In the first lines of ‘First They Came,’ the speaker begins by using the phrase that later came to be used as the title. He addresses the fact that the Nazis first came for the Communists. He knew this well, and despite the fact that men and women were being taken from their homes, forced into slavery, worked to their deaths, and murdered, he did not speak out. He was not a Communist and, therefore, could ignore what was happening. This is a pattern that repeats throughout the poem. He says the same statements about both “Socialists” and “trade unionists.” These are groups of people that he saw himself as separate from. They didn’t have anything to do with him, so he felt that he didn’t have anything to fear. He did not stand up for or do anything to try to protect these groups.