They Came For Me Poem

Argument and poem attributed to pastor Martin Niemöller

"Outset they came …" is the poetic grade of a 1946 post-war confessional prose past the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It is about the silence of German intellectuals and certain clergy—including, by his own admission, Niemöller himself—post-obit the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their called targets, group after group. Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language language. It deals with themes of persecution, guilt, repentance, and personal responsibility.

Text [edit]

The best-known versions of the confession in English are the edited versions in poetic form that began circulating by the 1950s.^[ane] The United states of america Holocaust Memorial Museum quotes the following text every bit ane of the many poetic versions of the speech:^[2] ^[iii]

First they came for the socialists, and I did non speak out—
Because I was non 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 in that location was no one left to speak for me.

A longer version by the Holocaust Memorial 24-hour interval Trust, a charity established past the British government, is equally follows:^[4]

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was non a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did non speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

And then they came for the trade unionists
And I did non 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

[edit]

Martin Niemöller was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian built-in in Lippstadt, Federal republic of germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-Communist and supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power. But when, after he came to ability, Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the land over organized religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and somewhen confined in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Federal republic of germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people afterwards World War II.

Origin [edit]

Niemöller made confession in his speech for the Confessing Church building in Frankfurt on six January 1946, of which this is a partial translation:^[1]

... the people who were put in the camps and then were Communists. Who cared about them? Nosotros knew information technology, it was printed in the newspapers. Who raised their voice, possibly the Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, those opponents of organized religion, those enemies of Christians—"should I exist my brother's keeper?"

And so they got rid of the ill, the then-chosen incurables. I remember a chat I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Mayhap it's correct, these incurably sick people just price the state money, they are merely a brunt to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the center [of society]? Only then did the church equally such accept note.

Then nosotros started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can nosotros say, nosotros aren't guilty/responsible?

The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written in the newspapers. … I believe, we Confessing-Church-Christians have every reason to say: mea culpa, mea culpa! We tin can talk ourselves out of information technology with the excuse that information technology would have price me my head if I had spoken out.

Nosotros preferred to keep silent. Nosotros are certainly not without guilt/fault, and I ask myself again and again, what would have happened, if in the year 1933 or 1934—at that place must accept been a possibility—xiv,000 Protestant pastors and all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If nosotros had said dorsum then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000 Communists in the concentration camps, in society to let them die. I tin imagine that perhaps xxx,000 to twoscore,000 Protestant Christians would have had their heads cutting off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued xxx–xl,000 million [sic] people, because that is what it is costing usa now.

This speech was translated and published in English in 1947, but was afterward retracted when information technology was alleged that Niemöller was an early supporter of the Nazis.^[5] The "sick, the so-called incurables" were killed in the euthanasia program "Aktion T4". A 1955 version of the speech, mentioned in an interview of a German language professor quoting Niemöller, lists Communists, socialists, schools, Jews, the press, and the Church. An American version delivered by a congressman in 1968 includes industrialists, who were simply persecuted by the Nazis on an private basis, and omits Communists.

Niemöller is quoted as having used many versions of the text during his career, but evidence identified by professor Harold Marcuse at the University of California Santa Barbara indicates that the United states Holocaust Memorial Museum version is inaccurate because Niemöller frequently used the word "communists" and non "socialists."^[1] The substitution of "socialists" for "communists" is an effect of anti-communism, and virtually common in the version that has proliferated in the United states. According to Harold Marcuse, "Niemöller's original argument was premised on naming groups he and his audience would instinctively non care nigh. The omission of Communists in Washington, and of Jews in Federal republic of germany, distorts that significant and should be corrected."^[ane]

In 1976, Niemöller gave the following answer in response to an interview question asking about the origins of the poem.^[1] The Martin-Niemöller-Stiftung ("Martin Niemöller Foundation") considers this the "classical" version of the speech:

At that place were no minutes or copy of what I said, and it may be that I formulated it differently. But the idea was anyway: The Communists, we still allow that happen calmly; and the trade unions, nosotros likewise allow that happen; and we even allow the Social Democrats happen. All of that was not our affair.^{[half dozen]}

Role in Nazi Federal republic of germany [edit]

Like most Protestant pastors, Niemöller was a national bourgeois, and openly supported the conservative opponents of the Weimar Commonwealth. He thus welcomed Hitler's accession to power in 1933, believing that it would bring a national revival. By the fall of 1934, Niemöller joined other Lutheran and Protestant churchmen such as Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in founding the Confessional Church, a Protestant group that opposed the Nazification of the German Protestant churches.

Still in 1935, Niemöller made debasing remarks about Jews of faith while protecting—in his own church—those of Jewish descent who had been baptised but were persecuted by the Nazis due to their racial heritage. In one sermon in 1935, he remarked: "What is the reason for [their] obvious punishment, which has lasted for thousands of years? Dear brethren, the reason is hands given: the Jews brought the Christ of God to the cantankerous!"^[vii]

In 1936, yet, he decidedly opposed the Nazis' "Aryan Paragraph". Niemöller signed the petition of a grouping of Protestant churchmen which sharply criticized Nazi policies and declared the Aryan Paragraph incompatible with the Christian virtue of charity. The Nazi authorities reacted with mass arrests and charges against almost 800 pastors and ecclesiastical lawyers.^[eight]

Author and Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Isle of mann published Niemöller'south sermons in the United States and praised his bravery.

Usage [edit]

A US Navy clergyman reads an excerpt of Niemöller's poem during a Holocaust Days of Remembrance observance service in Pearl Harbor; 27 April 2009

At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the quotation is on display, the museum website has a give-and-take of the history of the quotation.^[9]

A version of the verse form is on brandish at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The verse form is also presented at the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, Virginia, the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, the Florida Holocaust Museum in Leningrad, Florida, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Middle in Skokie, Illinois.

References [edit]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^east Marcuse, Harold. "Martin Niemöller's famous confession: "First they came for the Communists ... "". Academy of California at Santa Barbara.
^ "Martin Niemöller: "Showtime they came for the Socialists..."". Holocaust Encyclopedia. U.s. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "Martin Niemöller: "First they came for the Socialists..."". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Us Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018. This is a dissimilar and older article which contains more complete photographs than the new version.
^ Get-go they came - By Pastor Martin Niemoller, Holocaust Memorial Twenty-four hours Trust
^ Marcuse, Harold; Niemöller, Martin. "Of Guilt and Hope". University of California at Santa Barbara.
^ Niemöller, Martin. "Was sagte Niemöller wirklich?". Martin Niemöller Foundation.
^ The text of this sermon, in English language, is plant in Martin Niemöller, Beginning Commandment, London, 1937, pp. 243–250.
^ LeMO. "Dice Bekennende Kirche". Dhm.de. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
^ Niemöller, Martin. "First they came for the Socialists…". U.s.a. Holocaust Memorial Museum . Retrieved 5 February 2011.

External links [edit]