[About the person] Martin Niemöller, from follower to resistance fighter Documentary HD

From Supporter of National Socialism to Resistance Fighter – Pastor Niemöller, a Man of Contradictions. The Protestant theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) is still considered one of the most prominent figures in Protestantism in the Federal Republic of Germany. His most famous quote on National Socialism, like his eventful life story, characterizes him as a "man of contradictions": "When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they imprisoned the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I remained silent; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to protest." During the First World War, Niemöller fought as a loyal naval soldier and, in 1924, voted for the Nazi Party out of conviction. It was only with the introduction of the "Aryan Paragraph" that his views changed: He became active in the Church Struggle and one of the most vocal critics of the Nazi regime's church policies. His relationship to political National Socialism and its racial ideology remained ambivalent. In 1934, he founded the Confessing Church and was interned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for this. After the Second World War, Niemöller became increasingly committed to pacifism and is still considered one of the most prominent figures in the German peace movement. In 1945, he was appointed a member of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany and president of the Church's foreign affairs office. Year: October 30, 1963