Martin Niemöller, the German theologian and Lutheran pastor, is a complicated figure.  You may not know his name, but you are, no doubt, familiar with his famous quote which begins “First they came for…”.  The quote is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem.  And through the years, it has been adapted and modified to reflect current social issues and debate so that there does not seem to be one, definitive version of it – not even out of Niemöller’s own mouth because it originated from his impromptu public speeches.

Born the son of a Lutheran pastor in the German Empire in 1892, he began his career in 1913 as an officer of the Imperial German Navy, serving as a U-Boat officer during the first world war. He was devastated by Germany’s defeat in the war and the collapse of the German Empire. He also strongly opposed the new postwar German government (the Weimar Republic), so much so that he resigned from the Navy in 1919 rather than serve in Weimar Germany’s military.

In 1930s Germany, a radical faction within the Protestant churches known as the Deutsche Christen (in English, the “German Christians”) portrayed Jesus as a blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan and denied that he was Jewish; they rejected the Old Testament altogether and sought to edit out what they called “Jewish elements” in the New Testament.  When Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he threw his support behind the Deutsche Christen, and Niemöller, though sympathetic toward and supportive of the Nazis, led the opposition to the Deutsche Christen and Hitler’s meddling in church policy and theology.  His opposition would see him arrested and held as a political prisoner of the Nazi Party for eight years, until in May of 1945 he was freed when the Allies defeated Nazi Germany and liberated him and other concentration camp prisoners.

After WWII, Niemöller was well-known for his opposition to the Nazi regime and as a former victim of Nazi persecution.  In 1946, he embarked on a lecture tour during which he publicly confessed his own inaction and indifference to the fate of many of the Nazis’ victims; his main message was how he had remained silent as the Nazis persecuted other Germans, especially members of Leftist political movements with whom he disagreed.

The many versions of “First they came for…” grew out of his lectures which he tailored to his audiences.  He would modify the list of victims from lecture to lecture, so that at one time or another it included communists, socialists, trade unionists, Jews, people with mental and physical disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others.  But regardless of his exact words, Niemöller’s message remained consistent:  whether through silence, indifference, or inaction, the German people had been complicit in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people. He included himself in that critique and sought to show how the German public’s national sin of omission which had paved the way for Nazi atrocities was ultimately self-defeating.

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.

Martin Niemöller

On Monday the US Supreme Court overturned US district judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles who barred authorities from using factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone’s occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion for detention.  Her order covered a population of close to 20 million people in Los Angeles, nearly half of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino.

In their decision, the Conservative majority of the Supreme Court writes, “Immigration stops based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence have been an important component of US immigration enforcement for decades, across several presidential administrations.”  So, it is the policy of our government, supported by the full weight of law, that having brown skin, speaking with an accent, being at the car wash, or working a low-wage job/as a day laborer is a “reasonable suspicion of illegal presence.”  And roving bands of armed ICE agents can use that so-called “reasonable” suspicion to scoop people off the street in broad daylight and detain them. In Los Angeles. Coming soon to a city near you.

I have a farmer’s tan but my skin is not brown, I do not speak with an accent (though you can probably hear a little “Valley” when I talk because I grew up Valley-adjacent), you won’t find me at the car wash because I don’t have a car (which also rules out the tow yard), and I’m retired so I have no occupation (other than being a full-time servant to a Chihuahua) – so I’m safe.  This doesn’t apply to or affect me. Nothing for me to worry about.  Right?  Well,

“First they came for…”