Thursday, May 25, 2006

First they came...

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 did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

- Martin Niemöller

Who says we do not learn anything in school?
This poem describes the Nazi's purging of intellectual society in WWII.
Sure made me pause and think.
The first night of my WW II history class proved to be more interesting than expected.
Thank goodness.

2 comments:

Spiro said...

aye,
two words. dietrich bonhoeffer.
or, two names?
no matter.

Kristina said...

i just visited the Jewish museum in Berlin and i'm starting to get a better idea of the city which remains both complex and historically haunting.