First 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 for me.
— a poem by German Lutheran pastorMartin Niemöller (1892–1984)