Martin Niemöller was a German Imperial Navy officer in World War I. Niemöller received the Iron Cross and was a national hero. Shortly after the war, Niemöller wrote his autobiography of the war, which became a bestseller in Germany. I found, purchased, and read a first edition copy of the work several years ago. After the war, Niemöller decided to study for the ministry and was ordained a Lutheran pastor. After ordination, Niemöller became a pastor in an affluent suburb of Berlin. By his early thirties, Niemöller had achieved career success in two different fields and garnered the nation's adulation.

Niemöller, like most German military veterans, was a national conservative and voted with the Nazi party in three separate elections. Yet, Niemöller's political views began to transform as he was upset by the Nazi opposition to Jewish people. In 1933, Niemöller formed an organization of pastors in protest against discrimination. By the fall of 1934, Niemöller intensified his political protest by joining the Confessing Church,along with other prominent church leaders, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth.

As a celebrity and hero, Niemöller's actions did not go unnoticed. In July of 1937, the German government arrested him, and on March 2, 1938, Martin Niemöller was tried in court for activities against the state. He was released after time served, but the Gestapo immediately rearrested him, and Rev. Niemöller was sent to Dachau concentration camp, where he died at the end of World War II.

After his death and the end of the war, Niemöller's poem, "First They Came," began to circulate. By the 1950s, the poem was printed and shared around the world. The poem spoke to what motivated Niemöller's transformation in civic and religious spheres. His poem continues to resonate with people around the world to this day. The English translation is:

“First they came for the Communists and
I did not speak out because I was not a Communist
Then 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 out for me. ”

— First They Came by Martin Niemöller

Niemöller's biography did not end with his military service. Nor did he strive for worldly success and adulation. His values were based not on political expediency, but on God's divine values. Niemöller believed and acted with a commitment to equality based on the Biblical principle that all people are God's children and worthy of respect and dignity.

I share Niemöller's story, not because he was a superhuman person of faith, but because he was a humble person whose example is necessary to share in today's United States.

Presently, masked gunmen are rounding up ethnic people of mainly Latino descent and deporting or sending them to camps being built for their cruelty. The present administration celebrates relocating rounded up human beings from farms where they are gainfully employed and other venues, sending them to an inhuman concentration camp in El Salvador while building places like "Alligator Alcatraz," celebrated for the dangerous environment, which would kill anyone who tries to escape. Some of those rounded up are legally in this country, but were snatched up simply because they are from a particular ethnic group.

The parallels between Niemöller's 1925 and 2025 are uncomfortably close. The Nazi's grew in number and confidence because in the early years of their injustice, not enough good, faithful people stepped up and loudly protested their political sin. God calls Christians to heed Niemöller's poem and speak words of justice to the inhumanity of injustice and inequality. Faith without action is meaningless. It is time to step up and be heard, before injustice further erodes our democracy.

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