Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a German Lutheran pastor whose life reflected some of the profound moral contradictions of twentieth-century Germany. A former U-boat commander and German nationalist, he initially welcomed Hitler’s rise to power and held antisemitic views. His opposition to the Nazi regime began specifically as a defence of the Protestant Church against state interference, particularly the attempt to exclude Christians of Jewish descent from the clergy. He was arrested in 1937 and subsequently imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps until his liberation in 1945.
After the war, Niemöller became increasingly concerned with the responsibility of individuals and institutions for remaining silent in the face of injustice, and he later became a prominent advocate of peace. His own complicated history gives particular significance to the words for which he is now best remembered: they were not spoken by someone who had always resisted injustice, but by someone who had come to reflect on the consequences of his own silence when others were persecuted.
“First They Came”
The words below are attributed to Martin Niemöller. They originated in the extemporaneous speeches and sermons he gave after the Second World War, rather than in a poem written in this exact form. Because Niemöller varied the wording and the groups he mentioned from one occasion to another, several versions are now in circulation. The version used here is the one published by the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which retains the Communists among the first groups named and is consistent with the historical context of Niemöller’s reflections.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Source: Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, First They Came — by Pastor Martin Niemöller.