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In reply to the discussion: First they came for ConsortiumNews, and I did not speak out— [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)287. Niemoeller was a patriot.
Before he went to the seminary, he was in the Imperial German Navy, not to be confused with the Kriegsmarine:
MARTIN NIEMÖLLER: BIOGRAPHY
EXCERPT...
The son of Lutheran pastor Heinrich Niemöller, Martin Niemöller was born in the Westphalian town of Lippstadt, Germany, on January 14, 1892. In 1910 he became a cadet in the Imperial German Navy. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Niemöller was assigned to a U-Boat, of which he was eventually appointed the commander. Under the stipulations of the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended hostilities in World War I, Niemöller and other commanders were ordered to turn over their U-Boats to England. Along with many others, Niemöller refused to obey this order, and was, as a consequence, discharged from the Navy.
In 1920, he decided to follow the path of his father and began seminary training at the University of Münster. He married Else Bruner on April 20, 1919. The couple had 6 children.
Niemöller's pro-monarchist convictions and nationalism made him critical of the Weimar Republic, which he perceived to be weak and vulnerable to a Communist uprising. Because he believed that the Republic, led by those who signed the Treaty of Versailles, had crippled Germany, he supported the unsuccessful Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch that aimed to overthrow the government in 1920. At this time Niemöller had been a member of an organization of right-wing students called the Academic Defense Corps (Freikorps), which was disbanded and disarmed on April 23, 1920, after the failure of the Kapp putsch.
As inflation and economic and political turmoil increased in Germany during 1922, Niemöller took a part-time job laying tracks for the railroads while continuing his seminary studies. In 1923, Niemöller began working with the Lutheran Home Mission of Westphalia, an organization which oversaw the social welfare activities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Westphalia. In 1931, he resigned from this position and became the junior pastor of Saint Anne's Church, located in a wealthy and much sought-after parish in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem.
Niemöller's sermons reflected his strong nationalist sentiment. He felt that reparations, democracy, and foreign influence had led to damaging social fragmentation and an overemphasis on the individual in German society. Niemöller believed that Germany needed a strong leader to promote national unity and honor. When Hitler and the National Socialist Party emerged, touting nationalist slogans and advocating autonomy for private worship of the Christian faith, Niemöller voted for the Nazisboth in the 1924 Prussian state elections and in the final national parliamentary elections of March 1933.
Hitler espoused the importance of Christianity to German nationality and Christianity's role in a renewal of national morality and ethics, leading Niemöller to enthusiastically welcome the Third Reich. Niemöller later confessed that even Hitler's antisemitism reflected a more extreme version of his own prejudice at that time.
Niemöller's conflicts with National Socialism emerged out of his opposition to the German Christians, a pro-Nazi faction within the German Protestant Church that sought to apply Nazi racial dogma to church membership in such a way as to bar so-called non-Aryans (people considered Jewish under Nazi racial laws) from the ministry and from religious teaching positions.
The ideology of the German Christians was expressed in the speech of one of their leaders, Dr. Reinhold Krause, at the 1933 Sports Palace Rally. Depicting Martin Luther as a militant symbol for the preservation of German race and culture, the German Christians embraced Nazi racial ideology and demanded that all Jewish elements, including the Old Testament, be excluded from Christian theology. This rally was seen as blasphemous and led to a radical drop in support for the German Christians. But attacks on non-Aryan church members had already led Niemöller and others to establish the Pastors Emergency League (PEL) in September 1933. The PEL opposed the introduction of racialized criteria for clergy and combated the German Christian agenda.
CONTINUED...
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007391
Like somebody said, it's complicated.
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"When Money is Speech..." and "Money Trumps Peace" (GWB).. there, I fixed that for you...
Ghost in the Machine
Jul 2015
#124
"Thank you for standing up for the good fight, Ghost in the Machine." Thank YOU, Octafish....
Ghost in the Machine
Jul 2015
#148
You're right about people waking up to the manipulation. I USED to think that
sabrina 1
Jul 2015
#512
No, ConsortiumNews is an excellent resource. For example, Ray McGovern on matters of high treason...
Octafish
Jul 2015
#14
That's just horse patooty. That story was WIDELY carried in the "regular" news media.
MADem
Jul 2015
#86
You can do your own homework--but here, let me show you just how MISTAKEN you are....
MADem
Jul 2015
#103
And some would alert, hide, lock and censor everyone that doesn't march to the "correct"
rhett o rick
Jul 2015
#206
Perfect. That emoticon really says it all. When all else fails you, ridicule. nm
rhett o rick
Jul 2015
#209
I doubt it--it will be pivot-turn-change subject. Anything save confront that his beloved website
MADem
Jul 2015
#387
No. Because they didn't mention Petraeus got off easy compared to CIA and Pentagon whistleblowers.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#134
Not exactly what he said, uhnope, but when you're smearing someone, that's the point.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#146
Do you guys have a name for this tactic? It isn't very politically liberal. nm
rhett o rick
Jul 2015
#210
Let's see, ConsortiumNews and CounterPunch could disappear tomorrow and I would toast the fact
Godhumor
Jul 2015
#3
Sorry you feel that way. In particular, I don't like some of the things I've read on CounterPunch.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#23
What's your problem with enenews? It's a great source for news on nuclear energy
FourScore
Jul 2015
#11
They don't write anything. They just link to other nuclear industry articles.
FourScore
Jul 2015
#28
Ugh. Now you're mincing words. They link to articles ABOUT the nuclear industry.
FourScore
Jul 2015
#45
Including this truth: coal ash adds vastly more environmental radioactivity than nuclear waste
ConservativeDemocrat
Jul 2015
#228
Because its less expensive to use uranium than to reprocess plutonium
ConservativeDemocrat
Jul 2015
#326
Speaking of dumbed-down, I don't remember you ever posting about the NAZIs on DU.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#41
Just pointing out your decade-long defense of Parry's psychotic break from reality
FBaggins
Jul 2015
#498
Incredible like the time the Tag Team got all worked up for me quoting a banned DUer?
Octafish
Jul 2015
#248
You mean where you cited a DUer banned for Holocaust denial to prove that another Holocaust denier
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#249
I'm fucking floored that the very simple message "Stop citing Holocaust deniers"
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#258
I never ascribe maliciousness to what can be explained by sheer stupidity......
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#261
I didn't claim you promoted anti-Semitism.....I said you cited Holocaust deniers.
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#271
261. ''I never ascribe maliciousness to what can be explained by sheer stupidity......''
Octafish
Jul 2015
#280
Then alert.....and any juror can Google your username, my username, and "shamir"
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#469
Thank you for proving that what was posted was in fact, correctly translated bullshit. nt
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#495
The call goes out and they come running. Emboldened by their friends. Not offering
rhett o rick
Jul 2015
#338
Thanks for posting. This is supposed to be a politically liberal message board
rhett o rick
Jul 2015
#340
No, of course not. And as far as I know Counterpunch hasn't been "banned."
The Velveteen Ocelot
Jul 2015
#106
First, they came for those who paraphrased Niemöller, and I did not speak out.... (nt)
Nye Bevan
Jul 2015
#43
yeah, wow. Maybe we should back off? Because they might really be clinical, literally (!)
uhnope
Jul 2015
#160
I guess when you've invested so much time defending the likes of Paul Craig Roberts...
SidDithers
Jul 2015
#34
The amount of times he jumps the shark, well, we should nickname him Fonzie. nt
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#60
It's almost like he did it right on cue. Few comedians have that kind of timing...
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#75
Yes, 6+ Million dead is exactly like people pointing out holes in your favored media's stories. (nt)
jeff47
Jul 2015
#46
Does CounterPunch's publishing right wing authors mean we can not trust their left wing writers?
Agnosticsherbet
Jul 2015
#101
CounterPunch has good and bad, some stuff I read, most I like I skim, and lots I skip.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#303
You are most welcome, Enthusiast! For Gary Webb and Media Manipulation, from Beverly Bandler...
Octafish
Jul 2015
#346
+1, thank you for that. One has to wonder about the current heroin epidemic.
Enthusiast
Jul 2015
#349
So much sounds so familiar, so often, that it has become deja vu all over again, again.
Enthusiast
Jul 2015
#399
You know he is going to now use that against you in the future as you admitting to being a paid
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#181
You would think so. The kinds of issues one would need to have... Well... Lest...
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#240
Great, but Parry reported Team PNAC, not President Obama, who push for war in Ukraine.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#241
RT airs interviews with former SEC regulator William K Black, whom the Bush-Obama DoJs ignored.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#191
That must be why I posted: Who enabled NAZI Germany to round up the Jews? Think IBM.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#190
"Trashing ConsortiumNews is just like gassing millions of innocent folk!"
struggle4progress
Jul 2015
#196
Henry Gonzalez: A Great American...was ready to fight E Howard Hunt, mano a mano.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#448
April Glaspie affair exposes pro- anti-BFEE divisions within the Establishment.
Octafish
Aug 2015
#518
I think that is why the message coming from 3 channels said something to me
dreamnightwind
Aug 2015
#522
I have been listing internet media that people should follow instead of the TV and
JDPriestly
Jul 2015
#235
I put that principle in action when I remember what Gen. George S. Patton said long ago...
Octafish
Jul 2015
#263
I guess there's no hope we'll ever find out the truth about chemtrails and UFOs
Major Nikon
Jul 2015
#247
You think associating me with them somehow damages my reputation? I stand behind them.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#255
A USAF guy I met mentioned he'd lose his pension if he answered my question about UFOs.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#304
I'm surprised they didn't use an EMP weapon on him just for saying that much
Major Nikon
Jul 2015
#306
Ah, the unnamed anonymous USAF guy. What command and unit was he in? What was his job? nt
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#348
Well that's your claim isn't it? That one of them told you something that broke their
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#398
No, actually. Here's how Rupert Murdoch helped maneuver America into war on Iraq.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#414
Propagandists are never wrong, and the people that say they are are just teaming up to silence them.
NuclearDem
Jul 2015
#301
No kidding. That's why I encourage people to read ConsortiumNews and CounterPunch...
Octafish
Jul 2015
#305
I'm sorry, but what military's basic training includes lessons on what is and isn't censorship?
NuclearDem
Jul 2015
#309
They worked it in between folding your drawers in a 6" square and making hospital corners
Major Nikon
Jul 2015
#310
All the usual characters who have always run interference on those who dare ask questions. nt
ChisolmTrailDem
Jul 2015
#290
Most important thing I've learned on DU: George Herbert Walker Bush in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#405
Good point. It was also mentioned upthread. Here's why even Putinasta-filled RT matters...
Octafish
Jul 2015
#376
Thank you! I don't want you to think what I think. I want you to think for yourself.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#430
K&R #112 Many are responsive to their perception managers, others are employees brother. n/t
bobthedrummer
Jul 2015
#381
No, UBS. You should know the Swiss bank received at least $100 billion from US taxpayers.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#441
Beware Cass Sunstein, who explained why DoJ must let Bush and Cheney off the hook, all legal-like.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#451
DU is already absurdly insular, conforming will just make it a mouthpiece.
NuttyFluffers
Jul 2015
#446
That's about the only reason worth putting up with the abuse of asshats and the emoticon army.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#452
Wish I said something when the asshats and emoticon brigade went after Will Pitt.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#462
Something never on TV: Nixon assigned a murderous Secret Service agent to protect Ted Kennedy.
Octafish
Jul 2015
#482
Shocking, yet fits perfectly with what we know of Nixon's paranoid tendencies.
robertpaulsen
Jul 2015
#509
Mass Media ignoring 'RFK Believed in Conspiracy' shows corrupt nature of America's Press
Octafish
Jul 2015
#499
Where did I post ''Holocaust nonsense'' that ''was just tasteless hyperbole'' NuclearDem?
Octafish
Aug 2015
#537
Invoking Rev. Niemoller after someone said something not nice about CP or CN
NuclearDem
Aug 2015
#538