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Martin Niemöller

Martin Niemöller. By Matthew Spanovich. Birth & Early Years. Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller was born on January 14, 1892 in Lippstadt, Germany His Father was a highly respected pastor of the Prussian United Church in Westphalia Conservative home with high educational values

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Martin Niemöller

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  1. Martin Niemöller By Matthew Spanovich

  2. Birth & Early Years • Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller was born on January 14, 1892 in Lippstadt, Germany • His Father was a highly respected pastor of the Prussian United Church in Westphalia • Conservative home with high educational values • Nationalism was sweeping through Germany and heavily influenced young Martin Niemöller

  3. U-Boat Commander • When he was 18, Niemöller trained as a torpedo expert and became one of the elite members of the Submarine Corps with the Imperial Navy • Rose the ranks to Sub Commander by age 26 on the UC67 • Received the Iron Cross First Class for sinking three ships at Marseilles • Wrote his famous “From U-Boat to Pulpit” in 1934

  4. Becoming the Pastor • Terribly ashamed of the WWI defeat • July 20, 1919- Married Else Bremer • Later that year, he began his theological studies at Westphalian William’s University • 1931- Promoted to Berlin’s most prestigious pulpit, the Jesus ChristusKirche in Dahlem

  5. Nazi Germany • Niemöllerwas captivated by the “vitality and vision” of Adolf Hitler and voted for the Nazi Party in 1924 • Nazism was a chance for "a new meeting between our nation and the Christian church, between our nation and God” • May 1933 – warned parishioners to question whether it was “a movement of faith towards God or not” • September 1933 – organized the Pastors’ Emergency League • October 1933 – congratulated Hitler for leaving the League of Nations

  6. Nazi Germany • 1934 – Hitler and Niemöller met & had heated exchange • "Neither you nor any power on earth can remove the responsibility placed on us by God to care for our people.“ • After this, he began spreading the Barmen Confession of Swiss theologian Karl Barth • On July 1, 1937, he was arrested by the Gestapo • After a show trial, he became the Führer’s personal prisoner

  7. 8 Years Sachsenhausen Dachao Here between the years 1933 and 1945, 238,756 human beings were incinerated

  8. After the Red Army • Niemöller’s focus: Direct & personal response to the call of God’s Gospel • Head of Foreign Relations of Evangelical Church of Germany for 11 years • President of the Church of Hesse-Nassau for 17 years • 1961: Became President of the World Council of Churches for 7 years • Was a major activist: Against the Cold War, For the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, Reconciliation of East & West Germany, and Reparations to the Jewish people

  9. The Legacy • Martin Niemöllerin Wiesbaden, Germany on March 6, 1984 • He is best known for his poem, First They Came

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