New England Holocaust Memorial

One of the things we got to see while we were in Boston was the New England Holocaust Memorial. It features six glass towers, each 54 feet high. Inscribed into the glass are six million numbers. At the end of the walk is a poem written by Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor from Germany. The poem is titled First they came..."


They came first 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 trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

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 no one was left to speak up.