First They Came…

October 28th, 2005 - Friday

A poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

Original

Translation

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Kommunist. Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat. Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten, habe ich nicht protestiert; ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter. Als sie die Juden holten, habe ich nicht protestiert; ich war ja kein Jude. Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.

First they came for the communists, I did not speak out because I was not a communist. When they came for the social democrats, I did not speak out because I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews I did not speak out because I was not a Jew; And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Links:
Martin Niemöller
First They Came…

This entry was posted on Friday, October 28th, 2005 at 19:58 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “First They Came…”

1. suanie Says:
   October 29th, 2005 at 11:10

   http://www.badmash.org/comics/67.gif

   DISHOOM!

2. JoMel Says:
   October 29th, 2005 at 20:04

   *HUGS*

3. Mooiness Says:
   October 31st, 2005 at 14:30

   Highly appropriate argument to those who questioned why we picked this fight of all the “fights” that we could have picked on. I simply say we can’t fight all battles but we can at least choose to fight those that we can be most effective in.

   I’m grateful to have been allowed the opportunity to partake in this.

4. Peter Says:
   November 8th, 2005 at 02:11

   suanie,
   DISHOOM!

   JoMel,
   Hugs.

   Mooiness,
   There is only so much we can do and we choose the battles we are passionate about. We cannot be fighting every battle that comes our way, certainly not me. I am grateful you took up a cause that I believed in. That is one that not many people neither understood nor willing to give it the attention it deserves.