Tags
Auschwitz, Bonhoeffer, concentration camp, genocide, Germany, Holocaust Memorial Day, Martin Niemöller, Rowan Williams
Sixty-seven years ago, to this day, the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated. Today marks its commemoration, and many countries around the world will recognize and remember it. Rowan Williams has a short video on this memorial day for the UK and exhorts watchers to speak on behalf of the stranger. In passing he mentions an important figure for the Confessing Church, Pastor Martin Niemöller. I thought it would be good to share Pastor Niemöller’s well-known poem.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then 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.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, though not a prisoner at Auschwitz, has a statement that is marked at the ruins of St. Nicholas’ Church in Hamburg, Germany.
The statement reads:
No man in the whole world can change the truth.
One can only look for the truth, find it and serve it.
The truth is in all places.
delphic niceness 
Meg Lnagford said:
Greetings. I am most impressed by your site, as I came across it writing a book about historical and current racism. I wish to use your account of the horrific Jesse Washington lynching, which is very detailed and of course horrific–but it reads like an eye witness account and I am wondering who wrote it, where you got it–is this from the NAACP investigation. I googled phrases from it and only delphicniceness comes up. I know you won’t take offense if I say that sourcing delphicniceness author’s name unknown may cause some credibility problems, especially for those too anxious to find fault and flaws in history. Please help me. I will of course cite your webpage.blog, which deserves massive traffic. Thanks, Meg. June 8th 2013
I can be reached at humanin3d@gmail.com or 818-857-9608.