Most of us are familiar with this quote. It's featured in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The translated version on the wall there says: "First 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 for me." What I'm guessing most readers don't know about this confessional from Martin Niemöller is that he himself was a Nazi. Niemöller was born in Prussia in 1892 and began his career as a U-boat officer in the Imperial Navy of the German Empire. He sank 55,000 tons of Allied ships and was eventually awarded the Iron Cross for his accomplishments. Coming home after World War I, he got married, became a Lutheran pastor, and was a paramilitary commander helping put down t
A view for the modern parent.