Martin Niemöller
German theologianWikipedia
22
MENTIONS
19
EPISODES
18
PODCASTS
Search complete. 22 mentions across 19 episodes found for "Martin Niemöller".
Sep 9, 2026
Omar MooreHOST
White people specifically forget that, conveniently so.
Omar MooreHOST
The poem from Pastor Martin Niemöller, First They Came For.
Omar MooreHOST
Remember that poem written back in the 1950s by Pastor Martin Niemöller, the German pastor? Where he referred to, basically referred to the Holocaust against Jewish people, white Jewish people.
Omar MooreHOST
And that poem was written around just after that time.
Omar MooreHOST
But you see, there are a great many white people in this country who conveniently forget.
Ted RallHOST
I mean, basically Trump will have his own, has his own private army that could be used just as easily against, you know, Americans protesting election results or, you know, anything else, as going after immigrants.
Ted RallHOST
I mean, is, [sighs] is this one of those Niemöller kind of moments where it's like-
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
Yes
Ted RallHOST
... "Well, first they came for the migrants, and then they came for me"?
Ted RallHOST
I mean, is...
Ted RallHOST
Is this one of those Niemöller kind of moments where it's like, well, first they came for the migrants and then they came for me?
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
It absolutely is.
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
It's already happening, right? Like right now, ICE has changed its tactics.
33 MINS LATER
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
And, you know, think about what it means when you want your neighbor carted away, but you want distinctions drawn between them and you.
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
Eventually, they'll come for you.
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
And, you know, Niemöller's poem absolutely stands.
Sonali KolhatkarGUEST
Thank you so much for having me on.
Bubba HorwitzGUEST
He started out with a little movement.
Bubba HorwitzGUEST
You know, there's a poem by Martin Niemöller that says, first they came for the Unionists, and I wasn't a Unionist, so I didn't get involved.
Bubba HorwitzGUEST
Then they came for the Protestants, then they came for the Jews.
Bubba HorwitzGUEST
I wasn't one of those.
John NeufeldHOST
But I need to add, those being intimidated are also accountable for their intimidation, to fail to speak when it is required that you do speak, and not to do so, consent themselves, privately at least, and they are accountable.
John NeufeldHOST
Some of you know the very famous quote from Pastor Martin Niemöller, pastor of the most prominent church in Berlin during the Nazi era.
John NeufeldHOST
He said famously, first they came for the socialists and I didn't speak for I was not a socialist.
John NeufeldHOST
Then they came for the unionists and I did not speak for I was not a unionist.
Jon CopelandGUEST
And again, he talked about, you know, we are looking to the people of Minneapolis for their resilience and their, you know, and then he did this song.
Billy BraggSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The ghost of Martin Niemöller haunts the halls of history When they came for the Communists, he said it's nothing to do with me When they came for the Democrats, he had nothing to say When they came for the Jews He just looked the other way His silence didn't save him When they came for him as well There was no one to speak out for him Resistance had been quelled What excuses would you tell yourself If this ever happened to you? Well I live in a city of heroes I know what I would do When they came for the immigrants I got in their face When they came for the refugees I got in their face When they came for the five year olds I got in their face When they came to my neighbourhood I just got in their face They used tear gas and pepper spray Against our whistles and our phones But in this city of heroes We will protect our homes When they dragged people from their cars I got in their face When they took families from their homes I got in their face When they murdered our sister I got in their face And when they murdered our brother I still got in their face In Dachau Martin Niemöller suffered for his complicity But in this city of heroes We learn the lessons of history I will bear witness to terror I will bear witness to tyranny I will bear witness to murder I will bear witness to fascism
Brian OakeHOST
You know, it's wild.
Brian OakeHOST
A guy who, in an era where there wasn't a lot of it going on, you know, obviously a lot of music has working class roots, but very little music in the 80s spoke to the struggles of the proletariat and decried the ever-present fascism that was always there, but we were all just having fun and everything was neon colored.
DaveHOST
If you've got Yeah.
DaveHOST
So I thought of the Martin Niemöller quotation, you, you're quoting him in your upcoming book.
Justin PodurHOST
Oh, yeah.
Justin PodurHOST
I mean, he's a pacifist.
Eric ReedSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I want to know, have you entrusted yourself to him? I want to know if you, have you bowed the knee to him? Is he King? Are you living for him as King? That's the call.
Eric ReedSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And only, watch, only when you do that will you then have the ability to stand as Peter and as Martin Niemöller to say, we must obey God rather than men.
Brian FrommHOST
He says that's too easy.
Brian FrommHOST
That sets the bar too low.
Victoria J. BarnettGUEST
in New York too late to meet people who had known him, like Paul Lehman.
Victoria J. BarnettGUEST
I would say the people that really impressed me, and I was able to interview, this was during the 1980s, so I interviewed Helmut Golditzer, I interviewed Martin Niemöller, I interviewed a number of women who had been in the Confessing Church.
Victoria J. BarnettGUEST
I was able to really get a glimpse of that world through those interviews.
Victoria J. BarnettGUEST
And that has had a real impact on my life and in how I think about this history.
Wendy BellHOST
they saw things that were going on that were wrong they knew they were wrong and they stayed quiet and they just walked by you remember The poetic form of that 1946 post-war confessional prose called First They Came.
Wendy BellHOST
Remember that? By the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller.
Wendy BellHOST
It's about the silent complicity of German intellectuals and clergy following the Nazis' rise to power and the subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets.
Wendy BellHOST
Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language, but I think you guys remember how it goes.
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