This is based on a well-known quote by the Rev. Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). It is often brought out when people talk about scapegoating minorities and other populist tactics — dividing “us” against “them.” After the war, Niemöller realized that accepting small sins as the new status quo was enabling those that sought to divide us.

I didn’t realize (when researching this man) that during the beginning of the rise of the Nazi party, Niemöller was a full-throated supporter. He welcomed the Nazi regime and voted for their candidates in the March 1933.

Only later did Niemöller’s lose his enthusiasm for the new government in January 1934 after a meeting with Adolf Hitler. “Niemöller and other prominent Protestant church leaders met Hitler to discuss the relationship between church and state. At this meeting, it became clear that the Gestapohad tapped Niemöller’s phone. The Pastors Emergency League (Pfarrernotbund), which Niemöller had helped found in 1933, was also under close state surveillance. Hitler’s hostility made it clear to Niemöller that the Protestant Church and the Nazi state could not be reconciled unless Protestants were willing to compromise their faith.”¹ “Hitler threw his support behind a radical faction within the Protestant churches known as the Deutsche Christen; (in English, the German Christians). The German Christians portrayed Jesus as an Aryan and denied that he was Jewish. They rejected the authority of the Old Testament and sought to alter parts of the New Testament. Their goal was to remove what they called “Jewish elements” from Christianity.”²

So what’s the lesson here? I think there are many. It’s important to recognize patterns in history and understand where they lead in the past. It’s always right to stand up to authoritarianism. Lastly, you need to decide if an attack on a group that you don’t belong to is something worth defending. At the very least, because you could be next.

1. Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists
2. Wikipedia: Martin Niemöller, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller