(1892–1984), was a German submarine captain in World War I; studied theology at Munster; was a pastor at Dahlheim; formed the Pastor’s Emergency League to protest the Nazi government; was arrested in 1937; and spent 7 years in concentration camps. He helped to rebuild the Evangelical church in Europe after World War II and served as the president of the World Council of Churches, 1961–68.
As a citizen in Germany during the Nazi regime, Martin Niemoeller wrote:
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.3482