Martin Niemoller

Martin Niemöller was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor who became one of the most prominent opponents of the Nazi regime. He was born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892, and joined the Imperial German Navy as a young man. He served as a U-boat commander during World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross. After the war, he studied theology at the University of Münster and became a pastor in 1924. He initially supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power, but later became disillusioned when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion. He co-founded the Confessing Church, a movement that resisted the Nazi interference in church affairs. He also spoke out against the persecution of Jews and other minorities. He was arrested in 1937 and spent seven years in various concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was liberated by the Allied forces in 1945. After the war, Niemöller became a vocal pacifist and advocate for human rights. He was elected as the president of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau in 1947 and served until 1961. He also became one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches in 1961 and served until 1968. He travelled widely and met with many world leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Jawaharlal Nehru and Fidel Castro. He also visited the Soviet Union, China, India, Vietnam and South Africa. He supported the ecumenical movement and the dialogue between different faiths. He also campaigned for nuclear disarmament and against apartheid. Niemöller is best known for his poem "First they came ...", which he wrote in 1946 as a confession of his own guilt for not speaking out against the Nazis. The poem has been widely quoted and adapted by various groups and causes. It expresses the idea that silence and indifference in the face of injustice can have dire consequences. Niemöller died in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1984, at the age of 92. He was buried at the Evangelisches Johannesstift cemetery in Wiesbaden. He is remembered as one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century and a courageous witness against tyranny and oppression.