Niemöller became a well-known man in the Netherlands soon after 1933. But how well did the Dutch really know him? Niemöller never visited the Netherlands before the Second World War. The complicated conflicts in and around the German Protestant Church were hard to comprehend in the Netherlands. Unlike Social Democrats and Communists, who immediately after 1933 showed solidarity with their persecuted party comrades against Hitler, Dutch Protestants initially also saw something good in the attitude of National Socialism and its demand for a ‘positive Christianity’ and waited. But after his arrest in 1937, Niemöller became a martyr for Christians in the Netherlands from all walks of life. He became a phenomenon behind which the real person disappeared. During the German occupation from May 1940, Niemöller’s image in the Netherlands changed again. Was he a staunch defender of the freedom of the church or was he a German nationalist?.