THE GESTAPO DEFIED – Being the Last 28 Sermons by Pastor Martin Niemöller. Sermons delivered in 1936–1937 in which Niemöller dared in Germany to speak out against the Nazi oppression machine. Published by William Hodge and Company, London, 1942 – Second Edition with a special introduction for this edition by Thomas Mann. English translation based on copies found in hiding places in Germany. The book was published in English while Niemöller was imprisoned in Dachau. Rare copy with the original dust jacket.
A collection of the last 28 sermons of the German theologian Pastor Niemöller who, after initially supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party at the start of their rise, became one of the regime’s most outspoken critics, leading to his imprisonment in the concentration camps of Sachsenhausen and Dachau between 1938 and 1945. These sermons were delivered between October 1936 and June 1937 and were called “The Struggle Sermons.” By the time he delivered them, Niemöller was already under close Gestapo surveillance, and these were the sermons that ultimately led to his arrest. After being caught, Niemöller was brought before a judge who ostensibly acquitted him and ordered him to return to serve his community. However, as he exited the courthouse, the Gestapo police, acting on Adolf Hitler’s explicit orders, arrested him and took him to a concentration camp.
“It is hard to understand the courage required to preach like this in Germany, but courage was a quality Niemöller did not lack” (from the publisher’s remarks). A fascinating introduction by the German writer Thomas Mann, written while Niemöller was in a concentration camp, speaks of Niemöller’s bravery and expresses hope for his quick release.
Emil Gustav Friedrich Martin Niemöller [1892–1984], a German Protestant pastor who served as President of the World Council of Churches, was ordained in 1931. He served in the Dahlem Church, a district in West Berlin. At that time, Niemöller held nationalist views, and in his 1933 autobiography, From U-Boats to the Pulpit, he referred to the Weimar Republic years as “dark years.” In the epilogue of the book, he expressed hope that Adolf Hitler, who came to power that year, would bring national revival and awakening. The book, encouraged by the Nazis, became a bestseller in Germany. Niemöller was also aligned with the National Socialists’ anti-communist agenda.
After witnessing several violent incidents, in 1934, Niemöller’s attitude toward the Nazis underwent a sharp turn: Niemöller established the “Pastors’ Emergency League, ” a Protestant group uniting resistance against the Nazification of Protestant churches in Germany, the Nazis’ anti-Christian ideas, and the Nazi-created church, which they claimed was a propaganda tool. After delivering a fiery sermon in June 1937, Niemöller was arrested and imprisoned in a Berlin prison. After eight months, he was tried before a special court established by the Nazis to prosecute crimes against the state. He was acquitted of sedition, possibly due to international pressure, but was convicted of abusing his position as a pastor and misappropriating donations to the church. He was sentenced to seven months of imprisonment but was immediately released, as he had already served his sentence. Immediately after the trial, as he left the courtroom, Niemöller was arrested by the Gestapo and placed in administrative detention in the Dachau concentration camp, and later in Sachsenhausen, where he remained until his liberation by the Allies in 1945. Near the end of World War II, he narrowly escaped execution. After his release in 1945, Niemöller served as President of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau until 1961 and later as President of the World Council of Churches. After the war, he preached the collective guilt of the German people for Nazi crimes as a path to atonement and was also known as a pacifist who advocated reconciliation and improving relations with the communist states of Eastern Europe. In 1967, he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, and in 1971, he received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Niemöller is known for his poem “First They Came, ” expressing protest against the complicity and silence of the silent majority during the rise of Nazism. The poem has many versions, and its exact origin is unknown. It likely developed from several speeches Niemöller gave in 1946: “…and then they came for the Jews—and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew; and then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me…”
The WorldCat global library catalog lists two editions of the book—the 1943 edition appears in several libraries worldwide, while the 1942 edition before us is listed but, according to catalog records, does not appear in any library worldwide! Additionally, it is rare to find a copy with the original dust jacket.
XI, 259 pages. 19 cm. Red hardcover with original dust jacket. Stains on the jacket. Good condition.
