Martin Niemller

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his 1946 quote "First they came ..." He was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help victims of the Nazis. He turned away from his earlier nationalistic beliefs and was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt. From the 1950s on, he was a vocal pacifist and anti-war activist, and vice-chair of War Resisters' International from 1966 to 1972. He met with Ho Chi Minh during the Vietnam War and was a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament. He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his efforts in World War I. He died in 1984 at the age of 80, and was buried in the town of Wiesbaden, in the state of Hesse.