What happens when we take freedom for granted?
There was a time when many knew the poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller who was in concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, first in Sachsenhausen, then in Dachau. Niemöller had preached against the Nazi state’s attempts to interfere with church governance and what he viewed as the neo-paganism encouraged by the Nazis.
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
Niemöller believed that Germany needed a strong leader to promote national unity and honor. Niemöller voted for the Nazis—both in the 1924 Prussian state elections and in the final national parliamentary elections of March 1933.
Hitler espoused the importance of Christianity to German nationality and Christianity’s role in a renewal of national morality and ethics, leading Niemöller to enthusiastically welcome the Third Reich. Niemöller later confessed that even Hitler’s antisemitism reflected a more extreme version of his own prejudice at that time. Niemöller remained an outspoken antisemite throughout the 1930s, justifying his prejudices by referring to Christian teachings that the Jews were guilty of deicide, the killing of Jesus.
He later emphasized the particular guilt of the German churches for their support of Nazism.
Niemöller did not criticize the Nazi Party for putting its political opponents into concentration camps. However, he spoke out when members of the Protestant Church were arrested. Niemöller had never opposed the Nazi racial theories, but merely the suppression of the Church in Germany.
It appears that Niemöller is no saint. He spoke up when his life was affected. His values. In the end he realized that he should have spoken up for others who were under attack. I believe we call that caring for the other as taught in the Judeo/Christian ethic that underpins all democracies.
So what has happened to that teaching here in the 21st century? Where are the people defending the weakest amongst us? The widow and the orphan? The poorest? The least educated? Where are the people defending the dignity of all life, not just “essential” people. Where are the people protecting freedom; which has never been free.
First they came for your freedom of movement; but you were free to move around, so you did not speak out.
Then they came for your freedom of assembly; but you were still free to gather with friends, so you did not speak out.
Then they came after small businesses. But you don’t own one, so you did not speak out.
Then they came for your freedom to protest; but you didn’t care; you never protest, so you did not speak out.
Then they came for your freedom or religion;You weren’t religious, so you did not speak out.
Then they came for your freedom of choice: but you still had choice, so you did not speak out.
Then they came and attacked your freedom of speech.
And there was no one left
To speak out for you.
Tyrants count on the fear and silence of its citizenry in order to impose their tyranny.
Tyrants know that freedom is never free; that it is taken for granted and is so easily lost; but so difficult to regain.
I weep.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
