"First they took the Communists
but I didn't care
because I was not a communist.
Then they took the union workers
but I didn't care
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they took the Jews
but I didn't care
for I was not a Jew.
Finally, they took me.
But then nobody was left to care. "
Such is the famous poem of the German theologian and priest Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), written after he survived the Nazi darkness with the Holocaust and the concentration camp stay in Dachau.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Principles. Unfortunately, his poem is strikingly relevant today. Not to mention that Putin's and the Kremlin's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in neighboring spring 2014 is directly comparable to Hitler's and the Reichstag's annexation of Sudetenland in neighboring spring 1938.
For Putin, Hitler is not. Skilled dictators and abusers of power never copy each other. They always come in new disguise. History never repeats itself. Then it will only be horrible. There are especially former KGB spies trained to know.
No, the parallel to today lies more in the privileged reaction and role. And there we look like most people in the 1930 century: You didn't realize the brown and totalitarian danger well enough then. Before it was too late. That's why 9 came. April 1940 as a "surprise" in Norway.
And so Putin's invasion of Ukraine now comes as a "surprise." But it should not have done so, if one saw what Vladimir Putin stood for already from the Second Chechnya War in the early 00s. But that was after September 11, 2001, so he had to take the terrorists – in the shadow of Bush. We did not care because we were not Chechens.
Then Putin's foremost critic, journalist and author Anna Politkovskaya, was shot and killed outside his own apartment – on Putin's birthday, October 7, 2006. There were protests, a few. Then they fell silent. Trading continued. Statoil increased investment in Putin. We did not care, because we were not Russian intellectuals.
Then Putin entered Georgia during the 2008 Summer Olympics. He took Abkhasia and South Ossetia, made them obedient vassal states. He was supposed to "protect the Russians", give them "freedom". Legal principles meant little. There were some protests. Then the Norwegian state increased trade. Statoil, the government and the royal family stood in line to pay tribute to the growing Russia and Putin's growing self-image, which we helped build. We did not care, because we were not Georgians.
Then Putin's youth gang started pursuing the gays. And the Caucasians. But we didn't care. For we were not Russian minorities. The Sochi Winter Olympics went away with Solberg and the royal family. Marit Bjørgen dyed her nails, but the rest was as before.
Then finally Putin came and took Crimea from Ukraine. Then we cared. For Ukrainians is a bit like us, almost Europeans. And suddenly Russia became Norway's largest neighbor. But now, few independents are left to care.
Properly, Germany halted its Rheinmetall plan to sell combat simulators to the Russians for NOK 800 million for a new military training center. "The German government believes that the export of a combat simulator center to Russia is unacceptable as the situation is now," a statement from the German Ministry of Economy said. But dear German Ministry of Economy: Hasn't this arms export to Putin land been unacceptable for a long time? What situation is so different now?
France is more honest: They dare not drop the sale of their Mistral ships to 10 billion. The contract with Russia was signed right after the Georgia war. Just like Norway cooperated with Germany in the 1930s, as we have done with Putin until recently.
Today it's too late. Putin-led Gazprom is ready to take over the huge oil and gas deposits on the Crimean peninsula. The same state-owned Gazprom that has acquired the football clubs Chelsea in England and Schalke in Germany – Gazprom which is the main sponsor of the Champions League.
Putin is in charge of the Champions League now. But in the end, we cared. We should have that.