First they came…
Sign in to savestatement and provocative poem attributed to pastor Martin Niemöller
Book · Open Library
- Author
- D'Arcy McNickle
- First published
- 1949
- Editions
- 3
- Subjects
- Indians, Indians of North America, History, Indians of north america, history, Indians, history
via Open Library
Article
Engraving of the confession in poetic form presented at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, US
"First They Came" (German: Als sie kamen lit. 'When they came', or Habe ich geschwiegen lit. 'I did not speak out') is the poetic form of a 1946 postwar confessional prose piece by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It indirectly condemns complicity of German intellectuals and clergy following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets. Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language.