Martin Niemöller

  • Met with Adolf Hitler

    After this meeting, Martin began to see the Nazi led Germany as a dictatorship.
  • Period: to

    Niemöller arrested several times.

    He was arrested for "treasonable statements" within his sermons. His statements mostly consisted of religions persecution and not about the racial discrimination.
  • Wrote a letter to Admiral Erich Raeder

    Niemöller wrote from in Sachsenhausen asking German Admiral Erich Raeder for an appeal. He would write another letter to him in 1941
  • Placed in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

    Placed in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
    Niemöller was arrested immediately after his release from prison by the Gestapo. He was placed under solitary confinement within the camp for his entire stay.
  • Wrote to a military colleague.

    Within his letter he asked that he be released from the concentration camp to join the military again to serve in the war.
  • Niemöller transferred to Dachau concentration camp.

    Niemöller transferred to Dachau concentration camp.
    He was now sharing a barrack room with catholic dissenters. Niemöller would also have access to books. He would spend most of the war here
  • Niemöller transferred to another camp in Austria.

    This would the last camp he was held in.
  • Liberated from Austrian concentration camp.

    Niemöller was freed by American troops.
  • Niemöller made a statement on behalf of a group of German churches

    The churches apologized for not speaking up against the Nazi views. Previously, Niemöller had also been silent on political grounds due to his nationalist views.
  • Niemöller went on a world tour to give lectures.

    Niemöller went on a world tour to give lectures.
    He spoke out against the holocaust and the atrocities done under Nazi rule, stating that the German people should accept responsibility for the Holocaust. He also read his famous poem "First They Came" at many of the lectures.