History
Jedem das Seine has been an idiomatic German expression for several centuries. For example, it is found in the works of Martin Luther and contemporaries.
It appears in the title of a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, Nur jedem das Seine ("Let all be paid duly"), first performed at Weimar in 1715.
Some nineteenth-century comedies bear the title Jedem das Seine, including works by Johann Friedrich Rochlitz and Caroline Bernstein.
An ironic twist on the proverb, "jedem das Seine, mir das Meiste" ("to each his own, to me the most"), can be traced to Carl Zuckmayer's 1931 play, The Captain of Köpenick.
In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany. The motto Jedem das Seine was placed over the camp's main entrance gate.
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