From our recent past . . .
JULY 1, 1937
MARTIN NIEMOELLER, CHURCH DISSIDENT LEADER, ARRESTED
Martin Niemoeller, one of main opponents of Nazi racial ideology in the Lutheran church and one of the founders of the oppositional "Confessional Church," is arrested. He is sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938 and spends the next seven years in concentration camps. After the war, Niemoeller's condemnation of bystanders to Nazi policies will become a call to early action. His words: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist - so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat - so I did nothing. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew - so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me."
As Jewish children in Hebrew School where I grew up, we were reminded every week for every year until confirmation "we shall never forget lest history be repeated." I know that it is my obligation to shout out at the top of my lungs that this CAN NOT continue. This MUST NOT continue! This racial and religious intolerance must stop now!
This is that "call to early action." Since reading these articles earlier this evening I have been trembling continuously. What happened last Tuesday is horrific by anyone's standards. What is happening to varrying degrees since is an absolute nightmare. I understand that some might not see this in the same order of terror as I. I will not waiver however and ask those who don't to just imagine to walk in our Arab-American brothers' and sisters' shoes for a moment. Please do everything you possibly can to make sure this stops here and now. I believe this might be the most urgent matter we face right now.
Please don't let harm come to those whom are our friends.
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