--jks
>
>
>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.) ...
>
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