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German pastor who crusaded against Nazi persecutionwill be focus of chapel service

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January 31, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? The son of a German pastor will talk about his father?s public defiance to Nazi persecution of Jews during a talk at St. Olaf College on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

Heinz Niemoeller will speak during the daily St. Olaf College chapel service at 10:10 a.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. In "A Son?s Remembrance of His Pastor Father Confronting Hitler in 1934," Niemoeller will reveal the efforts of the late Martin Niemoeller to end Nazi persecution. After the service Niemoeller will be a guest at a reception in the Heritage Room of Buntrock Commons. The service, talk and reception are free and open to the public.

Martin Niemoeller was sent to the Dachau concentration camp for speaking out from the pulpit in defiance of the Nazi persecution.

On Sunday, Feb. 4, in Minneapolis, Heinz Niemoeller will accept the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity in honor of his father.

Martin Niemoeller began his career as an officer in the German Imperial Navy. Serving during World War I, he quickly rose through the ranks to become a submarine commander. At the end of the war, as the German Empire collapsed, Niemoeller quit the navy and married Else Bremer. He moved to Muenster, capital of Westphalia, and studied for the Lutheran ministry. He finished his courses in 1923 and was ordained a Lutheran minister.

Due to his impressive war record, Niemoeller was appointed director of charitable institutions and activities for the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. In 1931 Niemoeller and his family moved to Berlin-Dahlem, where he applied to be parish minister.

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Two years after Niemoeller?s arrival in Berlin, Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power. Church officials took exception to Hitler?s decree to expel pastors of Jewish descent from church services, and soon a bitter controversy broke out between the Nazi-controlled state and the Evangelical Church in Germany. Niemoeller and his comrades formed the "Confessing Church" to counteract propaganda by Hitler and the Nazi party.

Speaking in more than 200 meeting halls and churches, Niemoeller exposed the Nazi activities against the churches. Eventually his sermons became a threat to the Nazi government, and Hitler had Niemoeller arrested. From 1937 to 1945 Niemoeller was in captivity, first in the prison of Berlin-Moabit and then the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen (near Berlin). In July 1941 he was sent to the concentration camp at Dachau. In April 1945 Niemoeller was scheduled to be executed, only to narrowly escape thanks to an ironic rescue by a German Army general, who turned him over to American troops in Northern Italy.

Following his release Niemoeller expressed remorse and became famous for his statement: "They came first for the Communists, and I didn?t speak up because I wasn?t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn?t speak up because I wasn?t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn?t speak up because I wasn?t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn?t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

When the war ended, Niemoeller returned to the pulpit, preaching realignment of Protestant churches and stressing the moral responsibilities of all Germans. He also continued his battle for better understanding between East and the West and for improved relations among Protestant churches worldwide.

Until his death in 1984, Niemoeller held strong to his conviction that only through peace, international solidarity and mutual understanding can humans save the world.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty of approximately 250. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.