“FIRST THEY CAME TO LOOK FOR THE...”

“FIRST THEY CAME TO LOOK FOR THE...” These are the beautiful words and teaching that Martin Niemöller left us: “And there was no one left” first took the communists but I didn't care about that I was not a communist; then took the socialists but I didn't care about that I was not a socialist; then they took the Social Democrats but I didn't care about that I wasn't a social democrat either; then they took the Jews but since I wasn't Jewish I didn't care about that; then they took the unionists but I didn't care about that because I wasn't a union member; then they took the Catholics but as he was not Catholic I didn't care either; When they came for me, there was no one left to protest.” Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a well-known Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he was sympathetic to many Nazi ideas and supported radical right-wing political movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Hitler's interference in Protestant churches. He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in prisons and concentration camps.