In contrast, Niemöller had come to see the Nazi state as a dictatorship, one which he would oppose. Er ging auf Konfrontationskurs zum Dritten Reich und geriet in die Illegalität, wobei seine spontan übernommene Rolle als Wortführer kirchlichen Widerstands gegen die Nazis zur Gründung des Pfarrernotbunds und später der Bekennenden Kirche führte. Martin Niemöller was born in the Westphalian town of Lippstadt, Germany, on January 14, 1892. He worked with a number of international groups, including the World Council of Churches, for international peace. 55 likes All Members Who Liked This Quote. Depicting Martin Luther as a militant symbol for the preservation of German race and culture, the German Christians embraced Nazi racial ideology and demanded that all Jewish elements, including the Old Testament, be excluded from Christian theology. work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. He also advocated the speedy release of German prisoners of war. evangelischer Theologe, Kirchenpräsident in Hessen und Nassau, * 14.1.1892 Lippstadt, † 6.3.1984 Wiesbaden, ⚰ Wersen bei Osnabrück. Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte." Während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus hatte Martin Niemöller, der seit 1930 Pfarrer in Berlin-Dahlem war, sehr bald den totalitären Anspruch des Systems erkannt. 1919 Niemöller weigert sich, U-Boote als Reparationsleistung nach England zu überführen. Was würde Jesus dazu sagen? Martin Niemöller, der jede Gelegenheit ergriff, um das Evangelium als rettende Kraft Gottes existentiell und konkret zu bezeugen, gab die Antwort aus einer kompromisslosen Sichtweise heraus, in der ihm nur eines wichtig war, wie er immer wieder versicherte: "Das Evangelium von Jesus Christus unter die Leute zu bringen.". Er ging auf Konfrontationskurs zum Dritten Reich und geriet in die Illegalität, wobei seine spontan übernommene Rolle als Wortführer kirchlichen Widerstands gegen die Nazis zur Gründung des Pfarrernotbunds und später der Bekennenden Kirche führte. Niemöller's sermons reflected his strong nationalist sentiment. Ab 1931 war er Gemeindepastor in Berlin-Dahlem, organisierte er mit der Bekennenden Kirche die protestantische Oppostion gegen den Nationalsozialismus. Als "persönlicher Gefangener" Adolf Hitlers landete er schließlich im Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen, aus dem man ihn erst 1945 befreien konnte. The Confessing Church declared itself to be the one true Lutheran Church in Germany, deriving inspiration directly from God. Despite warnings from the police, he continued to preach against the state's attempts to interfere with church governance and what he viewed as the neo-paganism encouraged by the Nazis. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr In 1910 he became a cadet in the Imperial German Navy. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out...”. In 1900, the family moved to Elberfeld where he finished school, taking his abitur exam in 1908. James Bentley, Martin Niemöller: 1892–1984 (NY: Macmillan Free Press, 1984). ← Nutzung des Internet zur Vermarktung sozialer Einrichtungen. Martin Niemöller nach 1945 Erbe und Auftrag Tagung am 6. Martin Niemöller (geboren 14. Because he believed that the Republic, led by those who signed the Treaty of Versailles, had crippled Germany, he supported the unsuccessful Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch that aimed to overthrow the government in 1920. After more than seven years of incarceration, Niemöller was liberated by US troops in Tirol, Austria, after being transported by the SS from Dachau along with other political prisoners. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Niemöller was assigned to a U-Boat, of which he was eventually appointed the commander. Januar 1892 in Lippstadt/ Westfalen, gestorben am 6. Seine ursprünglich für ihn vorgesehene Grabstelle auf dem St.-Annen-Friedhof in Berlin-Dahlem hatte Martin Niemöller - konsequent wie er war - Rudi Dutschke überlassen. Even while incarcerated, Niemöller remained a complex figure whose opposition to Nazism was juxtaposed with a strong nationalism. In 1923, Niemöller began working with the Lutheran Home Mission of Westphalia, an organization which oversaw the social welfare activities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Westphalia. Der in jeder Hinsicht ungewöhnliche Lebensweg des großen Protestanten Martin Niemöller Niemöller's doctrinal opposition to the German Christians did not initially alter his political support for Hitler and the Nazis. In 1941, Gestapo officials transferred Niemöller to Dachau, where he shared a barrack room with Catholic dissenters and was permitted access to books. Niemöller's political discourse, however, continued to display some of the prejudices that led him to welcome the Nazi rise to power in 1933. At this time Niemöller had been a member of an organization of right-wing students called the Academic Defense Corps (Freikorps), which was disbanded and disarmed on April 23, 1920, after the failure of the Kapp putsch. When Hitler defiantly led Germany out of the League of Nations in October 1933, Niemöller (representing the PEL) sent him a telegram of congratulations, emphasizing the patriotism of PEL members. the politicizing of church leadership positions was an unwarranted interference of the state in the apparatus of the church and served to suppress minority opinions within the Lutheran Church; bestowing a divine essence upon German history and culture encouraged atheist nationalism and discouraged Christian faith; and. Moreover, antisemitism was widespread within the PEL and subsequently in the Confessing Church. Martin Niemöller, der erste Kirchenpräsident in Hessen und Nassau nach 1945, war ein Mann der klaren Worte. He made the following arguments against the German Christians: Yet the PEL had repeatedly stressed that criticism of the Nazi state was confined to internal church matters. "An diesem hohen Anspruch misst er alles, was er tut und redet, was in der Welt geschieht.". He was born in Lippstadt. Er selbst, inzwischen zum Kirchenpräsidenten der Landeskirche Hessen und Nassau gewählt, nannte sich in Wiesbaden einen "Revolutionär für die Freiheit des Geistes und des Glaubens, für den Frieden und die Gerechtigkeit." Hitler, so berichten die Zeitzeugen, soll sprachlos gewesen sein. As inflation and economic and political turmoil increased in Germany during 1922, Niemöller took a part-time job laying tracks for the railroads while continuing his seminary studies. Under the stipulations of the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended hostilities in World War I, Niemöller and other commanders were ordered to turn over their U-Boats to England. In Germany, he quickly became unpopular because of his call for acknowledgment of collective German guilt. Under the stipulations of the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended hostilities in World War I, Niemöller and other commanders were ordered to t…