Did Martin Niemöller support Adolf Hitler on the “Jewish Question”?

“In Germany they came for the communists first, but I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, but I remained silent because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the union members, but I was not a union member and did not say anything. Then they came for the Catholics, but I, being a Protestant, said nothing. And when they came for me, there was no one to stand up for me,” Pastor Martin Niemöller once said. The exact text is confirmed by Martin Niemöller's wife. Everyone knows these words now - and Jews love to repeat them.

But in reality, everything is somewhat tougher and more complicated...

“Niemoeller is an example of a staunch opponent of the Nazis who was also a staunch anti-Semite,” writes the American Jewish historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen about him. However, as for the “convinced opponent”, not everything is smooth either: “From the camp, a patriotic pastor writes to Hitler, asking to go to the front.” Who was the good pastor?

“A revolt against the foundations of civilization,” wrote the American writer Ludwig Levison about Nazism. “We, as a rule, do not love Jews and therefore it is not easy for us to extend to them the universal love of humanity,” Karl Barth, the leader of the confessional church, seems to echo him in his own way, July 1944. “Death is a master from Germany,” concludes Paul Celan in his Death Fugue. Recently, the words of Martin Niemöller indicated at the very beginning have become very popular among Jews. The range of strings touched in the Jewish soul extends from the Jewish settlers of Eretz Israel to the teaching-hungry popularizers of all kinds of knowledge. But this is not enough: the words of the anti-fascist pastor, distorted in a Jewish way, are printed in the form of a poem and even on the wall of Yad Vashem!

In the article “Catastrophe,” published in an American Russian-language newspaper, the following is written: “Well, those who were not executioners, who stood aside and silently watched what was happening, did they understand that they were, at least, accomplices? Pastor Nemöller (sic!) understood: “First they came for the Jews, and I didn’t say anything”... (In the same article: “400 thousand Germans were intermarried with Jews.” By December 31, 1942, there were: in the Old Reich 16,760, in Austria 4,803, in the protectorate 6,211, in total - 27,774. According to the SS Statistics Report by Richard Correr for April 19, 1943, cited by the American historian Raoul Hilberg in the book “The Destruction of the Jews of Europe”).

Pastor Niemeller's deeds did not always match his words...

It turns out that the Jews are worse than the Nazis: they, the bearers of eternal evil, in alliance with the devil, destroyed myriads. But after the war, the pastor said words that, together with his privileged imprisonment in “der Bunker der Prominente” in Dachau and Sachsenhausen, won him a place in the fictional pantheon of German fighters against Nazism, and even the title of defender of the Jews. A submarine captain during the First World War, then a pastor, he supports Hitler, but not wanting to renounce the Christian religion, which the Nazis wanted to replace with pagan myths, he becomes his opponent.

From the camp, the patriotic pastor writes to Hitler, asking to go to the front. Freed by the Americans, he takes part in writing the "Stuttgarter Schuldbekkentnis", which raises the question of the collective guilt of the Germans. As they say, I feel sorry for the bird. After this, he becomes a pacifist and president of the World Council of Churches, which collaborated with the USSR (1961-1968). Advocates for reconciliation with Eastern Europe, travels to Moscow in 1952 and North Vietnam in 1967. Laureate of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1967.

Raoul Hilberg - American historian, the most prominent historiographer of the Holocaust, author of the book “The Destruction of the Jews of Europe”

Pious deeds of the church fathers. The unity of the German people was best demonstrated in its attitude towards the Jews. The good Germans, who sheltered Jews not for money or out of a desire to buy their lives at the end of the war, make up a tiny group. The German people have risen to the pinnacle of the villainy of a truly Teutonic spirit, as Friedrich Nietzsche once predicted. The entire people, led by the Christian Church, took part in the murder and division of the loot.

One of the moral standards of the German nation, Bishop Otto Dibelius, in 1928 proposed to ban Jewish immigration for the peaceful disappearance of Jews, and after announcing a boycott of Jews in April 1933, he declared that he had always “been an anti-Semite... It is impossible not to admit that in all destructive In manifestations of modern civilization, Jewry plays a leading role.”

Einsatzkommando soldiers shoot at the men. The solution to the "Jewish question"

In one of the main documents of resistance to Nazism, prepared by
on the initiative of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who supported the Nuremberg Laws (another anti-fascist hero and favorite of the Jewish ignoramuses), there was a “Proposal for the solution of the Jewish problem in Germany”: “We confirm that the new Germany will have the right to take steps to reflect the disastrous influence of this race on our people” . The condemnation of genocide says that in the future Jews may even be allowed into Germany: they are now too few “to be dangerous.”
Members of Hitler's legendary resistance shared his views on the Jews: when interrogated by the Gestapo on July 20, 1944, the conspirators stated that they basically agreed with the government's policies. As the brother of Claus von Stauffenberg, who planted the bomb on Hitler, said: “In the sphere of domestic policy we welcome the basic principles of the Nazis... The concept of race is quite reasonable and inspires hope.”

Even the execution of 33,771 Jews on September 29-30, 1941 at Babi Yar, rumors of which spread widely in Germany, did not soften church hatred of Jews. That same month, Protestant leaders issued a declaration declaring “the impossibility of saving the Jews by baptism due to their peculiar racial constitution” and placing responsibility for the war on these “natural enemies of Germany and the whole world... It is therefore necessary to take the most severe measures
against the Jews and throw them out of German soil."

Churchmen often walked with the Nazis in the same harness

Bishop August Mararens, speaking in August 1945 about the sins of the church, noted that the Jews had caused “a great misfortune” to the German people and deserved punishment, “but more humane.” How saturated he and all the other clergy are with anti-Semitism: even after the war he sees the need for “punishment,” only “more humane”! Bishop Theophilus Wurm assured that he would not say “a single word” against the authorities’ right to fight Jews as a dangerous element that corrodes “the religious, moral, literary, economic and political spheres.”

Don't forget and don't forgive! Some German theologians wanted to get rid of the Jews peacefully, others preferred total extermination. But on the main point, the church agreed with the Nazis: the Jews crucified and did not recognize Jesus and therefore must disappear. In addition, the church declared itself the New Israel, which now became the beloved son of God, and the true Israel had to join Christianity or disappear from the face of the earth.

German postage stamp dedicated to Martin Niemöller, 1992, 100 pfennigs

Today, Niemoeller's words are being remade in their own way by Muslims and their left-wing defenders. “Niemoeller... was also a convinced anti-Semite,” Goldhagen concludes. References to Niemöller are contrary to historical justice and Jewish dignity. They insult the memory of 6 million kadoishim, who bequeathed to us: not to forget and not to forgive...

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller was born on January 14, 1892 in the German city of Lipstadt. He was a famous German pastor who adhered to the religious views of Protestantism. In addition, he actively promoted anti-fascist ideas during the Second World War and advocated peace during the Cold War.

Beginning of religious activity

Martin Niemöller was trained as a naval officer and commanded a submarine during the First World War. After the war he commanded a battalion in the Ruhr region. Martin begins to study theology in the period from 1919 to 1923.

At the beginning of his religious activity, he supported the anti-Semitic and anti-communist policies of the nationalists. However, already in 1933, Pastor Martin Niemöller opposed the ideas of nationalists, which was associated with Hitler’s rise to power and his totalitarian policy of homogenization, according to which it was necessary to exclude employees with Jewish roots from all Protestant churches. Due to the imposition of this "Aryan paragraph", Martin, together with his friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer, created a religious movement that strongly opposed the nationalization of German churches.

Arrest and concentration camp

For his opposition to Nazi control of German religious institutions, Martin Niemöller was arrested on July 1, 1937. A tribunal held on March 2, 1938 convicted him of anti-state actions and sentenced him to 7 months in prison and a fine of 2,000 German marks.

Since Martin was detained for 8 months, which exceeded the term of his conviction, he was released immediately after the trial. Nevertheless, as soon as the pastor left the courtroom, he was immediately arrested again by the Gestapo organization, subordinate to Heinrich Himmler. This new arrest was most likely due to the fact that he considered the punishment for Martin too favorable. As a result, Martin Niemöller was imprisoned in Dachau from 1938 to 1945.

Article by Lev Stein

Lev Stein, Martin Niemöller's prison companion who was released from the Sachsenhausen camp and immigrated to America, wrote an article about his cellmate in 1942. In the article, the author sets out quotes from Martin that followed his question about why he initially supported the Nazi party. What did Martin Niemöller say to this question? He replied that he often asks himself this question and every time he does it, he regrets his action.

He also talks about Hitler's betrayal. The fact is that Martin had an audience with Hitler in 1932, where the pastor acted as an official representative of the Protestant Church. Hitler swore to him to defend the rights of the church and not to issue anti-church laws. In addition, the people's leader promised not to allow pogroms against Jews on German territory, but only to introduce restrictions on the rights of this people, for example, to take away seats in the German government and so on.

The article also states that Martin Niemöller was dissatisfied with the popularization of atheist views in the pre-war period, which were supported by the Social Democratic and Communist parties. That is why Niemöller had high hopes for the promises that Hitler gave him.

Activities after World War II and merits

After his release in 1945, Martin Niemöller joined the ranks of the peace movement, a member of which he remained until the end of his days. In 1961 he was appointed president of the World Council of Churches. During the Vietnam War, Martin played an important role in advocating for its end.

Martin was instrumental in approving the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, which was signed by German Protestant leaders. This declaration recognizes that the Church did not do everything possible to eliminate the threat of Nazism even in the initial stages of its formation.

The Cold War between the USSR and the USA in the second half of the 20th century kept the whole world in tension and fear. At this time, Martin Niemöller distinguished himself for his activity in maintaining peace in Europe.

After the nuclear attack on Japan in 1945, Martin called US President Harry Truman "the world's worst murderer since Hitler." Martin's meeting with North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi at the height of the war in that country also caused strong indignation in the United States.

In 1982, when the religious leader turned 90, he said that he began his political career as a hardline conservative and was now an active revolutionary, then added that if he lived to be 100, he might become an anarchist.

Disputes about the famous poem

Beginning in the 1980s, Martin Niemöller became well known as the author of the poem "When the Nazis Came for the Communists." The poem tells of the consequences of tyranny, which no one opposed at the time of its formation. What is special about this poem is that many of its exact words and phrases are disputed, since it was largely transcribed from Martin's speech. Its author himself says that we are not talking about any poem, it is just a sermon that was delivered during Holy Week in 1946 in the city of Kaiserslautern.

It is believed that the idea of ​​writing his poem came to Martin after he visited the Dachau concentration camp after the war. The poem was first published in printed form in 1955. Note that the author of this poem is often mistakenly called the German poet Bertolt Brecht, and not Martin Niemöller.

"When they came..."

Below we give the most accurate translation from German of the poem “When the Nazis Came for the Communists.”

When the Nazis came to take away the communists, I was silent because I was not a communist.

When the Social Democrats were put in prison, I was silent because I was not a Social Democrat.

When they came and started looking for trade unionists, I did not protest because I was not a trade unionist.

When they came to take away the Jews, I did not protest because I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to protest.

The words of the poem clearly reflect the mood that reigned in the minds of many people during the formation of the fascist regime in Germany.

“When they came for the communists, I was silent, because I am not a communist. When they came for the Catholics, I was silent, because I am not a Catholic. When they came for the Jews, I was silent, because I am not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one to protect me.”

[...] let me remind you that Pastor Martin Niemöller, the author of these words, was an ardent nationalist [...] Member of the NSDAP, by the way. Despite the fact that since 1937 he had been in prisons and camps, his hatred of the Soviet Union had not gone away - he wrote petitions to be sent to the front... In 1946, this servile pastor quickly changed his beliefs and noisily admitted the guilt of Germany and COLLECTIVE GUILT of the Germans for the actions of the Nazis. In 1961-68, he was already president of the World Council of Churches, an ecumenical organization that served the interests of the Protestant States.

“In Germany, first they came for the communists, but I didn’t say anything, because I was not a communist. Then they came for the Jews, but I said nothing, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade union members, but I was not a trade union member and said nothing. Then they came for the Catholics, but I, being a Protestant, did not say anything. And when they came for me, there was no one to stand up for me."

And on this occasion completely different words come to mind.

Where are the screamers and sad people now?
They became noisy and disappeared at a young age...
And the silent ones became leaders,
Because silence is golden.

“We talk about the “eternal Jew” and in our imagination the image of a restless wanderer without a home emerges... We see a highly gifted people developing ideas for the good of the whole world, but all this is poisoned and brings them only contempt and hatred, because time From time to time the world notices the deception and takes revenge for it in its own way." He said this in 1937. from the pulpit of the church, one of the most famous opponents of Nazism, Protestant pastor Niemoller. Here, without naming them, he brands the Nazis, comparing them... with the Jews: the Jews are responsible not only “for the blood of Jesus and the blood of his messengers,” but also “for the blood of all the destroyed righteous people who confirmed the holy will of God against the tyrannical the will of man."
It turns out that the Jews are worse than the Nazis: they, the bearers of eternal evil, in alliance with the devil, destroyed myriads.

A submarine captain during the First World War, then a pastor, he supports Hitler, but not wanting to renounce the Christian religion, which the Nazis wanted to replace with pagan myths, he becomes his opponent. From the camp, the patriotic pastor writes to Hitler, asking to go to the front. Freed by the Americans, he took part in the writing of "Stuttgarter Schuldbekkentnis," raising the question of the collective guilt of the Germans. As they say, I feel sorry for the bird... After this, he becomes a pacifist and president of the World Council of Churches, which collaborated with the USSR (1961-68). Advocates for reconciliation with Eastern Europe, goes to Moscow in 1952. and North Vietnam in 1967 Laureate of the Lenin Peace Prize 1967
Speaking in March 1946 in Zurich, Niemöller said: “Christianity has a greater responsibility before G-d than the Nazis, the SS and the Gestapo. We should have recognized Jesus in the suffering and persecuted brother, despite the fact that he was a communist or a Jew...”
It’s flattering to read this “despite”!

Some German theologians wanted to get rid of the Jews peacefully, others preferred total extermination. [...] Niemöller did not stand aside, silently observing what was happening, but zealously, with the Christian zeal of a follower of Martin Luther, who demanded that the Jews be burned, prepared this Catastrophe, with his sermons kindling an all-consuming fire in the hell of the German spirit, infused with beer, the music of Wagner and the "Aryan race" theory.

Today, Niemöller's words are being remade in their own way by Muslims and their left-wing defenders. “Niemoeller is an example of a staunch opponent of the Nazis who was also a staunch anti-Semite,” concludes D. J. Goldhagen. References to Niemöller are contrary to historical justice and Jewish dignity. They insult the memory of 6 million kadoishim, who bequeathed to us: not to forget and not to forgive.

When they came for the communists, I remained silent (did not protest) because I was not a communist. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent because I was not a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I remained silent because I was a Protestant. And when they came for me, by this time there was no one left who could stand up for me (protest)

Words of a German Protestant theologian and rector of a parish in Dahlem (Berlin region), one of the leaders of the “confessional church” Martin Niemöller(1892-1984), who was persecuted by the Nazis and was imprisoned for a long time (from 1937 to 1945) in prison and a concentration camp.

In English-speaking countries, these words are usually quoted, with reference to the official publication of the US Congress "Congressional records" of October 14, 1968, as follows: “When Hitler began to persecute the Jews, it did not concern me, because I was not a Jew. And when Hitler began to persecute Catholics, it did not concern me, because I was not a Catholic. And when Hitler began to persecute trade unions, it did not concern me, because I was not a member of a trade union. And when Hitler began to persecute me and the Evangelical Church, there was no one left who was concerned.”

Perhaps this is a paraphrase of fragments of Niemöller’s sermon in Frankfurt am Main (January 6, 1946): “...Those who then (in 1933 - Comp.) went to concentration camps, were communists. Whom did this concern? [...]. Then came the turn of the elimination of the sick, the so-called. "incurable". [...]. And finally the turn came to the (evangelical) itself. Comp.) Churches. Then we tried to say something, but no one heard us. The persecution of Jews [...], because the newspapers wrote about it. [...]. We chose to remain silent." (Martin Niemuller aber die deutsche Schuld... Zbrich, 1946).

Recently, the words of Martin Niemöller have become very popular among Jews:
“In Germany they came for the communists first, but I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, but I remained silent because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the union members, but I was not a union member and did not say anything. Then they came for the Catholics, but I, being a Protestant, said nothing. And when they came for me, there was no one to stand up for me." (the exact text was confirmed by M. Niemöller’s wife)
The range of strings touched in the Jewish soul extends from the Jewish settlers of Eretz Israel to the teaching-hungry popularizers of all kinds of knowledge. But this is not enough: the words of the anti-fascist pastor, distorted in a Jewish way, are printed in the form of a poem and even on the wall Yad Vashem!
In the article “Catastrophe,” published in an American Russian-language newspaper, the following is written: “Well, those who were not executioners, who stood aside and silently watched what was happening, did they understand that they were, at the very least, accomplices? Pastor Nemoller (sic!) understood: “First they came for the Jews and I didn’t say anything”...
[In the same article: “400 thousand Germans were intermarried with Jews.” By December 31, 1942 there were mixed marriages: in the Old Reich 16,760, in Austria 4,803, in the protectorate 6,211, total - 27,774. Report by SS-Statistician Korherr, April 19, 1943 NO-55193, R. Hilberg. The destruction of the European Jews]

Who was the good pastor?

“We talk about the “eternal Jew” and in our imagination the image of a restless wanderer without a home emerges... We see a highly gifted people developing ideas for the good of the whole world, but all this is poisoned and brings them only contempt and hatred, because time From time to time the world notices the deception and takes revenge for it in its own way." He said this in 1937. from the pulpit of the church, one of the most famous opponents of Nazism, Protestant pastor Niemoller. Here, without naming them, he brands the Nazis, comparing them... with the Jews: the Jews are responsible not only “for the blood of Jesus and the blood of his messengers,” but also “for the blood of all the destroyed righteous people who confirmed the holy will of God against the tyrannical the will of man."
It turns out that the Jews are worse than the Nazis: they, the bearers of eternal evil, in alliance with the devil, destroyed myriads. But after the war, the pastor said words that, together with his privileged stint in the “der Bunker der Prominente” in Dachau and Sachsenhausen, won him a place in the fictional pantheon of German fighters against Nazism, and even the title of defender of the Jews.
A submarine captain during the First World War, then a pastor, he
supports Hitler, but not wanting to renounce the Christian religion, which the Nazis wanted to replace with pagan myths, becomes his opponent. From the camp, the patriotic pastor writes to Hitler, asking to go to the front. Freed by the Americans, he took part in the writing of "Stuttgarter Schuldbekkentnis," raising the question of the collective guilt of the Germans. As they say, I feel sorry for the bird... After this, he becomes a pacifist and president of the World Council of Churches, which collaborated with the USSR (1961-68). Advocates for reconciliation with Eastern Europe, goes to Moscow in 1952. and North Vietnam in 1967 Laureate of the Lenin Peace Prize 1967
Speaking in March 1946 in Zurich, Niemöller said: “Christianity has a greater responsibility before G-d than the Nazis, the SS and the Gestapo. We should have recognized Jesus in the suffering and persecuted brother, despite the fact that he was a communist or a Jew...”
It’s flattering to read this “despite”!

Pious deeds of the church fathers

The unity of the German people was best demonstrated in its attitude towards the Jews. The good Germans, who sheltered Jews not for money or out of a desire to buy their lives at the end of the war, make up a tiny group. The German people have risen to the pinnacle of the meanness of the truly Teutonic spirit, as F. Nietzsche once predicted. The entire people, led by the Christian Church, took part in the murder and division of the loot.
One of the moral standards of the German nation, Bishop Otto Dibelius, in 1928. proposed to ban Jewish immigration for the peaceful disappearance of Jews, and after announcing a boycott of Jews in April 1933, he declared that he had always “been an anti-Semite... It is impossible not to admit that in all the destructive manifestations of modern civilization, Jewry plays a leading role.”
Pastor G. Grüber, the very humane head of the Bureau of Assistance to Baptized Jews, a witness at the Eichmann trial, who was even arrested in 1940. for protesting against the deportation of Jews, in 1939. criticized the Danes for rejecting the concept of the idea of ​​"rootless Jews," which was "happy to talk about in Nazi Germany. From 1919 to 32, Jews controlled the finances, economics, politics, culture and press of Germany. It was truly Jewish domination."
In one of the main documents of resistance to Nazism, prepared by
on the initiative of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who supported the Nuremberg Laws, (another anti-fascist hero and favorite of the Jewish ignoramuses), there was a “Proposal for the solution of the Jewish problem of Germany”: “We confirm that the new Germany will have the right to take steps to reflect the disastrous influence of this race on our people " The condemnation of genocide says that in the future Jews may even be allowed into Germany: they are now too few "to be dangerous."
Members of the legendary resistance to Hitler shared his views on the Jews: during interrogation by the Gestapo, the conspirators on July 20, 1944. stated that they generally agreed with the authorities' policies. As the brother of Claus von Stauffenberg, who planted the bomb on Hitler, said: "In the sphere of domestic policy we welcome the basic principles of the Nazis... The concept of race is quite reasonable and inspires hope."
Even the execution of 33,771 Jews on September 29-30, 1941. at Babi Yar, rumors of which spread widely in Germany, did not soften church hatred of Jews. That same month, Protestant leaders issued a declaration declaring "the impossibility of saving the Jews by baptism because of their special racial
constitution" and placed responsibility for the war on these
"natural enemies of Germany and the whole world...
Therefore, it is necessary to take the most severe measures
against the Jews and throw them out of German soil."

The Church, on its own initiative, supported the extermination of the Jews. “This proclamation, a sanction for genocide, is a unique document in the history of Christianity,” writes D.Y. Goldhagen (“Hitler’s willing executioners”)
Bishop A. Mararens, speaking in August 1945 about the sins of the church, noted that the Jews caused “a huge disaster” to the German people and deserved punishment, “but more humane.” How saturated he and all the other clergy are with anti-Semitism: even after the war he sees the need for “punishment,” only “more humane”! Bishop T. Wurm assured,
that he would not say “a single word” against the right of the authorities to fight the Jews as a dangerous element that corrodes “the religious, moral, literary, economic and political spheres.”

Don't forget and don't forgive!
Some German theologians wanted to get rid of the Jews peacefully, others preferred total extermination. But on the main point, the church agreed with the Nazis: the Jews crucified and did not recognize Jesus and therefore must disappear. In addition, the church declared itself the New Israel, which now became the beloved son of G-d, and the true Israel had to join Christianity or disappear from the face of the earth.
Niemöller did not stand by, silently observing what was happening, but zealously, with the Christian zeal of a follower of Martin Luther, who demanded that the Jews be burned, prepared this Catastrophe, with his sermons kindling an all-consuming fire in the hell of the German spirit, infused with beer, Wagner's music and the theory of the "Aryan race" "
Today, Niemöller's words are being remade in their own way by Muslims and their left-wing defenders. “Niemoeller is an example of a staunch opponent of the Nazis who was also a staunch anti-Semite,” concludes D. J. Goldhagen. References to Niemöller are contrary to historical justice and Jewish dignity. They insult the memory of 6 million kadoishim, who bequeathed to us: not to forget and not to forgive.