First they came...

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left
to speak up for me.

• According to Wikipedia, "First they came…" is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inaction of German intellectuals during the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.  The version here is the variant printed in Time magazine on August 28, 1989, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of World War II.  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came..., accessed 09/01/08.