Martin Niemöller
A pastor whom the Evangelical Church in Germany names among the leaders of the church opposition that gathered the Confessional Synod at Barmen in May 1934.
The introduction that the Evangelical Church in Germany publishes with the Barmen Declaration lists Martin Niemöller with the pastors Hans Asmussen, Karl Koch and Karl Immer and the theologian Karl Barth among the few church leaders who opposed what it calls the church’s captivity to National Socialism, and who brought the delegates together at Barmen (Barmen Declaration, EKD introduction (English)). See the Barmen Declaration.
In the timeline
- 31 May 1934, firm dateThe Barmen Declaration
Meeting at Barmen in May 1934, a synod of Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestants declares against the German Christians that Jesus Christ is the one Word of God the church has to hear, and that the state may not become the total order of human life.