Niemöller

British  

/ ˈniːmœlər /

noun

1. Martin (ˈmartiːn). 1892–1984, German Protestant theologian, who was imprisoned (1938–45) for his opposition to Hitler

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Example Sentences

He lands some telling blows, for instance, when he shows how, in its parting message to visitors, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has removed the first line of Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came.”

From The Wall Street Journal

While meant to be a warning that brutality, cruelty, and lawlessness extended toward some would not end with those first targeted, there have always been a few problems with the Niemöller poem.

From Slate

The first problem with the Niemöller poem is that it only ever works in shaking those who read to the end: You’re meant to understand what it all means the very instant you get to “They came for the Communists.”

From Slate

The other problem with the Niemöller poem is that it presents as sequential; you can tell yourself that there will be months, years, eons between their coming for the Comeys and the Haitians and the time they come for you.

From Slate

That’s how authoritarians work, how they have always worked, and it’s why it’s useful to read the Niemöller poem backward.

From Slate