Named after Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), Protestant pastor and opponent of the Nazi regime.
Niemöller was a leading figure in the Confessing Church; at first well-disposed to National Socialism, he later resisted state control of the church and in 1938 was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The square was Bismarckplatz from 1899 and Kurt-Fischer-Platz, after Kurt Fischer, head of the Volkspolizei, from 1951. It has carried Niemöller’s name since 1992.