"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 moist.
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.
Pastor Martin Niemöller"
#IRLHistoricalFigureMartinNiemoller
Context "Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radically right-wing political movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Hitler's interference in the Protestant Church. He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for his postwar statement, which begins 'First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out...'"
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