The Grey Book Part 37

I received two replies to my circular letter; the first is from Dr. Andrzej Wantula, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

I quote the following from his letter:

"During the war, our Church was liquidated by the Germans and the majority of the pastors imprisoned, the remainder working in a newly founded German Church. Our Church, therefore, could not carry out any activities.

Individual pastors privately have helped the Jews. I myself, in my former parish, have tried to relieve the position of the Jews and partly succeeded in this. These, however, are individual cases, which are outside the scope of your interest."

The second reply came from the Executive of the small "Polish-Catholic Church". [610] I quote the following:

"Our Polish-Catholic Church was exposed to many persecutions, under the National-Socialist domination during the second World War. However, we protested many times, against the persecution of the Jews, also publicly whenever this was possible.

In addition to material help, we provided the persecuted Jews with baptismal certificates, enabling them to obtain ration cards and ident.i.ty cards. In this way they were protected from further persecution.

We cannot, unfortunately, send you any proofs, e.g. doc.u.ments, letters or photostats concerning our activities, as all the material was destroyed during the war."

It is difficult for me to believe that the Polish-Catholic Church has "protested many times and publicly", if one is to understand that these protests were made in writing, and officially sent to the German authorities.

But perhaps pastors of this Church expressed their protest in their sermons, and if this is so, it was at least something, especially in Poland.

<285> The activities and att.i.tude of the head of the Greek-Catholic Church in Galicia, the Metropolitan Andrew Shept.i.tsky, whose Church is united with Rome, is outside the scope of our subject and is thus not related here. [611]

e. Finland

Finland refused to give up her 2,000 Jews. "We are an honest people,"

declared Witting, the Finnish Foreign Minister. "We would much rather die with the Jews than give them up." [612]

I received the following reply to my circular letter:

"...Finland was never actually occupied by the German army, with the exception of the Northern region...

Finland remained a sovereign country and it was, as far as I know, the only country within the German sphere of influence where Jews were protected against German claims. It seems to be very difficult to ascertain whether the Church had any direct involvement in this.

It must remain, therefore, more or less an academic question, since nothing actually happened, in spite of the hesitation of the Government during some critical days." [613]

f. Italy

There are hardly any non-Roman Catholic Churches in Italy. Best-known is the Waldensian Church. The Waldenses themselves have been severely persecuted throughout the centuries. The right of free worship was granted to them by the Const.i.tution of 1848. This "pre-Reformation Protestant Community" has 25,000 members.

Official declarations against anti-Semitism of such a small minority Church could hardly expected, though the majority of the Waldenses had been strongly anti-fascist. [614]

<286> g. Russia

The Orthodox Church was the established Church in Russia, until 1917. Under the Communist regime many Church leaders were imprisoned or murdered; many church buildings were closed, some turned into museums. The Const.i.tution of 1936 allows the Church freedom of worship, but not of propaganda. Printing of Bibles was not permitted. Anti-religious propaganda, however, was systematically carried out. In the wake of the German invasion (June, 1941), the Patriarch of Moscow declared himself loyal to the Russian cause and to the Soviet government. Anti-religious measures were relaxed to some degree.

As far as we know, no public declaration against anti-Semitism was issued by the Orthodox Church, nor by any of the smaller Christian communities in Russia. [615] It is estimated that 1,500,000 Jews perished in the n.a.z.i- occupied part of Russia.

37 IN CONCLUSION

I have tried to give the answers to some questions related to our subject, but there remain many unanswered questions. It is beyond the scope of this investigation, to a.n.a.lyse the influence of Luther's att.i.tude towards the Jews upon the German Protestants. Suffice it to say, that many anti-Semites quoted from Luther's brochure "Concerning the Jews and their Lies" (1542), and not from his earlier: "Jesus was born a Jew". (1523) The anti-Jewish sermons of St. Chrysostom, preached at Constantinople at about the turn of the 4th century, are well-known. We have not investigated as to how far these sermons had an influence upon the Eastern Churches in our time.

<287> Another question: What exactly was the influence of the Lutheran conception of the "two dominions" through which G.o.d rules this world (the spiritual one, or the Church, and the secular one, or the "worldly authorities") on the att.i.tude of the Lutheran Churches towards the persecuted Jews? Why did the Lutheran Churches in Denmark, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden denounce anti- Semitism whilst the record of the Lutheran Churches in America is poor in this respect?

The people, according to Luther, have not the right to resist the authorities; only princes have. Was there a notable difference between the Lutheran Churches and the Churches of Calvinist origin regarding their att.i.tude towards the "unG.o.dly government" of Hitler in the 20th century, just as such a difference is said to have existed in the 16th century?

What about possible differences between continental and Anglo-Saxon Protestants regarding their theological conception of the Jews, between Protestant Churches in the West and Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe, between non-Roman Catholic Churches and the Church of Rome?

How far did the conception of St. Paul about the people of Israel, as expounded in Romans 9-11, encourage the Churches to stand up for the Jews, or how far did the opinion that the Church has "replaced" Israel as the people of the Covenant, prevent Churches from taking action?

We have hardly touched on practical questions such as the dilemma of whether "to speak or to save" ("reden oder retten").

It would be easy to make up a much longer list of unanswered questions, but it is difficult to establish facts even though they happened in our lifetime, and it is even more difficult to interpret them correctly. I can only hope that the doc.u.mentation provided by this book will stimulate others to further study and investigation.

I hope that I have succeeded to some extent in showing how complicated the situation was, and how careful we ought to be if we try to answer the question, how far Christian leaders and Churches fulfilled or failed to fulfil, the commandment which they profess to consider divine: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself". <288> However, I do not suggest that to understand all is to pardon all. To me, Dr. Visser 't Hooft's conclusion seems to be well-balanced:

"We may conclude this section by pointing out that while many Christians failed in their duty to resist in word and deed the inhuman racialism of National Socialism, there were a not inconsiderable number of Church leaders and simple Church members who rendered a clear witness to the reality of the Christian faith.

The Christians who were involved in the struggle know better than anyone how often the Churches and they themselves failed to do what ought have to be done.

Thus the Churches in Germany spoke not only for themselves, but for others who had been in a similar situation when after the war they confessed publicly their sense of guilt in this respect." [616]

It is difficult to draw conclusions. Mostly generalizations are dangerous.

I myself have the impression that public opinion tends to overrate the practical help rendered by individual Christians. Only a minority of professing Christians willingly risked their lives in order to help and save their Jewish neighbours.

The Bible condemns such a lack of self-sacrificing love. When, however, human beings judge, particularly if they are people who themselves did not have to undergo the test, they should remember the Jewish saying: "Judge not thy neighbour until thou art come in his situation." [617]

On the other hand, public opinion possibly tends to underestimate the official activities of Churches against anti-Semitism, because they are not generally known. The att.i.tude of the Churches with regard to the persecution of Jews under Hitler's reign of terror was far from uniform.

The picture is neither completely black, nor purely white. White and black are mingled. Thus the name chosen for this publication is "The Grey Book".

The darkness of the holocaust was so great that one can hardly comprehend it. It is understandable that there are people who tend to ignore the lights that were so small, far too small. But "the greater the darkness, the brighter the light, be it no more than that of a small candle." [618]

<289> In cases where Church leaders or individual Christians did risk their lives, they should remember the words of their Lord: "Is the master grateful to the servant for carrying out his orders? So with you: when you have carried out your orders, you should say, 'We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty'."(Luke 17, 9-10).

On March 23, 1943, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared in the House of Lords: "We stand at the bar of history, of humanity and of G.o.d".

It is appropriate to conclude this book with the words of Ecclesiastes (12, 13-14): "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear G.o.d, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For G.o.d shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

<290>

APPENDIX I

DECLARATIONS AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM ISSUED AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Much has been spoken against anti-Semitism by non-Roman Catholic Churches and Church leaders, after the Second World War. We only mention the most important declarations and statements.

On April 8, 1948, the NATIONAL BRETHREN COUNCIL (Reichsbruderrat) of the Evangelical Church in Germany, meeting at Darmstadt, issued the following "Message Concerning the Jewish Question".

"...It may rightly be said that after what has happened, after all that we allowed to happen in silence, we have no authority to speak now. We are distressed about what happened in the past, and about the fact that we did not make any joint statement about it. We have not forgotten that a number of pastors and churches did speak out, and suffered for doing so; we thank G.o.d for it, and we thank them. We thank all who, in our own country and abroad, have helped us with old and new insights into the Word of G.o.d, and who have taken action by setting up warning signs.

Today when retribution is meted out to us for what we did to the Jews, there is increasing danger that we may take refuge from G.o.d's Judgment in a new way of anti-Semitism, thus conjuring up all the old evils once again. In this perilous situation and amid this temptation G.o.d's Word speaks to us and helps us to find the right att.i.tude to the Jews. It is under pressure of this Word that we speak, because we are filled with anxiety about the future and burdened by the past, and because we feel obliged to express our grat.i.tude to all those individual people who spoke out, took action and suffered doing so...

It was a disastrous mistake when the Churches of our time adopted the secular att.i.tude of mere humanity, emanc.i.p.ation and anti-Semitism towards the Jewish question. There was bound to be a bitter retribution for the fact that anti-Semitism rose and flourished not only among the people (who still seemed to be a Christian nation), not only among the intelligentsia, and in governmental and military circles, but also among Christian leaders. <291> And when finally this radical anti-Semitism, based on racial hatred, destroyed our nation and our Churches from within, and released all its brutal force from without, there existed no power to resist it - because the Churches had forgotten what Israel really is, and no longer loved the Jews. Christian circles washed their hands of all responsibility, justifying themselves by saying that there was a curse on the Jewish people. Christians no longer believed that the promise concerning the Jews still held good; they no longer preached it, nor showed it in their att.i.tude to the Jews.

In this way we Christians helped to bring about all the injustice and suffering inflicted upon the Jews in our country.

This is what the Word of G.o.d teaches us, so that we recognize with shame and grief what a great wrong we have done to Israel, and how deep our guilt is. As a Church we have failed to be the witness of salvation for Israel. Now we have to face the judgments of G.o.d which are coming upon us one after the other, so that we may bow beneath the mighty hand of G.o.d in sincere repentance, both as a Church and as a nation..." [619]

On April 27, 1950, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany, meeting at Berlin-Weissensee, issued a "Message of Guilt towards Israel", from which we quote the following:

"...We declare that by dereliction of duty and in keeping silent we also are guilty of the crimes committed by people of our nation towards the Jews...

We pray all Christians to rid themselves of all anti-Semitism whatsoever, to resist it earnestly where it raises its head again, and to meet Jews and Jewish Christians in a brotherly spirit. We pray the Christian congregations, to care for Jewish cemeteries in their territory if n.o.body is in charge of them." [620]

On January 12, 1960, the Executive of the United Evangelical Church of Germany issued the following Declaration:

"The Executive of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany most sharply condemns the expressions of anti-Semitism which have stirred the public in the last weeks.

Moral condemnation of the crimes committed by Germans against the Jews cannot be evaded, though it is difficult to explain the motives of this wave (of anti-Semitism) which encompa.s.ses many lands.

The reaction of the public must not be limited to declarations of sympathy towards Jewish fellow citizens but must aim at uncovering their own failures.

It is especially important, to break the silence which frequently is maintained here between the older and younger generation, and to help our young people to come to their own clear judgment of the history of the Third Reich and what led up to it." [621] <292>

On February 26, 1960, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany, meeting at Berlin-Spandau, published the following Resolution, after the synagogue of Cologne was daubed with swastikas:

"The fact that the honour of our Jewish neighbours has been offended, fills us with horror and shame. We express our solidarity with those who have been offended and insulted...

We are guilty towards youth, to whom we have failed to teach and to bear the witness we owe them. It is not surprising, therefore, that the evil spirit increases its influence, again and again, among our youth. However, anew we must realize and attest: the hatred of the Jews which breaks out, again and again, is public G.o.dlessness...

Therefore, let parents and educators break the widely-spread, painful silence, in our country about co-responsibility for the fate of the Jews.

Let them resist everything that seduces the young generation into hatred of the Jews...

Therefore, stand up for the payment of reparations. Keep in mind, however, that true repentance is more essential than financial compensation, which only can mean little to people who lost most of their relatives by acts of violence...

Therefore, pray for G.o.d's peace upon Israel. Pray for the peace of Israel amongst the nations, on the borders of its State and amongst us." [622]

During the trial of Eichmann, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany stated (Berlin-Spandau, Febr. 17, 1961):