Reich Warns Niemoeller of Loss of Pulpit (6/10/39)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 6/10/39

[Homer_J_Simpson]

If you would like to be added to or deleted from the Real Time +/- 70 Years ping list, send me a freepmail. You can also search for these articles by the keyword realtime, going back to the first one on January 27, 2008. These articles are posted on the 70th anniversary of their original publication date. See my profile for additional information.

[HereInTheHeartland]

We are not there yet.
Closer than a few years ago however.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

This is the third article about Rev. Niemoeller I have posted since last year, but the first in which his church was named. I assumed he was Lutheran but here it is identified as the Confessional Church. I am not familiar with it.

[fso301]

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I am not familiar with it.

A little searching yields the information that the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) rose in opposition to the Nazification of the other Protestant churches in Germany. It seems like it is not of a specific denomination beyond Protestant.

[iowamark]

Pastor Niemoller was a famed U-boat commander in World War I. He was ordained in the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church after the war. Originally a Nazi supporter like most of the Lutheran clergy, he soon resisted Hitler’s attempts to control the churches and persecute Jewish converts.

In 1934, Niemöller joined other Protestants such as Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in founding the Confessing Church, a Protestant group that opposed the Nazification of the German Lutheran churches.

He was interned 1937-1945 but was treated comparatively well because of his war hero status. During World War II, he offered to serve in Hitler’s navy if released. Unfortunately, after the war he became a pro-Communist “peace activist,” having learned little from his experience as a Nazi dupe.