The poem First They Came For is featured prominently in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is often quoted to urge the reader to speak up and prevent atrocities to fellow citizens. What isn’t always noted was that the poem’s author, Pastor Martin Niemoller is a complicated figure. Initially a Nazi supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for criticizing the regime’s control of churches. In the famous poem, Niemoller is left alone - having no one to speak up for him because he did not speak up for others.

Last month CNU Hillel students took their Holocaust Education into their own hands, heading to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. What struck the group is the extreme hatred permeated to anything and anyone deemed “other.” Even if that simply was a group that refused to act in accordance with the Nazi regime’s mandated cruelty, just like Neimoller wrote about.

Back on campus the students began to plan for a remembrance service for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. With a new perspective from the D.C. trip, paired with a goal of creating community connections and educational opportunities, the students set out to invite other groups targeted in the Holocaust to give a platform to speak.

With the service structured to reflect on the First They Came For poem, attendees at the Holocaust Remembrance Day program heard from a wide variety of organizations on campus that each spoke to the cruelties their communities faced during the Holocaust, building up to hearing the Jewish perspective.

The evening began with remarks from Norah Sheldon, a senior and vice president of the Student Diversity and Equality Council. This student board includes CNU Hillel alongside various other identity-based student organizations.

CNU Hillel Campus Director Julia Downer then addressed the role of allies, reminding attendees that during even the darkest times, civilians chose to risk their own safety to do what was right. She read from her grandfather's oral history of the Armenian Genocide, which is referenced in a quote displayed on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's top floor.

“When you visit the museum you will hear the story of how six million Jews were murdered. You’ll also hear how 500,000 Roma people were killed, how 250,000 disabled people were euthanized, how 600 queer people were arrested each week. Black children sterilized. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, clergy, political opponents - the list goes on and on. You too will see yourself on a museum wall label,” shared Downer.

Madelaine Clippinger, the vice president of the Disabled Student Union gave an overview of the horrors that the disabled community suffered during the Holocaust. “Before there was the final solution, there were the test programs,” Clippinger said, highlighting the inhumane experiments the disabled community endured.

Sam Ellyson with CNU’s Reiff Center for Human Rights, told us about his work with the Pink Triangle Legacies project where he worked as a research assistant. Similar to Jews being labeled with yellow stars, gay men were labeled in Nazi prisons with a pink triangle. Ellyson spoke about the targeted persecution of queer people during the Nazi regime, and the recent reclamation of the pink triangle as a symbol. You can hear directly from Sam about this project at the J's Lunch & Learn program, "From Persecution to Pride: The Pink Triangle."

CNU Hillel President Sammy Foosaner then focused on the Jewish experience, drawing parallels between the atmosphere that preceded the Holocaust and the rising antisemitism we see today. “Tragedies of this level don’t come out of nowhere. They snowball…starting small, by believing stereotypes that are not true, that then devolve into actions.”

Rabbi David Eligberg of Rodef Shalom Temple concluded the evening by reminding us that each of these lives lost was a divine story; to forget their humanity is to willingly choose to ignore our own.

Students, faculty, and attendees—including CNU President Kelly and his wife—remarked on the evening's profound impact and what they learned from each group that shared their stories.

Niemoller’s famous poem is so heavily quoted because it not only encapsulates how the Holocaust didn't happen overnight, it speaks to something larger. Including Niemoller’s controversial past allows us to remember that education can change our minds, our perspectives, our hearts.

For the CNU community that gathered that evening, it served as a powerful reminder that "never again" must go beyond a promise—it must be embodied in our actions.