Martin Niemoller: Poet, Dissident and Concentration Camp Survivor

Niemoller was a German protestant minister and initially a political friend of the Nazis who soon became their political foe. Hitler imprisoned Niemoller for over eight years beginning in 1937. There are many versions of Niemoller's poem, perhaps because he was a minister and preached it a number of times, including immediately after the war. One version, taken from Niemoller's 1968 speech to the U.S. Congress, is reprinted from the Congressional Record:

"When Hitler attacked the Jews
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
and there was nobody left to be concerned."

Somewhat ironically, Niemoller had been a German U-Boat commander in World War I. His role during the period 1934-1937 is sordid. At times he apparently helped Christians of Jewish ancestry who were being persecuted by the Nazis, at times he seems to have fallen into anti-Semitic rants. Eventually he wound up in a concentration camp with the Jews.

Other versions of the poem are reported, such as this one from the U.S. Holocaust Museum:

First 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 for me.

Still another version begins with the phrase, "First they came for the Communists..."

After the war, Niemoller was a moving force behind the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, which recognized that German churches did not do enough to stand against Nazism. He acknowledged his own anti-Semitism in 1963, saying that he regretted it. He spoke in favor of atonement. He basically became a pacifist.

On the World Wide Web, everyone from the Communists to the Tax Protesters cite Niemoller as support for their cause.

Essentially, his poem is a reminder that protest in the face of governmental oppression is essential even if it is someone else who is being oppressed. To remain silent is to risk the spread of persecution.

Niemoller died at the age of 92 in 1984.