First They Came........................

 Numerous forms of the famous saying by Martin Niemoeller are known to exist. And Why is that so?  And why are they circulated, claiming the authority of the famous Protestant opponent of the Nazis? Well that is a question that shall be answered in this post. 

    Firstly, who was this Martin Niemoeller? An enigmatic soul  - once known to be a Nazi Supporter, then an Anti Nazi , a Protestant etc etc. The esoteric effect is probably compounded by the enigmatic appeal and use of those stanzas. 

 Niemoeller was one of the most respected of all the Christian Protestants in the Fatherland- I simly adore calling it that :) . 

After a career as a decorated U-Boat captain in the First World War, he became an active Christian. 

 In 1933, when he became the most high profile of Hitler's Christian opponents, he was in charge of a prestigious suburban parish in Berlin-Dahlem.

Initially he was a pro-Nazi and supported Hitler. But looking on, at the destruction, the hatred amongst fellow humans. It was essentially witnessing a litany of one of humanities' greatest purges and iniquities , he took an antipodal stance.Also he objected the Nazi interference in the running of the Church. Hence he started the Anti Nazi movement. 

    Niemoeller was a leader in the mobilization of the Pastors' Emergency League, that essentially denounced the abuses of the dictatorship in the famous "Six Articles of Barmen," and in other visible joint actions and sermons that finally led to his arrest in 1937.  He was a founder of the Confessing Church, which opposed the nazification of German Protestant Churches. He opposed indignantly to the Nazis Aryan Paragraph, but was considered to be anti-Semitic.

There were an exiguous number of honest jurists still in Germany and when the court let him go with a slap on the wrist Hitler personally ordered his incarceration.  Niemoeller was sent to a concentration camp, which included  long periods of solitary confinement. He remained there until the end of the war narrowly escaping execution.

After the War , he became a founder of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt.

    After the war, he undertook quite a trips to the United States of America.  At that time he brought the message of concern for others, often driving the point home with a confession of his own blindness when the Nazi regime rounded up the others. 

And that quotation is now famous . 

   He still remained an ardent opposer of Catholic values and hated the Roman Catholics.  But when we asked him years ago about the addition of the Roman Catholics, he said, "I never said it.  They can take care of themselves." 

    Niemoeller knew the sequence of Nazi assault, because he was there.  Any average student of the third Reich should be able to give the record accurately; it is a shocking display of professional incompetence when materials that are supposed to be vetted by "specialists" can be issued that are simply contrary to the record.  Even if a corrupt text appears in print, whether published by an ignoramus or a special pleasure, the literate reader should be easily able to correct the mistake.

 The assault on the Jews was the culmination of the Nazi dictatorship's ruthless elimination of targeted communities and individuals.

    Martin Niemoeller's message, in its true form, carries a powerful moral impact. 

These are the famous lines which I love and know by heart :

In Germany , 

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak up--because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak up-- because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up-- because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak up--  because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Roman Catholics, and I did not speak up - because I was a Protestant

Then they came for me--   and by that time there was no one left to speak up.

I would like to end this by stating something which i have followed for quite a while. 

"Be a hero by being a man". 

It may sound puerile or foolish but try to clear your mind and think about it. I have always made my own set of rules and therefore don't follow anyone or do not think of anyone as great and never believed in either Hero worship nor being a fan . But I do believe that it is important to learn from others even though they may be despicable.