Evening star., 1939-06-25

feSuH OF ms resistance to NGst
domination OF the church. In
this article the erecutiue secre-
tary Of the Federal Council of the
Churches OF Christ in America
cites the reasons ,ohy the council
has asked the clergy OF the
United States to discuss Pastor
Ntemoeller's case In their sermons
on Sunday, July 2.
BY DR.. HENRY SMITH LEIPER.
NEW YORK, June "a (NA.N.A.).
The bells of the unco-ordinated
church still left in the third Reich
will toll on July /, the beginning
OF the third year of the imprison-
ment Of DR.. Martin Niemoeller, one
Of the most fearless, most outspoken
and ablest leaders of the German
Evangelical Church, which has re-
fused to accept Nazi leadership in
internal church affairs and has re-
fused to allow itself to be "gleich-
geschaltet" (co-ordinatedD for polit-
ical purposes.
On that day, ministers all over
the United States, as in other demo-
cratic countries, will unite in spirit
with the German martyrs in a
demonstration of solidarity in the
struggle against NaZi efforts to curb
the freedom of the human spirit
and their attempts to establish a
neo-paganism.
DR.. Niemoeller, almost against his
will, has become a symbol. He tried
to make his peace with the new
political masters.
Like others, he tried to build
"bridges"-a phrase made memoir
able by an Austrian Catholic leader
connecting with the Fascists. But,
like the Austrian author of the
bridges idea, he has found that
there can be no cooperation be-
tween Christianity and the new
politico-religious creed. The Aus
trian lader, DR.. Friedrich Funder,
has ended his life in the notorious
Dachau concentration camp; DR..
Martin Niemoeller languishes in an
other concentration camp.
Waged Freedoms Battle.
DR.. Niemoeller first took up the
cudgels for freedom of conscience
In May, 1888. when Friedrich Won
Bodelschwingh, one of the most able
and learned church leaders, was
forced to resign as Reich bishop
because he was not a German
Christian" The church had been
promised freedom of action; now
Niemoeller and his friends refused
to put up with the unwarranted
political interference. Nor could he
understand why Bodelschwingh and
his friends were deprived of the
right to speak and were denied use
OF the radio and the press to make
clear their stand.
He refused to accept the "leader-
ship principle" in matters of church: !:
he refused to make his peace with
the "Aryan paragraph" whereby
the universal application of Chris
tianity was abrogated by political
edict. For refusing to accept the
"Aryan paragraph" Niemoeller, to-
gether with other pastors, was sus-
pended from his parish in Novem-
ber, 1898.
Inevitably, the breach deepened
during the following years. The
political character of the German
Christian" wing of the Evangelical
Church became ever more pro-
nounced; the Nazis became open
exponents of neo-paganism; the
"Aryan paragraph" was enforced
without mercy. In his last sermon
before arrest, Dr. Niemoeller pointed
out that he was the sole member of
the Prussian Council of the Conies-
sional Church still at liberty.
He spoke with a frankness un-
heard OF since Hitler's coming to
power. He attacked the new
"Aryan' dogmas, and spared not the
m-Christian character of the new
regime. Explaining that a secret
emergency leadership had been set
up, he said that he expected arrest
at any moment, in spite of his pow
erful friends and the fact that his
congregation at Dahlem contained
many retired army officers.
Arrested Soon After.
Niemoeller knew whereof he was
speaking. Hitler had said, 1T is
Nlemoeller or T.; and his martyr
dom was soon to begin. He was ar
rested on july | 1897 nv the Geyta M
tsecret police, and kept in the
dreaded Moabit Prison. Although
Hitler demanded a severe sentence,
the court found itself compelled to
limit the sentence to seven months
honorable fortress imprisonment"
and to suspend even this sentence
because he had served eight months
prior to the trial.
Yet. in spite of the courts deci-
sion. Niemoeller was never released.
He was Immediately rearrested by
the Gestapo on the direct order of
Hitler. ''The greatest German
preacher since Luther, has since
been an inmate of the Sachsenhau-
sen concentration camp.
There can be no doubt whittier the
Nazi state is moving War has been
declared on both Roman Catholic
ism and on Evangelical Protestant
ism because they are political de-
generations of Christianity" and re-
suits of Jewish influence"