First They Came...

“First they came…” is a quotation from Pastor Martin Niemöller’s numerous antifascist speeches, sermons, and interviews. A Holocaust survivor and cofounder of the Confessing Church, Niemöller developed the quote as a warning for non-persecuted people to intervene on behalf of the persecuted, if only to preserve themselves. Versions of the quote appear from approximately 1946 to 1979. The genre of this piece is debated, with some calling it a poem, a piece of prose, a quotation, or an anecdote.

In the post-World War II world, Niemöller emerged as an anti-authoritarian voice advocating for repentance and responsibility among institutions and people who failed to do all they possibly could to prevent the Holocaust and its atrocities. Niemöller repeatedly expresses regret for his own inaction, although his early support of the Nazi party and antisemitic comments dispute his status as an anti-authoritarian icon. “First they came…” is by far his most famous piece, with English-language versions of the quote appearing at the Holocaust memorials and museums across the United States. The tragic narrative and solemn message embody Niemöller’s philosophy and activism. He remained committed to the church throughout his life, being an instrumental figure in the postwar rebuilding efforts and holding various leadership positions and high offices. He was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1966.

Please note that the line numbers included in this guide refer to each full sentence.

Poet Biography

Niemöller was born January 14, 1892 in Lippstadt, a town in what was then the Province of Westphalia in the Kingdom of Prussia. His father was a Lutheran pastor who preached German nationalism and conservative values. Niemöller fought for the German Empire in World War I, serving as an officer, navigator, and commander on U-boats in the Imperial Navy. Niemöller was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1924. Niemöller believed the German Church lost its cultural relevance, and that the nation’s longevity was directly tied to its Christian faith. He saw the Nazi party as a promising alternative to the liberal Weimar Republic, and he supported Adolf Hitler through his rise to power.

He became critical of the regime in 1933 when new laws threatened broad state influence on the Protestant Church. Niemöller joined the Pastors’ Emergency League and later helped found the Confessing Church, a sect of Lutheran clergy who opposed Nazi influence on theological grounds. The Gestapo arrested Niemöller for anti-state activities in 1937. He was then imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. After the war, Niemöller became a key figure in the German Protestant Church’s rebuilding efforts. He helped initiate the Stuttgart Confession of Guilt, and the church’s collective guilt for its complicity in the Holocaust became the defining theme of his sermons and speeches. Niemöller included his most famous quote in speeches and sermons beginning in 1946 as he advocated for peace and atonement. He used many variations on the form to demonstrate support for persecuted groups, though the earliest instances consistently include Communists, people with disabilities, Jewish people, and himself. He died on March 6, 1984 in Wiesbaden, West Germany.

Poem Text

Niemöller, Martin. “First they came….” 1946-1979. Holocaust Encyclopedia.

Summary

“First they came…” follows a sequential narrative structure; the unnamed, powerful “they” come for various marginalized groups, one by one. Told in first-person perspective and the past tense, each sentence recounts the same order of events: “They” come for a group, and the speaker says nothing to oppose this because the speaker is not part of that group. The last sentence breaks from this form when “they” come for the speaker, who is met with silence for a new reason: There was “no one left to speak for me” (Line 4).

They come for three groups before the speaker. The first victims are the “socialists” (Line 1). When “they came for” this group, the speaker was aware of what was happening but “did not speak out” (Line 1) because the speaker did not count themselves among the socialists. The next group is the “trade unionists” (Line 2), and because the speaker is not one, they remain silent. The third group is the “Jews” (Line 3), and because the speaker isn’t Jewish, they remain silent. By the end of the poem, the speaker meets the same fate, not through the silence of others but because there are simply no others left.