Explanation of "habe ich nicht protestiert"

So, after posting my picture last night, I realized that it probably needed a bit more of an explanation than a poem in German.

So, Here we go... The subject of last night's picture is the Holocaust memorial in Berlin (more properly called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe). The whole thing is a city block filled with these large concrete blocks. They are all of different heights, but are all the same length and width. Also, they are all the same shade of dull gray. You can walk in between them and almost get lost within them.

The symbolism of this giant piece of art is almost too hard for me to explain right here on this blog post, but if you feel like reading a bit more about it, then here is the wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe

So, I hope now that this picture has a bit more of a meaning now instead of just being a bunch of giant gray blocks! Also, for anyone who might be interested, here is an English translation of the poem I posted...

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.