They Came...

Martin Niemoller was a Pastor in the German Lutheran Church during the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. He originally appeased the Nazi's and sided with them while good friends like Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted the regime and were eventually murdered in Concentration camps like the one at Flossenburg. Niemoller obviously learned his mistake the HARD WAY by spending nearly 8 years as a personal prisoner of Hitler's at several Concentration Camps, though he did survive the war and Third Reich. He spent the rest of his life atoning for this mistake of his and the German Church and talking about those who gave their lives for freedom and what was right like Bonhoeffer.

First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me. - Martin Niemoller