![]() Why are there multiple versions of Niemöller’s quote? He wanted his words to serve as a model of how to accept personal responsibility for complicity in the Nazi regime. Thus Niemöller considered his fellow Germans as the primary audience for his confession. According to him, individual Germans were passing the blame onto their neighbors, superiors, or Nazi organizations like the Gestapo. In his lectures, he bemoaned that individual Germans failed to accept responsibility for Nazism, German atrocities in German-occupied countries, and the Holocaust. Niemöller believed that after the war many Germans were reluctant to confront their complicity with Nazism. Rather, they either supported the regime or ignored the plight of their fellow citizens. ![]() Most Germans did not object to Nazi actions. Many of the Nazi regime’s earliest victims were members of leftist political movements, which Niemöller (who was a conservative) vehemently opposed.īut, Nazi persecution quickly expanded to encompass a variety of other people and groups, including Niemöller himself. He used phrases such as “I did not speak out…” or “we preferred to keep quiet.” He explained that in the first years of the Nazi regime he had remained silent as the Nazis persecuted other Germans. ![]() Niemöller publicly confessed his inaction and indifference to the fate of many of the Nazis’ victims. ![]() In 1946, he traveled on a lecture tour in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany. In postwar Germany, Martin Niemöller was well-known for his opposition to the Nazi regime and as a former victim of Nazi persecution. They are also a powerful reminder about the consequences of individual action and inaction more broadly. They are the final words read by Museum visitors and serve as an indictment of passivity and indifference during the Holocaust. Today, they are prominently featured at the end of the USHMM’s permanent exhibition. Initially, Niemöller's words were part of a text panel within the main exhibit. The quote “First they came for…” has been part of the permanent exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) since its opening in 1993. Niemöller’s Quote at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ![]() His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a “poem.”Īfter World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a trade unionist. First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist. ![]()
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