Then They Will Come for Us

Then They Came For Me: Martin Niemöller, The Pastor Who Defied the Nazis
by Matthew D. Hockenos

reviewed by J. Daryl Charles

Then They Came for Me is a simultaneously difficult and utterly fascinating book to review. A biography of one of the most captivating figures of the twentieth century, it poses difficulties for the reviewer because its subject was an exceedingly complex individual—one who went through seismic transformations in the way he viewed his native culture, political authority, religious belief, and the use of coercive force. But fascinating as well, for all of the same reasons.

What makes this volume significant is that the author brings us the first English-language biography of Niemöller in a . . .

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J. Daryl Charles serves as the Acton Institute Affiliated Scholar in Theology & Ethics. He is author, co-author or editor of seventeen books, including: Wisdom’s Works: Essays on Ethics, Vocation, and Cultural Engagement (Acton Institute, forthcoming), America and the Just War Tradition: A History of U.S. Conflicts (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2019), Natural Law and Religious Freedom (Routledge, 2018), and The Just War Tradition: An Introduction (ISI Books, 2012). He is a contributing editor to Touchstone.

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