As I recall, possibly from the BBC docu-series "A History of the World", Martin Luther was asked (possibly in court) if he wrote the documents criticising the Church (possibly because if he admitted they were his words, he would be severely punished).
He then said something about standing up to a tyrannical system, even if his life was on the line. This would have been a translated line, to English, but I recall it was quite powerful and righteous.
After my own googling, I think it would have been during the Diet of Worms.
Does anyone have any idea what I am talking about?
If I now recant these, then, I would be doing nothing but strengthening tyranny”
Maybe it is another translation of that line? I am fairly sure it had to do with "strengthening tyranny", but the line was more impacting than that.
It seems very likely that what you're referring to is indeed the famous (maybe too famous) speech of Luther at the Diet of Worms.
This speech was presented as a very bold and brave moment in Luther hagiography and iconography, including what was probably the addition of its most famous phrase, "Here I stand." Most scholars today think it is unlikely that the speech included that line.
Luther said he had written what he believed he had to write in light of the way he read the Bible, and ended with "God help me." Certainly it was a brave moment, but not really defiant or focused on tyranny. The Elector of Saxony, Frederick III, promptly had him taken to safety in the Wartburg Castle, protecting him from what surely would have been a prompt execution. Not that this was cowardly, just pragmatic, but it does make the whole thing seem a bit more prosaic than the stand against tyranny some have seen in it.
A solid, critical source for such an understanding of the Diet of Worms is Heiko Oberman's Luther: Man Between God and the Devil. Oberman thinks the speech (translated into English) went something like this:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me.