Pastors’ Emergency League

German organization

Also known as: Pfarrernotbund

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July 16, 2026

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The Pastors' Emergency League was a German organization founded in November 1933 by Martin Niemöller. It emerged as a resistance movement within German Protestant churches against Adolf Hitler's attempt to control them for Nazi propaganda and politics. This league opposed the "German Christians," a Nazi-backed church party that threatened the authority of Scripture and Reformation doctrines by tolerating Nazi racial ideology. The Pastors' Emergency League worked with the Confessing Church, a broader movement that resisted Nazi control over religious institutions. The Confessing Church, with which the Pastors' Emergency League was aligned, ultimately became a significant force in opposing Nazi policies, including the persecution of Jews.12

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Martin Niemöller
…Nazi Party, Niemöller founded the Pfarrernotbund (“Pastors’ Emergency League”). The group, among its other activities, helped combat rising discrimination against Christians of Jewish descent caught in the tension between a religious definition as Christian and the German racial definition of Jews based on the identity of people’s grandparents.
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…Nazi Party, Niemöller founded the Pfarrernotbund (“Pastors’ Emergency League”). The group, among its other activities, helped combat rising discrimination against Christians of Jewish descent caught in the tension between a religious definition as Christian and the German racial definition of Jews based on the identity of people’s grandparents.
Read More

Synod of Barmen
The Pastors’ Emergency League (Pfarrernotbund), headed by Martin Niemöller, was the backbone of the active opposition to the “heresy” of the “German Christians.” Various lay leaders and groups also rallied to the cause.
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The Pastors’ Emergency League (Pfarrernotbund), headed by Martin Niemöller, was the backbone of the active opposition to the “heresy” of the “German Christians.” Various lay leaders and groups also rallied to the cause.
Read More