17 pages • 34 minutes read
Martin NiemöllerFirst They Came...
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1946A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Persecution
The persecution of various groups is alluded to in the vaguest of terms. What exactly happened is unclear; only that “[coming] for” meant the group’s expulsion from society. The choice of simple diction creates a haunting mood supported with opaque subtext.
Niemöller variously named several persecuted groups throughout the years, including communists, socialists, trade unionists, people with disabilities, Jewish people, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some versions add Catholics, but it is unlikely that Niemöller ever did. These are all groups of people whom the Nazis persecuted for their beliefs, demographic category, and for refusing to bow to state authority. Niemöller didn’t intend for this to serve as a template for any group experiencing conflict or pushback. This quote is explicitly anti-Nazi, which means it is anti-fascist, anti-right-wing, and anti-authoritarian.
Tribalism
The speaker communicates their noninvolvement in the persecution of the groups mentioned in the first three sentences by using pronouns that sort the involved parties into distinct groups. The word “they” (Lines 1, 2, 3, 4) as opposed to “we” or “us,” reinforces that the speaker is not actively involved in the violence. The speaker, or “I” (Lines 1, 2, 3), only gives one reason for not speaking up, and it is simple: The speaker is not involved. These neat categories persist to the end of the poem, until the speaker, or “me” (Line 4), is left all alone in the world with the oppressors and is finally subjected to their wrath.
This fractured categorization of people into different unallied groups is what left the speaker vulnerable. This also shows that the speaker has passively adopted a fascist, flawed mindset. The categories of socialists, trade unionists, and Jewish people are presented as mutually exclusive when a person could conceivably belong to all three. Therefore, such fragmentation is both harmful and a poor approximation of human identity and community.
The Passive Observer
Action and inaction are the warring dynamic at the core of this poem. The oppressors perform one action, in active voice, by coming for people. The observer does not take action: They do not do anything, and they do not hold certain attributes, and that is all they are.
Speech is presented as the correct response to oppression. The nature of this speech goes beyond expressing oneself into making meaningful change. If the speaker were to speak up but never get in between the oppressors and the oppressed, then they would still be alone at the end of the poem. For Niemöller, speech constitutes a life shaped by dedication to justice over comfort.
