Old Flag

Americans found it hard to fathom Pastor Martin Niemoeller. After V-E day, the gaunt-faced old U-boat commander had dived repentantly, leaving a bubble of advice to his fellow Germans to confess "the crimes committed during the last twelve years." But last week, as the pastor-commander surfaced again, he seemed to be flying the old German flag. He bade Germans take no further voluntary part in denazification proceedings.

Niemoeller's reason: "Hundreds of thousands yield under constant pressure to the temptation to wash their hands of guilt by any conceivable lie or distortion . . . and the newly sown seed of hatred has grown rapidly. . . ."

From General Lucius D. Clay, American occupation zone commander, came the mild reprimand: "It is bad citizenship to encourage people to disobey the law of the land." Niemoeller's directive seemed to be having little practical effect. Germans were still testifying against Germans. The remaining denazification trials were expected to end next June. But many Germans were delighted with Pastor Niemoeller's words, and in the arena of world opinion they still carried, for some listeners, immense authority. Was this authority justified?

As an officer in the Imperial German-Navy, young Niemoeller had thrilled to Deutschland, Deutschland ueber Alles, played on the ship's phonograph while torpedoes from his submarine tore the bottoms from Allied ships. When Hitler rose to power, Niemoeller rejected Nazi racism, but accepted the bulk of Nazi authoritarian. doctrine, and did not rebel until Hitler encroached on his church. His defiance cost him eight years in Hitler's concentration camps. Yet, twice during his internment--which earned him a reputation as Protestantism's outstanding martyr to the Nazis--Niemoeller unsuccessfully asked to serve in Hitler's navy.

An appraisal of Niemoeller, pronounced in 1940 by a fellow theologian, Dr. Karl Earth of Switzerland, plucked a revealing thread of consistency from the pastor's contradictory career. The appraisal still seemed to fit the postwar cut of Niemoeller's jib. Wrote Dr. Earth: "Do not forget that Niemoeller has always been, and remains today, a good--a too good--German. ... He has never ceased to be a fervent German nationalist. . . ."

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