Letters to the editor May 16

Campus protests

I have written previously of the famous German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s quote, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. The 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.”  

Though Niemöller supported the early Nazi regime, he spent from 1937-1945 in Gestapo prisons after realizing and openly criticizing the true nature of Nazism.