MRFF Guest Op-Ed by former Army Chaplain David Plummer
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor and theologian who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation[…]
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Thank you for this article. I am a U.S. non-religious Jewish woman and it is important to speak out but also to be accurate. The full quote from Niemöller is below–
I think it is very important because I don’t think it is helpful to promote the idea that only Jews were murdered by the Nazis and too many do that. Not that you have. It isolates us Jews and fails to honor the others targeted. Also, capitalism is the root of fascism and that is not enough known. That is why it is rising in the U.S. and abroad. I recommend “Fascism and Big Business” by Daniel Guerin. Here is a pdf of the book.
https://libcom.org/files/Daniel%20Guerin-Fascism%20and%20Big%20Business-Pathfinder%20Press%20(2000).pdf
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me