Christian association: Merger of the Niemöller Foundation and the Bonhoeffer Association

The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Association and the Martin Niemöller Foundation have merged. According to the announcement, the two Christian organizations, which are characterized by peace efforts, jointly founded the new association “Martin Niemöller Foundation and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Association” on Sunday in Eisenach, Thuringia.

The honorary chairman is the theologian and speaker in the office of the Association of Evangelical Student Communities in Germany (ESG), Uwe-Karsten Plisch. The aim of the merger is to become more visible and at the same time save effort, Plisch explained, among other things.

Michael Karg, the previous chairman of the Niemöller Foundation, and Reinhard Müller, the previous chairman of the Bonhoeffer Association, were elected as equal deputy chairmen. The new association will be based in Wiesbaden.

Appeal for a Christmas peace in Ukraine

As a first action, the association published an appeal addressed, among others, to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine at Christmas time.

The Bonhoeffer Association was founded in 1983 in Stadtlauringen in Bavaria. It was named after the Protestant resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), who was murdered by the Nazis. According to its own statements, the Martin Niemöller Foundation has its origins in the West German peace movement and was founded in Wiesbaden in 1980. It in turn is named after the Protestant theologian and pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). He also criticized the Nazis and survived concentration camp imprisonment. He later became a prominent pacifist and criticized Germany’s rearmament.