1 / 9

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

garima
Download Presentation

Martin Niemöller

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  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

More Related