The Grey Book Part 22

"On 29th September, about 10 o'clock, the chairman of the Jewish community organisation, Advocate Henriques, came to me and told me that it was almost sure that the Jewish question would now be raised. There existed an order from Hitler himself to raise it. The ships for the deportation were said to be in the harbour.

I went at once to the Department of Religious Affairs and asked for an interview with the Director of the Department who, however, at that time did not know anything about such imminent action.

Immediately after this I went to the Department of Foreign Affairs and obtained an interview with the Director.

He told me that, according to information he had received from different sources, there could be no doubt that the situation was very serious. A meeting of the Directors of the Departments was to be held on the question at two o'clock...I returned to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, in order to tell Mr. Thomsen, the Director of the Department, how serious the situation was, asking him to present a protest to the meeting and to inform the German authorities also about the contents of the protest." [388]

Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard then returned to his residence. The protest was written in the presence of his a.s.sistants in the office. He signed it on behalf of the Bishops.

"We were conscious that this was a decisive moment. We expected at the time, that the signature would cost me both my office and my freedom. The protest was sent by a messenger to the Director of the Department to whom personally it was handed. I went to the Dean in order to arrange with him the things to be done if I should be arrested." [389]

All the Bishops received the protest by express letter, with a request for their immediate support and with the appendix:

"In case persecution of the Jews should begin, this Protest must be read in the churches, and I propose that the pastors commence the reading with the following sentence: 'On the 29th September of this year the Bishops sent to the leading German authorities, through the Directors of the Departments, a letter with the following contents:...'" <167>

On Sat.u.r.day, October 2, 1943, theological students despatched the Protest to all the manses in Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard's diocese. On that same evening, the Bishop again was advised by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to consider the consequences. "But there was nothing to reconsider. The matter had to be completed." [390]

The Protest

"Wherever persecutions are undertaken for racial or religious reasons against the Jews, it is the duty of the Christian Church to raise a protest against it for the following reasons: 1. Because we shall never be able to forget that the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem, of the Virgin Mary into Israel, the people of His possession, according to the promise of G.o.d. The history of the Jewish people up to the birth of Christ includes the preparation for the salvation which G.o.d has prepared in Christ for all men. This is also expressed in the fact that the Old Testament is a part of our Bible.

2. Because a persecution of the Jews is irreconcilable with the humanitarian concept of love of neighbours which follows from the message which the Church of Jesus Christ is commissioned to proclaim. With Christ there is no respect of persons, and He has taught us that every man is precious in the eyes of G.o.d. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' (Gal. 3, 28).

3. Because it contradicts the sense of justice, inherent during centuries in our Danish civilisation and which lives in the Danish people. In accordance with the above principles, all Danish citizens have equal rights and duties before the law and freedom of religion a.s.sured to them by the const.i.tution.

We understand by freedom of religion the right to exercise our faith in G.o.d according to vocation and conscience, in such a way that race and religion can never be in themselves a reason for depriving a man of his rights, freedom or property. Despite different religious views we shall therefore struggle to ensure the continued guarantee to our Jewish brothers and sisters of the same freedom which we ourselves treasure more than life.

The leaders of the Danish Church are conscious of our responsibility to be law-abiding citizens; we do not needlessly revolt against those who exercise the functions of authority over us; but at the same time, we are obliged by our conscience to maintain the law and to protest against any violation of human rights. Therefore, we desire to declare unambiguously our allegiance to the word that we must obey G.o.d rather than man."

On Behalf of the Bishops: Fuglsang-Damgaard. [391]

<168>

What strikes us is that the Public Protest stressed the special relationship existing between Christians and Jews, while the second point of the protest states that "every man is precious in the eyes of G.o.d".

The text mentioned (which also was quoted by many other Churches in different lands) seems more applicable to the position of members of the Church who are of Jewish origin ("There is neither Jew nor Greek,... for ye are all one in Christ Jesus"). However, Christians of Jewish origin were not mentioned in the Protest at all. This in itself was certainly fortunate, for reasons discussed in ch. 4.

Finally, the letter of Protest states that "we must obey G.o.d rather than man".

It must have been clear to every church goer that, in fact, the Bishops were summoning him to active resistance against the German measures.

In one of the churches in Copenhagen the Bishop began his sermon on that particular Sunday by telling what had happened and unequivocally expressing his own view. Finally, when the protest was read out to the congregation as a Pastoral Letter of the Church leaders, all those who were present stood up in order to express their approval. [392]

A Danish Lutheran pastor informed me that whenever the Danish Bishops issue a public declaration, the faithful consider two questions: 1 Is what the Bishops say right?

2 What gave them the right to speak on my behalf? When, therefore, the congregation stood up when Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard read out the protest, this can be seen as expressing the congregation's opinion that he had rightly spoken on their behalf.

No Bishop nor pastor, to the best of my knowledge, directly suffered or was even arrested because of the public protest.

In conclusion of this paragraph we record Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard's comment on the situation after the Church had given its testimony:

"The protest had been made and it was not repeated. A repet.i.tion would have meant a weakening of it. Furthermore, it would not have been of any use.

That was clear to everyone who knew the situation. What had now to be done was to bring help to those compatriots who were deported, persecuted or in hiding. <169> The whole Danish population understood this and all circles in our country came together to render this help. This was a time when there was no rest by day or by night; when it happened that a man in the street would come and give one 10,000 kroner; when a code-language developed in order to keep the mutual contact alive; when one felt an unspeakable happiness and grat.i.tude whenever somebody was saved." [393]

c. After the Rescue Operation

Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard and other Church leaders also contributed to the sending of gift parcels to the Jews who had been deported. On November 29, 1943, the Bishops jointly addressed Dr. Best through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to gain his support for this work.

The appeal read as follows:

"It is with deep sorrow and disappointment that we perceive through developing circ.u.mstances, that our appeal to the German authorities over the Jewish question has not born fruit.

But our interest in, and deep sympathy with, our deported countrymen is undiminished, and as there now seems to be a possibility that we can send support and aid in the form of food from this country, we wish to suggest to the Danish Church communities that they should send help to the interned Jews, in the form of gift parcels, through the Red Cross.

In our relationship with the community, we know that the Christian conscience of our people and their conception of justice has suffered a painful wound, and how deep a need they feel to help.

We would therefore be grateful to the Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs if he would inform Dr. Best of our att.i.tude and point out to him that support from competent German representatives towards a good solution of this question would be met with deep satisfaction within Church circles, the members of whom would, through this Christian and humane activity, find a way to express their deep concern over this matter." [394]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Red Cross and the pastors of Copenhagen acted unanimously in this large-scale a.s.sistance to the Danish Jews in Theresienstadt, an action which was successful beyond all expectation.

Of the 475 Jews who were deported to Theresienstadt, all returned with the exception of 53 who had died. <170>

In December, 1943, Bishop Malmstrom prayed for the Jews in a broadcast religious service. Thereupon the German authorities demanded the right to make a preliminary censorship of broadcast services.

Bishop Fuglsang-Damgaard then sent a statement through the Foreign Ministry to the German authorities, in which he stated that if censorship was introduced, neither the Sunday services nor the morning devotions would continue to be broadcast, and that the reason for this measure would be made public from all pulpits.

A week later, the Bishop was informed by the German authorities that "the incident was due to a misunderstanding". [395]

In February, 1944, the Bishops sent a letter to their congregations in which they requested prayer "for G.o.d's ancient chosen people, trusting that G.o.d will help where we see no way to do so." [396] <171>

The crucial question, whether the Church was influenced by general public opinion or whether it was the other way round, has been discussed in ch. 2.

THE SATELLITE COUNTRIES

27 SLOVAKIA

On the eve of the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, on March 14, 1939, Slovakia declared its independence, and on March 23, the agreement of German protection was signed. Following the first Vienna award on November 2, 1938, parts of former Slovakian territory with about 40,000 Jews were annexed by Hungary, together with parts of Sub Carpathian Ruthenia. After the occupation of all of Carpatho-Ruthenia containing 100,000 Jews, by Hungary, about 90,000 Jews remained in "independent" Slovakia.

A Catholic priest (Dr. Josef Tiso) was head of the Slovakian State. On April 18, 1939, the first anti-Jewish decree was enacted. A special Department for Jewish Affairs was opened in the Ministry of Interior. It co-operated with the Hlinka Guard.

The Council of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Pastors' Union decided, in its session of November 21, 1939, to send a Memorandum to the President and the Government of Slovakia, regarding the Hlinka Youth organization and the Hlinka Guard. We quote the following:

"We, as Evangelical Christians and as citizens, cannot agree with the following facts: the annulment of individual rights and freedom of certain people; the taking of steps against the Jews without legal basis, by means of violence, for instance, that the men of the Hlinka Guard, during the night, dragged Jews - women, mothers and children - out of their beds and transported them to concentration camps; illegally imposing of fines etc.; transgressions which are performed though they are contrary to the law and to Christian ethics." [397]

<172>

The first deportation train left Slovakia on March 26, 1942. In August 1942, the Jewish population had been reduced to 25,000. On August 23, 1944, a rebellion broke out which was ruthlessly quelled. In the autumn of 1944, 13,500 of the remainder of Slovakian Jewry were deported. In the whole of Slovakia there remained not more than about 4,000 to 5,000 Jews. [398]

The Convent of (Lutheran) Bishops, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vladimir Cobrda and Dr. Samuel Stefan Osusky, decided to issue a Pastoral letter about the "Jewish Question", on May 20, 1942. We quote the following:

"... The Evangelical (Lutheran) Church neither can nor wishes to interfere in the executive power of the competent government departments, whose duty it is to solve the problems. The Church, however, is convinced that it is possible and thus also necessary to solve this problem in a just, humane and Christian way, according to the Christian principles which are based on the eternal laws of G.o.d and the teaching of Christ.

According to this teaching, all men are endowed with the right to live, to earn a honourable livelihood, and the right to family-life. It also protects the honour of the Jews as human beings, so that not one of them should feel deprived because of his national, religious or racial attachments.

The racial law however, which some people champion, is contrary to the Christian faith, which accepts the biblical message that G.o.d is the Creator of all things and of all mankind, 'from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name' (Ephesians 3, 14). 'He is the head, and on him the whole body depends. Bonded and knit together by every const.i.tuent joint, the whole frame grows through the due activity of each part, and builds itself up in love' (Ephesians 4, 16).

To our sorrow we have been compelled to witness deeds which cannot be justified. They are contrary to human feelings, to justice and to the law of G.o.d; they are in no way related to love.

Such things could not happen, if all would honour the declaration broadcast by the Ministry of Interior, that no harm would be done to the Jews, that they would be treated in a humane and Christian way, and that they should just have to work as the other citizens. <173> The Church cannot reconcile itself to these deeds which we have witnessed in many places. The Church cannot but express its sorrow about them and reject them. If members of the Evangelical Church partic.i.p.ated in these deeds, they must be severely condemned for this..." [399]

"The Times" of August 11, 1942, commented on this pastoral letter as follows:

"The Slovak Lutheran Church, under the leadership of the Bishops Dr. Cobrda and Dr. Osusky, has taken the lead in the fight against n.a.z.ism in Slovakia.

From the pulpits of all Protestant Churches in Slovakia a pastoral letter was read on May 31.

In this the bishops condemned an 'immature political ideology' modelled on n.a.z.i and Fascist lines and emphasized loyalty to the Gospel of Christ.

They also condemned the anti-Jewish policy and defended the right of the Church, to baptize proselytes from Judaism on religious grounds.

The pastoral letter, the first of its kind in this part of Europe, has caused a profound sensation in central and south-eastern Europe (particularly in Hungary, where a substantial Protestant congregation exists).

n.a.z.i circles in Slovakia are particularly aggrieved since the bishops in question are considered as leading authorities in Church matters, even outside Slovakia... Roughly one sixth of the Slovak population are Protestants."

We have discussed the matter of the so-called "mercy-baptisms" in chapter 5.

Suffice it here to mention that pastors in Slovakia were in peril of their life if they dared to baptize Jews, during the second world war.

28 RUMANIA

In June, 1940, the Russians took back Bess Arabia and occupied Northern Bucovina. In August, Hungary carved out for itself Northern Transylvania and the Bulgarians occupied Southern Dobrudja. On September 5, General Ion Antonescu took over the government as Conducator of Rumania, and on October 7, 1940, German troops arrived in Rumania.