The famous poem’s backstory is a roadmap to remember
— Martin Niemöller (1882–1984) Nazi supporter and prisoner
Most people assume this poem is a warning for bystanders, but it’s really the tale of a true believer. The words were “poeticized” from a speech Martin Niemöller would give about his catastrophic awakening in Nazi Germany.
A conservative Lutheran pastor imprisoned at Sachsenhausen and then Dachau concentration camps, he dedicated the rest of his life after World War II to defending democracy with the zeal of a man who had learned the hard way what happens when you fall for authoritarian bullshit.
Indeed, Martin Niemöller just may be the modern world’s first FAFO guy, voting for his own demise.
Niemöller grew up in a privileged, traditional German home. In 1915, he served as an officer in the Imperial Navy, commanding U-boats that sank record numbers of Allied ships during WWI. He was awarded the Iron Cross for his success. But when the war ended, Niemöller (a loyalist for Kaiser Wilhelm) resigned his commission in protest of the liberal democratic Weimar government.
He married, entered the ministry, and began preaching personal responsibility and cultural discipline—pushing back against what he saw as a wave of moral decline: movies, jazz, sexual liberation, secularism. At this point in his life, Niemöller was a die-hard national conservative and a self-identified antisemite.
Big fan of Adolf Hitler, too — not so much his personality, but Niemöller approved of his policies. He voted Nazi in 1924, 1928, and 1933. He cheered when Hitler gained power, expecting a grand revival for the country. Safety! Prosperity! Tradition! Morality! Excellence! Niemöller was on board with all the big promises.
In practice, however, Nazi rule failed to deliver. They quickly overstepped boundaries and gamed the system to enforce their fiendish whims. One of their first laws instituted an “Aryan Paragraph” in government, business, churches, and property statutes that ascribed different privileges based on the purity of a person’s lineage. These discriminatory clauses soon penalized well-established German families who merely had Jewish or Slavic ancestors.
Bad news for the cosmopolitan congregation Niemöller served in the affluent suburbs of Berlin. Uh oh: without their tithes, he had no church. Thus moved, Niemöller linked up with other Protestant leaders to found the Confessing Church, which stood against the Nazification of German churches. Yet even as he opposed the Nazis in one way, Niemöller continued bashing Jews and preaching for the preservation of the white race.
Regardless of his abject racism, he signed a petition in 1936 that sharply criticized Nazi policies and declared the Aryan Paragraph incompatible with Christian virtues. Naturally, he was arrested. He thought at first that his military repute would save him from the concentration camps — he even volunteered to command a Nazi U-boat, but no dice. Even worse: he flagged himself as a possible bargaining asset.
Near the end of the war in April 1945, Niemöller was rounded up with 140 other high-ranking prisoners as hostages in surrender negotiations, which fell through as the Allies advanced. The group’s SS guards were under orders to execute them all before they were liberated, but then by a random act of luck, the men skirted disaster and eventually found safety with the U.S. Seventh Army.
Close Call, Full Circle
The man who once trusted Hitler to restore Germany and preserve the Church now owed his life to sheer chance and American soldiers. Niemöller had gone from cheerleader of fascism to almost one of its final victims. And he never saw it coming.
As a prominent religious leader, he’d personally met the Führer at a campaign event where Hitler had promised “on his word of honor” to preserve the Church’s authority and autonomy. He’d also assured the room that Nazi restrictions against Jews would be reasonable, brushing away concerns there’d ever be ghettos or pogroms in Germany.
“I really believed, given the widespread anti-Semitism in Germany at that time, that Jews should avoid aspiring to Government positions or seats in the Reichstag. There were many Jews, especially among the Zionists, who took a similar stand. Hitler’s assurance satisfied me at the time,” Niemöller admitted later, “I am paying for that mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.”
A Confession and a Turning Point
In 1947, Niemöller was denied Nazi victim status and publicly acknowledged his guilt. When asked how his attitude to Jews had evolved during the Third Reich, his answer was a sad testament of human prejudice: it literally took an eight-year imprisonment to turn him around. At least, when he finally saw the light, he spent the rest of his days spreading the word.
Niemöller toured the world to condemn fascism and educate people about why it’s important to protect human rights. He became a vocal pacifist, advocating for nuclear disarmament and opposing the Vietnam War. As vice-chair of War Resisters’ International, he met with global leaders—including Ho Chi Minh—to advance peace and justice. He also helped draft the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, a statement by German Protestant churches admitting their complicity in the rise of Nazism.
Niemöller’s most famous words are both a warning and an admission. He F’d around. He found out. It’s that simple: if you let them come, they will come for you.
No matter how many people the Gestapo took away, the same speeches and headlines kept screaming about enemies within. Germany was under attack, and there was always another group to blame. Until at last German citizens themselves lost their rights — and their country — to a corrupt and extremist playbook no one took seriously until it was too late.
Sound familiar? FAFO, America.
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