ThisisthefirstfullyresearchedbiographyofMartinNiem繹ller(1892-1984).ItchartshislifefromhisserviceintheImperialGermanNavy,hisworkfortheInnerMissionandasaProtestantpastorintheBerlinsuburbofDahlemfrom1931.Niem繹ller’sworkasaleadingfigureoftheConfessingChurchandhiscontributiontotheconflictsoverchurchpolicyduringtheThirdReichareanalysedandcontextualised.Chaptersonthepost-warperiodchartNiem繹ller’scontributiontoecumenism,anti-nuclearpacifism,andhisroleinrebuildingtheWestGermanProtestantChurches.From1938to1945,MartinNiem繹llerwasdetainedas’Hitler’sPersonalPrisoner’inNaziconcentrationcamps.LiberatedinApril1945,Niem繹llerwaswidelyhailedasaniconofChristianresistanceagainsttheNazidictatorship.Formanyyears,theNiem繹llerlegendmaskedtheproblematicaspectsofhislife:hispersistentantisemitism,ondisplayeveninthepost-warperiod;hisnationalismandsupportoftheGermanwareffortevenwhilstinconcentrationcampdetention;andhisdisdainforparliamentarydemocracy.Inhisbiographyofthemostimportanttwentieth-centuryGermanProtestant,BenjaminZiemannuncoversthe’historical’Niem繹llerbehindthelegendoftheresistancehero.CarefullysituatingNiem繹ller’spersonaltrajectoryinhiswidersocialmilieu--fromtheImperialNavytotheWestGermanpeacemovement--ZiemannprobesintocorethemesoftwentiethcenturyGermanhistory:militarism,NationalSocialism,Germanguilt,andmoralreconstructionpost-1945.
