European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1962, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Feature pastor Marytn Nie Molur by Omer Anderson Nana staff writer Eutuk 8 not no c a priv tit to to Proffi tatty More than Putter Martin Nti nor tort of a to it Manti. Fie prot Pitt ii att atm Hirr car  he  Ngit tit  trials for Kaiti. Ami ii is  in at n i in Filomin wow his  a Inin Tisi i trait i air it i int Tivi Citi had him emn or is never missive he i Elway. Nyhl let us of the  diverge widely. Rut he is respected by exit a if a Rouia Euid Jin i ie.-. It purpose for  there is no Cim Pronik of thet with himself Nur with his Opp a coils. Which helps explain Why Nic Mckel ice. A Brilliant world War i submarine Captain. Buvit Dimi Fly Rully from h military to i spiritual calling. Critics character a him As Gen Tanj s red i  n wanderer he tween two worlds in the a pm of Englund k  Hewlett Johnson he is impartially identified As n militant  which in most reel i Only is. Perhaps the most Dzui clod  paid five Moeller on the occasion of his 701 h i birthday by significantly i Catholic Jub locution. Die Lincow tic plumed Furrow. Austrian leading rot Nunal och push Rinion. Sol str d i he lutheran we omit state the it in our Side vie do not have a pm � equal to his. U t on the Catholic Side endorse the or he entered the Germun Navy in 1910. A daring Sti Marine skipper Niemoeller wat decorated by a Kaler for sinking a huge total of Allied tonnage. He is credited with having Unk More Allied shipping than any other German submarine Ace to survive that War. However after the War Niamoi ller h � Cam Moody and withdrawn. He Lay awake nights haunted by the hundreds of victims his submarines had sent to Ocean Graves. He pondered moodily what manner of men Are we that we destroy one another How do we differ from assassins rising from the Depths to kill and detroy a Man of no Compromise. Niemoeller re fused to Compromise with himself. He decided that his Only path of atonement and expiation Jed to the ministry. He was ordained a lutheran Clergyman in 1924. After routine assignments Niemoeller he came pastor of the Dahi pm Church in Jet Lin in 1931. He was the first and most courageous of the German clergymen who opposed Hitler openly organizing clerical opposition to the nazis on Jan. L 5, 19. 4. Hitler summoned Nie Moeller to an audience. Dry fit firer re mind i Niemoeller of his service As u if boat Ace demanded that he again place above All else. To the rendering of nazi ritual and especially the Heil hitter Salute five Days after Tilv confront sit Ion Wilh Hitler. 1 he pastor was suspended from his pulpit. However. Niemoeller defied Hitler and i-on1inu"d preaching in the Dahlem t Hurdis the nazis hesitated to touch the pastor until 19 7, when in mid year police bundled Lulu before a special court lie was Send tired to seven months Itu i i Hinnent still defiant Nienius ii a was plat to in the i Lachau once lat Ion Camp my  in the s in i Senhausen Camp. Where he remained lentil  s end i Orinn minds Intel ceded with Hitler on  of the pastor. And tie undoubtedly could have had his release had be Heen willing to bargain hut the pastor rejected Compromise and remained with my Brela ten in in concentration earn p. After the War. Niemoeller became the Leader of the lutheran Church s department a f \1ertial Rel Titius handling the Gei  iro1esant Church Lori Iii re lation in effect he was the Church s foreign minister Froidl i in. Tinti Lefiti when he resigned in a dispute Over the Church s role in foreign policy character Mically. Nie Moeleh a demanded i hat Ger Inan protestantism pursue a militantly pacifist role in work affairs. In l ,.m7 he was elected president of the lutheran Church in Hesse Nassau and this position Niemoeller still holds. Hanily four months after cutting charge of the Church in Hesse. Niemoeller was embroiled in controversy Elliis time Wilh . Military occur i Ilion authorities. His theme. Incredibly was Allied de  icon which Ihn pastor. Despite his own concen Lral Ion Anie Pru Tice bit Terly opposed. Niemoeller advised All Church Menil ers to withdraw Ironi the Dena if Calion tril Tunas and he Forl mde he minis ters under him to serve on them As lutheran Church foreign minister Niemoeller roved i he world speaking his mind i Neol his supercharged themes was the ? Allied dismantling of German Industrial capacity which he assailed incessantly on Bis world travels this policy eventually wus reversed for which the pastor can claim major credit. As Early As 19-17, Niemoeller was decry ing the decadence of Western society and extolling the dynamism of communist society the pastor picks his nuances care fully and frequently complains he is mis quoted or that his remarks Are lifted out of context. Niemoeller has never committed himself to communism. Nor has he Ever renounced or rejected capitalist society. But he seems to feel that Western society is stagnating. If not moribund and Over the years he has found remarkably Little to  in communism. The pastor s frequent travels behind the Iron curtain have kept him bubbling in controversy. As Early As 1952 he was on intimate terms with ten  orthodox Church Hierarchy. At that time Nie Mucller visited Moscow and negotiated on his own initiative for the release of German War prisoners Stilt held by the soviets. The pastor offered to remain in Russia and serve As Clergyman to the prisoners. But it was nut until 1954 that Nie Moeller found an Issue to occupy his full Fervour and Complete conviction West Ger Man rearmament and what became an even More burning Issue with the pastor Termun nuclear armament. These intertwined issues have aroused the Hawk eyed Clergyman As nothing since the hitter Era. Soon he was telling the hessian Church Synod since 1954 e think differently theologically than i thought formerly. There Are things that As christians we must not do even it the world collapses. ,.we protest in the name of. The living god against this blasphemy in which men take unto themselves the decision Over the life and death of  Niemoeller has clashed repeatedly with Jet Man of ? minister Franz Josef Strauss As  to he expected. The pastor  alled Leif , or so tit Rauss contended As a training around for professional  Strauss took Niemoeller to court for slandering the but Nodi Wehr. Niemoeller. While never compromising in mat lers of principle is usually ready to Compromise on matters f transcription interpretation and implication. When the hessian Synod Rose up in re Volt against Niemoeller s characterization of any Christian who sanctioned German read lament As a practising atheist the pastor retreated. He mollified the Synod Wilh a Compromise let each Christian follow the dictates of his  with Strauss Niemoeller produced a Compromise transcript of his professional killer speech which had the pastor stating that commando units were Likely to produce professional  thus. Nie Moeller has retained his Freedom to speak out on mat tors of principle however harsh his words May strike his Church elders and the government authorities in Bonn there has been speculation that note Moeller might Welcome court action a Strauss to dramatize his indictment of West German rearmament. There has Heen even vivid speculation that the Pas Tor would particularly prize a jail sentence to draw world attention to his cause. Nie Noeller in the main pegs hts Case to logic which As expressed by the pastor is sobering if not compelling. He says there is the Prospect that in a Short Lime the 500,000 troops in the Burdes Chr and the 230,000 troops in the East Germany army will represent the Only factors of Power in Central Europe. Then Only a new fuehrer is needled to Appeal to the German feeling of these sol Diurso und we will have Germany reunified under a military dictatorship from there it is not far to a new nationalism or nazism because i do not believe that the West or East will inter Vene in this Domestic German develop  whatever the merits of his views Nile Noell a la As die Turcke noted the Ger Man protestant Leader who is bes known in the  his Impact is Felt equally in the West. Frist and uncommitted Hiloca. He holds honorary doctor of divinity de Gree s from the universities of St. Louis Budapest Delhi London. Goettinger. Chi Cago Halifax and Bratislava March 22, 1962 the stars and stripes