Behind the Bastards

Part Two: Martin Niemöller, the author of 'First They Came', was a murderous fascist

October 1, 2026·1h 5m·6-min readconversationalhistory
Podzilla Summary (6 min)
TLDR
Martin Niemöller, the German pastor best known for the poem 'First they came for the socialists...' and celebrated as a Nazi resister, was in fact a decorated World War I U-boat commander who refused to surrender his submarine, later joined right-wing Freikorps militias, supported Hitler

Sign up to read the full summary

Free AI-powered recaps of every episode, delivered to your inbox.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.

Guest

M

Margaret Killjoy

conversational on Behind the Bastards

Mentions

Books, people, and resources mentioned in this episode.

People

Martin NiemollerMargaret KilljoyRobertDietrich Bonhoeffer

Books

Hitler's Personal Prisonerby Benjamin ZemanThen They Came for Meby Matthew Hockenos

Topics

Civil Rights HistoryCold WarHistorical FiguresMilitary HistoryTrue CrimeUs PoliticsWorld War 2

Listen to This Episode

Get summaries like this every morning.

Free AI-powered recaps of Behind the Bastards and your other favorite podcasts, delivered to your inbox.

Get Free Summaries →

Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.