First They Came...

Niemöller’s status as an anti-authoritarian hero is disputed given his history of nationalism and antisemitism. As a conservative anti-communist, he voted for the Nazi party from 1924 to 1933. His concerns about Nazi rule grew as he saw the new state infringing on church affairs and directly altering church doctrine. In a 1934 meeting between Adolf Hitler and church leaders, Niemöller pushed against Hitler’s assertion that he would “take care of the German people” (Pace, Eric. “Martin Niemöller, Resolute Foe of Hitler.” The New York Times, 1984), seeing it as a direct threat to the Lutheran Church’s spiritual obligation to the German people. Even as he fought to preserve church autonomy, he agreed with the Nazi party’s antisemitic policies. He volunteered mid-internment to fight in the German Navy in 1939 and was denied.

It was not until after the war in 1945 that Niemöller began to change his views. He reflected on this slow, radical shift in 1982, stating that he started his adult life as “an ultra-conservative who wanted the Kaiser to come back; and now I am a revolutionary. I really mean that. If I live to be a hundred I shall maybe be an anarchist” (Hockenos, Matthew.