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 me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Martin Niemöller-
Martin Niemöller was a German pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-communist and supported Hitler's rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and eventually confined in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. Niemöller was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His statement, sometimes presented as a poem, is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy.
Folks, the histories of the Third Reich and Soviet Communism are fraught with examples of good people standing by and doing nothing. It only takes a few people willing to overturn your way of life for it to happen. Be vigilant, and aware of what's going on and put a stop to it before it's too late. And it comes to this . . .
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle, twenty rounds of ammunition, and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
--- Aaron Zelman ---
If you haven't done it, learn about how easily a small group of thugs took over a whole nation and plunged the world into the most horrible conflict in history. Do it before it's too late.
