.45-6).
- ^ a b c Current Biography 1943, pg.555
- ^ "Martin Niemöller: Biography". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
He married Else Bruner on April 20, 1919. The couple had 6 children.
- ^ a b c d "Niemöller", 8:698.
- ^ OCLC 22888118.
- ^ LeMO. "Die Bekennende Kirche" (in German). Dhm.de. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ The text of this sermon, in English, is found in Martin Niemöller, First Commandment, London, 1937, pp. 243–250.
- ^ "H-Net Discussion Networks – Christian theological antisemitism". H-net.msu.edu. 6 May 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Correspondence about Niemöller's Antisemitism". History.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ a b "GHI Bulletin Spring 1999". Ghi-dc.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Request Rejected". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ISBN 978-1-136-41388-9.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ "Defeat And Deliverance 1945 (newsreel containing the liberation)". British Pathé News. Retrieved 9 May 2015. Note Niemöller smoking a pipe in mid-clip.
- ^ Richardi, Hans-Günter (2005). SS-Geiseln in der Alpenfestung. Bozen.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Cited in "Die Befreiung der Sonder- und Sippenhäftlinge in Südtirol" [Georg Elser's résumé The liberation of special prisoners and clan prisoners in South Tyrol] (in German). Archived from the original on 14 March 2008.{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - New York Times. Reuters. 28 July 1947.
- ^ "Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, Oct. 1945". History.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Stichtag – Zeitgeschichtliches Archiv" (in German). WDR.de. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Martin-Niemöller-Stiftung – /azurperson" [biography From submarine to pulpit to protest demonstration: Stations from the life of Martin Niemoeller] (in German). Martin-niemoeller-stiftung.de. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ^ Marcuse, Harold (2001). Legacies of Dachau: The Uses and Abuses of a Concentration Camp, 1933–2001. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 278, 517 note 12.
Bibliography
- Borchmeyer, Doris (2010) Die Bekennende Kirche und die Gründung der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, EKHN. Diss. Justus Liebig Universität Gießen.
- Bentley, James (1984) Martin Niemoeller, New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-902730-6.
- Nicolaisen, Carsten (1993). "Niemöller, Martin". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 6. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 735–748. ISBN 3-88309-044-1.
- Nicolaisen, Carsten (1999), "Niemöller, Emil Gustav Martin", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 19, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 239–241; (full text online)
- Schreiber, Matthias (2008) Martin Niemöller. 2. Auflage. Reinbek: Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3-499-50550-8.
- Wette, Wolfram (2010) Seiner Zeit voraus. Martin Niemöllers Friedensinitiativen (1945–1955). In: Detlef Bald (Hrsg.): Friedensinitiativen in der Frühzeit des Kalten Krieges 1945–1955 (= Frieden und Krieg, 17). Essen. S. 227–241.
- Willey, William J. (1964). The Trial of Pastor Martin Niemöller (master's thesis). Stillwater, Oklahoma: Oklahoma State University. OCLC 32025224.
External links
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Martin Niemöller". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
- "Yellow Triangle", a song written about him by Irish singer-songwriter Christy Moore
- Who Was Martin Niemoller?
- Martin Niemöller's famous quotation: "First they came for the Communists" What did Niemoeller really say? Which groups did he name? In what order? Harold Marcuse, UC Santa Barbara (2005)
- Niemöller's famous quotation as posted by Holocaust Survivors' Network
- A biography of Niemöller
- The text (and an English translation) of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt
- Pastor Martin Niemöller, Sonal Panse
- Newspaper clippings about Martin Niemöller in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW