The Grey Book Part 36

Concrete proposals should be submitted without delay to the Governments representing Allied interests in Germany by the Governments of the United States and Great Britain.

The International Red Cross Committee may also be approached by the Allied Governments and asked for support in this matter. [593]

Dr. Riegner sent this aide-memoire to the British Amba.s.sador in Switzerland "on behalf of the Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and of the World Jewish Congress". Dr. Visser 't Hooft forwarded it to the Amba.s.sador of the United States, requesting in his covering letter, dated March 19, 1943, that the aide-memoire should be forwarded to the American Government, to the Federation of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and to the American branch of the World Jewish Congress.

He also stated that he had sent a copy to Mr. Allan Welsh Dulles with whom he had "quite recently had the pleasure of discussing the matter". Mr.Dulles was the representative of the "Office of Strategic Services" of the American Government, at Bern.

The sending of this aide-memoire was, I think, the first time in history that an important organization of Churches officially approached Governments, jointly with an important Jewish organization. <277>

c. Aid to Refugees

In 1938, the Provisional Committee of the World Council of Churches was formed. Its first ordinary session took place at Saint-Germain (near Paris), in January, 1939. It was at this meeting that the Bishop of Chichester, George Bell, unequivocally proposed that the Council create a special department to deal with refugee problems. He himself had been a pioneer in this work.

He felt that "the time had come to aid the entire ma.s.s of non-Aryans".

He meant not only the non-Aryan members of the Church but also the others, albeit there being a special responsibility towards members of the Christian Church. [594]

Soon afterwards Dr. Adolf Freudenberg was appointed the first secretary of this new department for aid to refugees.

The Ec.u.menical Commission for Refugees rendered aid to refugees in the camps of France at the end of 1940. It was also engaged in first aid to the people in the camp of Gurs. Later on, France remained the main field of activities.

"The Christian aid included Christians as well as Jews. There was co-operation with Jewish organizations in many respects. Thus, for instance, the Commission for Refugees could act as the intermediary for financial aid to Jewish families and children who were in hiding in Belgium, Holland, Hungary and other countries." [595]

The Churches in three countries rendered financial aid: first and foremost Switzerland, but also Sweden and the United States.

"Switzerland donated Sw. Fr. 77,000 in 1941; the United States donated only Sw. Fr. 10,000 and Sweden Sw. Fr. 6,000. The United States soon realized the importance of the aid to refugees and in the following year the Churches in the United States donated Sw. Fr. 241,000 and later Sw. Fr. 368,000.

Obviously they really did understand the significance of this work.

I think that this was also due to the fact that Dr. Cavert (the then General Secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.) visited us. Later on I myself went to the United States and was able to explain to them the importance of the matter." [596] <278>

When, in the summer of 1942, Lava1 began to hand over the Jews of the unoccupied area of France to the Germans, members of the French Protestant Youth Organization Cimade brought many refugees to the Swiss frontier.

Switzerland, however, was not willing to grant asylum to them. The Ec.u.menical Commission for Refugees, "closely co-operating with other organizations", succeeded in a.s.suring the admission of "many hundreds" of these refugees. [597]

Another endeavour to save lives failed. The Committee had, with the help of American Christians, succeeded in obtaining entrance visas into the United States for 1,000 Jewish children from France, but the occupation of Southern France by the Germans foiled this plan. [598]

Dr. Visser 't Hooft was personally active in an "illegal" organization which helped Dutch Jews to pa.s.s through France to Switzerland. He helped its leader, Jean Weidner, with money from a collection for this purpose amongst Dutchmen living in Switzerland. [599]

The former secretary of the Jewish Committee of Coordination in Switzerland, Mr. H. H. Gans, relates the following incident as regarding to the granting of pa.s.sports and certificates of citizenship granted by South-American Governments to Jews in French concentration camps:

"...We had declared... that the beneficiaries would not try to use their new 'citizenship' after the war. But probably owing to their fear of an invasion of new citizens after the war, some countries dared not postpone the nullification until after the war...

The Spanish Amba.s.sador immediately pa.s.sed on this fatal message (to the Germans) and 300 'South-Americans' were deported from Vitel. The World Congress informed me at night. Consternation was great. <279> I contacted Dr. T. Lewenstein [the then Chief-Rabbi of Zurich and Dr. Visser 't Hooft. Together we sent a telegram to the Queen. There was an immediate reaction: Her Majesty's Amba.s.sador at Buenos Aires was ordered to intervene.

Very shortly after this, an entirely favourable result was obtained." [600]

Mr. Gans also stated that once he paid a large amount of money on behalf of persons hidden in Holland, through the kind offices of Dr. Visser 't Hooft.

From Holland came the confirmation: "The organization thanks you very much for the money transferred from Switzerland." [601]

The testimony of Mr. Gans also speaks of the matter of sending gift parcels to the Jews in concentration camps:

"No parcels could have been sent and no other help could have been rendered, if we had not been supported continuously by Dr. Visser 't Hooft, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Geneva...

His contribution to the Dutch resistance movement will certainly be described by others. Suffice it here to point out the general importance of the presence of such a man in Switzerland, and the fact that busy though he was, he never refused to see me whenever I asked for an interview, and that happened almost every day. No detail of our relief work was unimportant to him." [602]

It appears that neither Dr. Visser 't Hooft nor Dr. Freudenberg were formalistic in their activities. They understood, in contrast to so many in and outside occupied Europe, that "illegal" acts were, in those special circ.u.mstances, morally justified. Thus money was "illegally" transmitted to Jews in hiding; and refugees were supported who had entered into Switzerland "illegally."

What has been said about Church leaders in Bulgaria, can be applied to Dr.

Visser 't Hooft and Dr. Freudenberg: they were gravely concerned, and thus they were available whenever their help was requested.

In June, 1944, the Ec.u.menical Commission for Aid to Refugees published the following statement: <280> The Fate of the Jews in Hungary

"The Ec.u.menical Commission for Refugees exists in order to give material and spiritual aid to refugees of all faiths. Its main task is therefore to relieve the suffering of the refugees rather than to protest against the treatment meted out to them. But there are situations in which the only aid we can give is in the form of a solemn and public protest. To-day this is the case.

Trustworthy reports state that so far some four hundred thousand Hungarian Jews are deported in inhuman conditions and, in so far as they have not died on the way, brought to the camp of Auschwitz in Upper Silesia where, during the past two years, many hundreds of thousands of Jews have been systematically put to death.

Christians cannot remain silent before this crime. We appeal to our Hungarian Christian brethren to raise their voice with us to do all they can to stop this horrible sin. We appeal to Christians of all countries to unite in prayer that G.o.d may have mercy on the people of Israel." [603]

36 TERRITORIES IN WHICH THE CHURCHES REMAINED SILENT

The heading of this Chapter must be regarded with some reservation, firstly because I may have failed to find statements which were issued, and secondly because even the admission by a Church that it did not speak out, cannot always be trusted. In fact, I have in my possession a letter from the official representative of an important Church in Europe, stating that his Church had not publicly protested against the persecution of Jews; yet later on much material was found proving that it had done so.

It is notable that the Churches which, as far as we know, kept silent, were minority Churches, with the exception of the Lutheran Church of Finland which was, however, not directly confronted with the challenge of the persecution of the Jews.

a. Austria <281>

On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria; it was then absorbed by the German Reich. The Jews in Austria were subjected to all the horrors which the Jews in Germany suffered.

The legend that Austria was the first victim of Hitlerian aggression, to which official endors.e.m.e.nt was given by the victorious Allies, is slow to die. In fact, the people in Austria were more national-socialist than in Germany proper: the frenzy with which the "aggressor" Hitler was received by the Viennese is proof enough of this. Many of the leaders of the Third Reich were Austrians, as for instance Seyss-Inquart, Kaltenbrunner, Globocnik and Rauter. Hitler himself originally came from Austria.

Little is known about the att.i.tude of the Protestants in Austria with respect to anti-Semitism during the war. [604] In 1966, the General Synod of the Lutheran Church adopted a "Message to the Congregations on Jews and Christians". The message stated that:

"...Unfortunately, however, the Christian conscience of our people has not been strong enough to withstand a hatred based on racial differences.

This is an alarming sign of the demonic powers of darkness to which we have been exposed and which have not been sufficiently resisted by our Church.

Because the Church was entrusted with the Word of reconciliation and the message of peace, its guilt is much greater than that of all other groups.

We must acknowledge and confess this guilt. The miracle of G.o.d's forgiveness makes our repentance possible..." [605]

b. Belgium

Professor W. Lutjeharms, who teaches Church history at Brussels, communicated to me why, in his view, the Protestant Churches did not publicly protest against the persecution of the Jews during the war. Part of the reasons he advances are, in my opinion, also applicable to minority Churches in other lands. <282> 1. The Protestants comprise less than half percent of the total population.

2. The Protestants nowhere formed a sufficiently concentrated group among the population.

3. The Protestants in those days had very few representatives in cultural and political circles.

4. The Protestant voice was not heard outside its own group before 1940; hardly at all over the radio and certainly not through daily newspapers.

5. The Protestant Churches represented a distinctly foreign flavour: many pastors and members were foreigners.

6. An official public protest would neither have impressed the authorities nor the population. The Protestants could only act effectively on the personal level. In this respect pastors as well as lay members time and again risked their lives, to help Jews as much as they could.

There remains the question, why the small Protestant Churches in Belgium undertook official and public steps in 1933, and not, for instance, in the years 1935 and 1938. It is possible that such steps were undertaken, but that they were not sufficiently published, and thus forgotten (Cf.

above, point 4).

At least 25,000 Jews were deported from Belgium.

Individual Protestants have rescued Jews [606] but these activities are outside the scope of our subject.

c. The Protectorate

Czechoslovakia was deprived of Sudetenland in the Munich pact of September 29, 1938. On March 14, 1939, Slovakia declared its independence. On March 15, 1939, German forces occupied Prague; Czechia as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia became part of the German Reich. <283> An estimated number of 71,000 Jews were deported, and perished.

Apparently no Church in Bohemia-Moravia publicly protested. It is true, of course, that there hardly was any address to which they could send a protest, except the Government in Berlin which would probably have paid even less attention than it paid to the protests of the "Confessing Church", the members of which were Germans and not Czechs. However, a public protest, read out from the pulpits, could have stirred up the members of the Czech Churches and would have encouraged them to help the Jews.

In a letter to me, dated November 12, 1965, it was stated by Dr. Viktor Hhjek, Chairman of the Synod of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren:

"Individual members of our Church have tried to help Jewish families in different ways and have indeed helped them. This has always been dangerous, and the persons involved suffered often from the German occupying force.

But the pressure of this force was so heavy that it was out of the question to undertake anything publicly and officially." [607]

The Synod of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren recognized, in 1945, that "our Church did not have enough courage or power to withstand the fury of the enemies of Christ directed against the Jews." [608]

d. Poland <284> The atrocities committed against the Jews in Poland are beyond description.

At the end of 1939, 3,300,000 Jews lived in Poland; of these 2,900,000 were murdered. [609] Moreover, most of the Jews arrested by the Germans, in other occupied countries and in the German Reich itself, were deported to Poland and perished there. Thus it was in Poland that the vast majority of the six million was murdered.

There is little to relate about the reactions of the non-Catholic Churches in Poland; there hardly exist such Churches at all.