Excellent sentiment, but I doubt Niemoeller ever said it, given his politics. Several attempts to source the quote haven't worked. (A variant is ascribed to his second wife, Sibylle Sarah Niemoeller von Sell, but it seems as doubtful: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.") I'd love to be proven wrong by anyone who has a trustworthy source. --CGE
On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> ... "In Germany they came for the Communists,but I didn't speak up
> because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
> didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade
> unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
> Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was
> a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left
> to speak up."
>
> (Pastor Martin Niemoeller, 1892-1984. German Protestant churchman who
> broke very early with the Nazis. In 1933, he organized the Pastor's
> Emergency League to protect Lutheran pastors from the police. In 1934,
> he was one of the leading organizers of the Barmen Synod, which
> produced the theological basis for the Confessing Church, which
> despite its persecution became an enduring symbol of German resistance
> to Hitler.) ...