The DC Holocaust Museum entry has the Martin Niemoeller quote, "First they came for the . . ., and I said nothing, etc. ", but it leaves out his first sentence, which is "First they came for the Communists, and I said nothing." Apparently it is ok if they come for the Communists, at least by the US government and the organized Jewish community. After all, we're not Communists, right? Oops, that was the pastors' point, wasn't it?
The attribution to Niemoeller is uncertain, it may be based on speeches he gave rather than being his exact words. All versions agree that he started with the Communists, just like the Nazis. Here's a standard (complete) version, not the Holocaust Museum's redacted verson.
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten, habe ich nicht protestiert; ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie die Juden holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Jude.
Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte. When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 17, 2007, at 9:11 AM, James Heartfield wrote:
>
> > "Why is there a Holocaust museum in DC and no
> slavery museum?"
> >
> > For the same reason that the Foreign Office
> agitated against the
> > colour bar
> > in the US forces stationed in Britain while
> defending it in the
> > colonies.
>
> Yup of course. But I was surprised when I visited
> Munich five or six
> years ago that there's a memorial to the victims of
> National
> Socialism pretty much at the spot the early Nazi
> party had its
> meetings and rallies.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
>
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