For Discussion: Neimoller’s Lament
January 17, 2008 by bshelnutt
- How does this poem reflect on the relationship between the dissolution of civil liberties and the German civilian complacency or complicity that accompanied Hitler’s rise to power?
- They came first for the Communists,
- and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
- Then they came for the Jews,
- and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
- Then they came for the trade unionists,
- and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
- Then they came for the Catholics,
- and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
- Then they came for me,
- and by that time no one was left to speak up.
–Pastor Martin Niemoller (Dachau concentration camp survivor)
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This poem is saying describing how no one acted against the Nazi Parties and the deaths of everyone, because it didn’t effect them. They didn’t really care about what happened to people, if they weren’t the ones being persecuted. And at the end of the poem, the author is saying that by them time it was his turn to be killed, no one else was left to defend him, because everyone else was dead. Everyone else was dead because he hadn’t said anything. This relates to how the other countries in the world just sat around and watched all the Jews being killed, but didn’t act on it until they themselves were in a postition of being threatended. If they had acted sooner, things probably wouldn’t have gotten so bad.
I have heard this poem before and it really is a perfect reflection of the thoughts of the majority of the German population who supported Hitler. Throughout the period of the 1930s when Hitler was slowly but quickly gaining power through diplomacy and attacks on certain groups such as those listed above, most of the German population was only focusing on the success he was seeming to bring to the nation in pulling it out of its poor World War I situation and not on Hitler’s attacks of political and ethnic groups. As the German lady said on the video, she did not realize what was happening with the Jews until it personally affected her, her doctor being threatened and told to leave the country, and this is how it was with most of the population. As this poem says, people did not speak up because they figured it was all right for Hitler to do things like this as long as they were not affected. Yet, as soon as Hitler came for them, they had no one to speak up for them because all of the others were gone from earlier years. As with all of the ex-Nazi Germans of today, looking in hindsight they clearly see the mistakes of their actions and this poem reflects exactly what happened.
By reading this poem, it really gave a good example of what was being felt during Hitler’s occupation of Germany and the surrounding nations. The poem shows how civil liberties were being destroyed; Catholics, Jews, and Communists were all being taken from the homes and stripped of their rights. As Martin Niemoller said in every line until the last, that “he didn’t speak up because he wasn’t a Jew, a trade unionist, or a Catholic.” It shows that many during the time ignored what was going on; that was persecution of millions because of who they were or what they believed in. This short poem shows how a parallel track seems to have formed here, that while people’s civil liberties were being destroyed, many were in a sense of complacency, not really understanding what terrible side effects were occuring during Hitler’s rise to power.
The general mindset that people didn’t want to get into any trouble. They felt it safest if they stayed outside of the conflict and didnt speak up least they find themselfs in the same spot. End the end, as the poem statess, they came for most people; so what people felt wasnt their problem, and that it was somthing that would be dangerous to become involved in, became their problem.
Pastor Niemoller is talking about how people were only concerned with themselves during Hitler’s rise to power, and didn’t worry about anything that did not immediately effect them. Hitler was very tactical in the way that he stripped civilians of their rights; he only took a bit away at a time, so he would never have a full scale uprising on his hands.
This is an accurate representation of the mindsets that people had toward Hitler taking over little by little. At first, everybody just wanted peace and they didn’t want to get involved. They just assumed that Hitler was trying to gain back what was once Germany’s and then he would stop. As time went on people kept blowing things off when they happened and ignored the fact that Hitler had major plans for the whole world. Once everybody began to realize what was going on it was to late and Hitler was able to reign supreme over everybody because he was able to build up his army for four years while everybody else was rebuilding and trying to be peaceful. This poem emphasises how people didn’t care about what Hitler did until they became threatened.
Like Mason said, this poem describes perfectly the when one person (or a group of people) are faced with the decision to stand up for something that is just and right. Most usually because of a ‘herd mentality’ or some other outside influence such as the threat of death in the even of retaliation (which was of course practiced by the Nazis) a person or group would prefer to stay out of conflict and do whatever is possible to stay safe and alive. Gradually, the people who thought they were safe with this practice of appeasement to the Nazi Government waited until it was too late to do something about it. They felt safe knowing it wasn’t them that were being persecuted and humiliated without knowing that the Nazis had them included in their agenda for the future. It is similar to how the French and English allowed this to happen on a national level by practicing a policy of appeasement with Hitler.
This poem is a powerful reflection of the mindset of everyone in Germany. Hitler came to power promising power to the people and a return to their rightful glory. They gave up all civil liberties, and religion, and anything else Hitler found a threat because it did not apply to them. I believe this is somewhat human nature to turn from what we fear, say I don’t see it, and then move on if it hasn’t hurt you. We must understand that it will, because if you don’t speak against what you feel is wrong, and you wait until it directly effects you, you are probably to late.