Hitler's Personal Prisoner: The Life of Martin Niemler (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780192862587)

This is the first fully researched biography of Martin Niemler (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. Niemler'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 Niemler's contribution to ecumenism, anti-nuclear pacifism, and his role in rebuilding the West German Protestant Churches.

From 1938 to 1945, Martin Niemler was detained as 'Hitler's Personal Prisoner' in Nazi concentration camps. Liberated in April 1945, Niemler was widely hailed as an icon of Christian resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. For many years, the Niemler 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' Niemler behind the legend of the resistance hero. Carefully situating Niemler'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.

Author: Benjamin Ziemann, Christine Brocks
ISBN-10: 0192862588
ISBN-13: 9780192862587
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 03/15/2024
Pages: 464
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.40w x 1.60d