Hitler's Personal Prisoner: The Life of Martin Niemöller

by Benjamin Ziemann, Christine Brocks

Overview

This is the first fully researched biography of Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). It charts his life from his service in the Imperial German Navy, his work for the Inner Mission and as a Protestant pastor in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem from 1931. Niemöller's work as a leading figure of the Confessing Church and his contribution to the conflicts over church policy during the Third Reich are analysed and contextualised. Chapters on the post-war period chart Niemöller's contribution to ecumenism, anti-nuclear pacifism, and his role in rebuilding the West German Protestant Churches.

From 1938 to 1945, Martin Niemöller was detained as 'Hitler's Personal Prisoner' in Nazi concentration camps. Liberated in April 1945, Niemöller was widely hailed as an icon of Christian resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. For many years, the Niemöller legend masked the problematic aspects of his life: his persistent antisemitism, on display even in the post-war period; his nationalism and support of the German war effort even whilst in concentration camp detention; and his disdain for parliamentary democracy. In his biography of the most important twentieth-century German Protestant, Benjamin Ziemann uncovers the 'historical' Niemöller behind the legend of the resistance hero. Carefully situating Niemöller's personal trajectory in his wider social milieu — from the Imperial Navy to the West German peace movement — Ziemann probes into core themes of twentieth century German history: militarism, National Socialism, German guilt, and moral reconstruction post-1945.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192862587
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2024
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Ziemann, Professor of Modern German History, University of Sheffield

Benjamin Ziemann is Professor of Modern Germany at the University of Sheffield. He has gained his PhD from the University of Bielefeld, and has held visiting fellowships at Humboldt University Berlin, the University of York, the University of Jena, Oslo University and Kyoritsu Women's University in Tokyo.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPART I. Protestant Nationalism in Imperial Germany and Weimar Republic1. Childhood and Youth in a Parsonage2. Officer Candidate in the Imperial Navy3. 'May God Punish England': Nationalism and the Great War 1914-19184. Theological Studies and Counter-Revolution 1919-19235. Inner Mission and People's Community 1924 to 19316. As a Parish Priest in Berlin Dahlem 1931-1932PART II. Church Quarrels and Crisis of Faith in the Third Reich7. The Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933 as a 'Protestant Experience'8. The Beginning of the Church Quarrel9. Building the Confessing Church, 193410. The Split of the Confessing Church 1935-193611. Arrest and Trial 1937-193812. 'Hitler's Personal Prisoner': Imprisoned in Concentration CampsPART III. Church Politics, Peace Activism and Ecumenical Work from 194513. New Beginnings - Delayed14. Rebuilding the Protestant Church15. The Political Pastor: Niemöller as a Critic of the Federal Republic16. Pacifism: Niemöller and the Fight Against Nuclear Armament17. 'The World is My Parish': Ecumenical Work18. Hopes and Disappointments in Old AgeConclusion

Editorial Reviews

"[This is] a seminal piece of scholarship. [...] A treatise that will be read and referenced for decades. This is a masterpiece in the revisionist biography genre." — Stewart Anderson, Brigham Young University in History: Reviews of New Books

"It is Ziemann's achievement in drawing out both Niemöller's strengths and weaknesses with acuity and balance that makes this the best biography of Niemöller available." — Stephen J. Plant, Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge

"Ziemann has written the definitive biography of Martin Niemöller. He replaces the post-war image of an iconic figure of resistance to Nazism with a compelling, far less flattering, interpretation. This emphasises the fervently held form of nationalist Protestantism, cultural antisemitism and rejection of liberal democracy that provided consistency to the seeming contradictions in Niemöller's thought and actions until well after 1945." — Ian Kershaw, Author of Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe

"This book is a brilliant reexamination of one of the most obdurate of sacred cows, the myth of Martin Niemöller. Ziemann has done prodigious work in pushing past the postwar narrative so carefully curated by Niemöller's circle of confidants, to do what historians are supposed to do: get to the truth. By deploying a fact-driven methodology concerned with scrutinizing old truth-claims, Ziemann delivers the kind of probing reevaluation of Niemöller that we have waited literally decades to read." — Richard Steigmann-Gall, Author of The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945

"Ziemann has succeeded in writing an impressively balanced account of a multi-faceted personality with a world-wide resonance. For all phases of his life, Ziemann sheds light on his protagonist's ambivalence. The one constant in Niemöller's life seems to have been his national Protestantism." — Gabriele Bosch, International Journal of Military History and Historiography

From the Publisher