<P> "First they came ..." is a poem written by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892--1984). It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent purging of their chosen targets, group after group . Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language . It deals with themes of persecution, guilt and responsibility . </P> <P> The best - known versions of the speech are the poems that began circulating by the 1950s . The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum quotes the following text as one of the many poetic versions of the speech: </P>

What does the poem first they came mean
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