"First they came ..."

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist;
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 out.

Today is the birthday of Martin Pastor Niemöller who was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945 for his opposition to the Nazis' state control of the churches.
After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.

In January 1946 he first uttered the poem above in a speech in Frankfurt, which I still think the most powerful argument for brotherliness/sisterliness in a world supposedly run on selfishness and the "I'm alright Jack" philosophy of conservatism.