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Full Description
This is the first fully researched biography of Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). It charts his life from his service in the Imperial German Navy, his work for the Inner Mission and as a Protestant pastor in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem from 1931. Niemöller's work as a leading figure of the Confessing Church and his contribution to the conflicts over church policy during the Third Reich are analysed and contextualised. Chapters on the post-war period chart Niemöller's contribution to ecumenism, anti-nuclear pacifism, and his role in rebuilding the West German Protestant Churches.
From 1938 to 1945, Martin Niemöller was detained as 'Hitler's Personal Prisoner' in Nazi concentration camps. Liberated in April 1945, Niemöller was widely hailed as an icon of Christian resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. For many years, the Niemöller legend masked the problematic aspects of his life: his persistent antisemitism, on display even in the post-war period; his nationalism and support of the German war effort even whilst in concentration camp detention; and his disdain for parliamentary democracy. In his biography of the most important twentieth-century German Protestant, Benjamin Ziemann uncovers the 'historical' Niemöller behind the legend of the resistance hero. Carefully situating Niemöller's personal trajectory in his wider social milieu -- from the Imperial Navy to the West German peace movement -- Ziemann probes into core themes of twentieth century German history: militarism, National Socialism, German guilt, and moral reconstruction post-1945.
Contents
Introduction
PART I. Protestant Nationalism in Imperial Germany and Weimar Republic
1: Childhood and Youth in a Parsonage
2: Officer Candidate in the Imperial Navy
3: 'May God Punish England': Nationalism and the Great War 1914-1918
4: Theological Studies and Counter-Revolution 1919-1923
5: Inner Mission and People's Community 1924 to 1931
6: As a Parish Priest in Berlin Dahlem 1931-1932
PART II. Church Quarrels and Crisis of Faith in the Third Reich
7: The Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933 as a 'Protestant Experience'
8: The Beginning of the Church Quarrel
9: Building the Confessing Church, 1934
10: The Split of the Confessing Church 1935-1936
11: Arrest and Trial 1937-1938
12: 'Hitler's Personal Prisoner': Imprisoned in Concentration Camps
PART III. Church Politics, Peace Activism and Ecumenical Work from 1945
13: New Beginnings - Delayed
14: Rebuilding the Protestant Church
15: The Political Pastor: Niemöller as a Critic of the Federal Republic
16: Pacifism: Niemöller and the Fight Against Nuclear Armament
17: 'The World is My Parish': Ecumenical Work
18: Hopes and Disappointments in Old Age
Conclusion
