Tomorrow is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day – and in light of the staggering hatred of that era, and of the genocidal, demonic activity that has anhiliated subsequent generations in places like Bosnia and Rwanda – I found myself pondering Pastor Martin Niemoller’s words today. Niemoller spent 8 years in prison during the second world war, and survived his time in the concentration camps. Remembrance means more than recalling information. It is courage to act now on what has come before.
So today…and tomorrow…and the day after, may we each remember.
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
