…the Confessing Church was built from the beginning on cooperation among many pastors and members of local churches. The members of the Emergency League were, first of all, to commit themselves anew to the Scriptures and Confessions; secondly, resist any violation of these; third, to give financial help to those affected by Nazi laws or by violence; and fourth, to reject the Aryan paragraph. In a very short time as many as 2000 pastors signed up to the commitments of the Emergency League. By the end of the year (1933) their number had grown to 6000, and was still to grow by a further thousand.
(Ferdinand Schlingensiepen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance, 137-138).
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February 1, 2012 at 11:39 pm
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The famous Dr. Martin Niemoeller, the former U-boat captain, also must be mentioned. In September 1933, after Mueller had incorporated the Aryan paragraph, Niemoeller and other ministers set up the Pastors’ Emergency League, which called upon all dedicated pastors to unite and sign a four-point declaration which bound adherents to Scripture and confessions, and rejected the Aryan paragraph. It is true, as one author has pointed out, that the League avoided any confrontation with the state, and that the Aryan paragraph was rejected only “in the area of the Church of Christ.” It is also true that the League numbered only about 6,000 members in September 1933. That so few pastors joined was another indication of the malaise in the churches. Nevertheless, with the Emergency League and its official protests of September, the first open “No” of the churches was heard, if not against the regime, then at least against Mueller and the “German Christians.” Loyalty toward the regime was carefully observed. When in October 1933 Hitler ended Germany’s membership of the League of Nations, everyone cheered, including the Pastors’ Emergency League, which sent a congratulatory message to the Fuehrer assuring him of the members’ support.