On July 28, 1943, the Bishop of Chichester strongly supported the plea for urgent government action in a speech in the House of Lords which was very critical of official policy and action. He contended that:
"…in the matter of the systematic mass murder of the Jews in the Nazi- occupied territories of Europe, which was the reason why the Bermuda Conference was called, there has been a deterioration in the determination to grapple with the problem."
After quoting earlier promises made on behalf of the Government, he criticized the achievement of this Conference.
"…On April 19-29 the Bermuda Conference took place. It began in a spirit of pessimism. Its official pronouncement at the end said that the delegates 'had examined the refugee problem in all its aspects'. The Jews were not mentioned. Agreed confidential recommendations were made which were designed to lead to the relief of a substantial number of refugees of all races and nationalities. Not a word was said about 'temporary asylum'…"
Particularly the Bishop emphasized the obligation to give priority to the persecuted Jews, and the responsibility of both neutral countries and of the Allied Governments to find temporary asylum for Hitler's victims.
"… It is in the face of this systematic murder, especially in the last twelve months, that I and so many others plead with the Government to act in a new way. With the appeal of the stricken people ringing in our ears, we would be false to our tradition if we failed to do everything we can." [549]
e. Towards the End
As far as we know, few statements were issued during the last period of the war. Significant was the Archbishop of Canterbury's warning, on Dec. 8, 1943, that "the sufferings of the Jews be kept in full view of all people so that the spirit of indignation and compassion in them will not die out". <254>
"It is one of the most terrible consequences of war that the sensitiveness of people tends to become hardened, "Dr.Temple said. "We could hardly live these days if we felt the volume of suffering of others in the world as acutely as we felt in peacetime". "There is a great moral danger in the paralysis of feeling that is liable to be brought about. It is most important for our own moral health and vigor that we express horror at the persecution of the Jews." Dr. Temple said the persecution of Jews on the Continent, and particularly in Poland, "almost baffles imagination and leaves one horrified at the power of the evil that can show itself in human nature." [550]
Another warning came from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
(May, 1944):
"The General Assembly express their profound sorrow at the lamentable condition of the Jews in Europe, and in the name of Christ renew their reprobation of the inhuman atrocities committed against them. They assure the Jews of their deep concern and sympathy, commend them to the brotherly offices and prayerful compassion of all Christian men and women, and warn the members of the Church of Scotland against the growing danger of anti-Jewish prejudice and propaganda. They respectfully urge the Government to continue to offer every facility to enable refugees to escape from the tyranny and oppression of Nazism." [551]
In June, 1944, the Archbishop of Canterbury, presiding at a meeting of the Council of Christians and Jews, denounced the continued persecution and attempted extermination of the Jews by the Germans, whose activities he described as "one of the most hideous of the elements even in the recent German record".
Dr. Temple moved a resolution expressing concern at the increasing peril to the Jewish communities involved in the extension of Nazi domination in Central and South Eastern Europe, coupled with satisfaction at the steps taken in North Africa and southern Italy to remove all discriminatory legislation against Jews and other victims of Nazi intolerance. He and many others, he said, had been disappointed that there had not been a greater willingness shown on the part of the authorities to help those who were trying to escape from German-dominated countries… [552] <255>
On July 7, 1944, the Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the following message to Hungary through the B.B.C.:
"I am eager to speak to the Christian people of Hungary, so far as I can do so, because of news sent to me through one of the most reliable of ecclesiastical neutral sources - and what I hear from that source only confirms what is reported also through other channels. The report is that a wholesale round-up of Hungarian Jews is taking place under orders from the German Government, and that those who are carried off have little chance of survival. According to this report, the Jews are being deported daily. Already the Eastern provinces have been cleared of Jews. Now the process is beginning in the Western districts including the capital. The conditions of travel are such that on arrival many already are dead; others are killed and cremated at Auschwitz. If the Christians of Hungary know the facts I am perfectly confident that they are also doing everything they can to save these doomed people by hiding them and helping them to escape. But it may be that inside Hungary the facts are concealed. It is for this reason that I feel bound to tell you of them, and beg you to do your utmost, even taking great personal risks, in order to save some if you can. Then you will earn in very special degree the words of approval and thanks: 'In as much as ye did it unto one of these My brethren ye did unto Me' (Matthew, 25, 40). I speak as a Christian who cannot help to Christians who can. For the honour of our common Christianity I implore you to do your utmost." [553]
34 THE UNITED STATES
a. The Time of America's "Neutrality"
It would have been possible to record the statements in this paragraph under "The Neutral Countries". The United States officially entered into the war in December, 1941. Japan attacked Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7 and Hitler declared war upon the United States, on Dec. 11, 1941. Until that time, it was at least pretended that the United States was neutral and the spirit of isolationism was still strong. Before 1942, strong statements against anti-Semitism were issued by Protestant Churches in the U.S.A., especially by the Federal Council of Churches. After Hitler's declaration of war, however, the statements took on an additional clarity: "Anybody spreading anti-Semitism is helping Hitler just as much as if he were a paid agent of the Reich." [554] Anti-Semitism became "treason against God, treason against the country." [555] <256> On the evening of December 14, 1939, a mass meeting was held at Madison Square Garden, New York, for the purpose of registering a protest against the treatment of the Jews in Poland and other areas under the Nazi regime. The meeting was attended by 20,000 people. Expressing the sympathy of Christians, Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, General Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches, pointed out, that Christians as well as Jews were suffering in Poland and other parts of Europe and that "Christians have a direct stake in what is happening". In conclusion, he said:
"Out of the calamity in Europe, there emerges one by-product for which we may be thankful - the new sense of fellowship between Jew and Christian in America. Nothing so quickly unites men as a cry of desperate human need. I do not believe there has ever been a time when Christian hearts in America beat in such sympathy for their Jewish neighbours. There are differences of religious conviction between Jew and Christian - at one point a momentous difference - but we share together the priceless spiritual heritage of Israel. As His Holiness Pope Pius XI truly and nobly said, 'Spiritually we are all Semites'." [556]
The United Church of Christ issued the following statement in 1940:
"One of the most disturbing currents in America to-day is anti-Semitism. Under the cover of an attack upon the Jews a covert attack is being made on Christianity. The manipulators of anti- Jewish propaganda are not concerned with the alleged evils they denounce; but they are concerned to destroy the teachings of the Bible - that God, the Lord and Creator of all men, is a holy God - and the prophetic morality of the Old Testament. They attack under cover of anti-Semitism God the Lord who is not bound to any nation but is Lord of all nations. They attack justice, righteousness, mercy and the divine command for holiness. They attack the law which Christians and Jews alike acknowledge as God's requirement. Twentieth century anti-Semitism reveals its true character in its demand on the Church to surrender the Old Testament and to deny that the God of Abraham, of Moses and the Prophets is the Father of Jesus Christ. <257> Anti-Semitism is flatly contradictory to the express teaching of St. Paul. In Romans 11, St. Paul reminds the Gentile Christians, just as we need to be reminded today, that Israel is the stem on which Gentile Christians have been grafted. 'You owe,' he wrote, 'your position to faith. You should feel awed instead of uplifted.' And again, 'So far as the gospel goes, they (the Jews) are enemies of God, which is to your advantage; but so far as the election goes, they are beloved for their father's sake. For God never goes back upon his gifts and call.' St. Paul discovered in anti-Semitism a pride which needed to be rebuked. 'You owe your position to faith'; that means, not something we have by right of possession, not something we can take for granted, not any kind of inherent superiority at all. Faith is the gift of God. Moreover, God has not repudiated Israel. They are still beloved. Anti-Semitism is not only one form of human pride; it is repudiation of the declared purpose of God. We recommend that General Synod declare its condemnation of anti-Semitism and urge upon the members of the Church in the name of Christ the duty to serve in love the brothers of Christ according to the flesh." [557]
The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in the United States published the following Resolution, in December, 1940:
"We express as Christians our sympathy with the Jewish people in this hour of calamity for so many of their group in Europe. We deplore the existence of anti-Semitism in America and declare our opposition to it because it is contrary to the spirit and teachings of Christ. We call upon His followers to create Christian attitudes toward the Jews. This should be a matter of primary concern for every Christian Church in every community." [558]
On September 19, 1941, the Executive Committee of the Federal Council adopted the following statement:
"On many previous occasions we have expressed our abhorrence of the religious and racial intolerance which afflicts our world today. We have especially emphasized our opposition to unjust and unchristian attacks upon the Jews. In so doing we have been whole-heartedly supported by similar utterances officially made by the highest governing bodies of the great dominations which cooperate in the Federal Council of Churches. <258> Recent evidences of anti-Jewish prejudice in our own country compel us to speak again a word of solemn warning to the nation. Divisiveness on religious or racial grounds is a portentous menace to American democracy. If one group be made the target of attack today, the same spirit of intolerance may be visited on another group to-morrow and the rights and liberties of every group thus be put in jeopardy. We condemn anti-Semitism as un-American. Our nation is a free fellowship of many racial and cultural stocks. It is our historic glory that they have been able to live together in mutual respect, each rejoicing in the rich contribution which the others have made to the common good. Anti-Semitism is an insidious evil which, if allowed to develop, would poison the springs of our national life. Even more strongly we condemn anti-Semitism as un-Christian. As Christians we gratefully acknowledge our ethical and spiritual indebtedness to the people of Israel. No true Christian can be anti-Semitic in thought, word or deed without being untrue to his own Christian inheritance. In behalf of the Christian churches which comprise the Federal Council we voice our renewed determination to unite in combating every tendency to anti-Semitism in our country. We recognize that a special responsibility rests upon us who belong to the numerically strongest group, to be staunch advocates of the rights of minorities." [559]
In 1941, the following "Manifesto to our Brethren and Fellow Citizens of Jewish Race and Blood" was signed by one hundred and seventy Protestant ministers representing one hundred and sixty-six churches and twenty-four denominations in the City of New York:
"With genuine anguish of heart we behold how in many places across the world today cruel forces of oppression and persecution are being released upon men and women and children of Jewish race and blood. With profound concern we note from time to time within our own beloved nation the manifestation of a spirit of anti-Semitism. The conscience of Protestant Christendom, as recorded at the great ecumenical conference held at Oxford, England, during July of 1937, expressed itself in no uncertain terms when with unanimous voice it affirmed that 'against all racial pride, racial hatred and persecution and the exploitation of other races in all their forms, the church is called by God to set its face implacably and to utter its words unequivocally both within and without its borders. There is a special need at this time that the church throughout the world brings every resource at its command against the sin of anti-Semitism.' With this pronouncement we are in complete accord of heart. Therefore, we would disavow any words or action promoted by the spirit of anti-Semitism, which emanate from sources that purport to be Christian. Such words and actions label themselves unchristian. <259> We call upon our Christian brethren to guard their hearts, their minds, their lips, their hands from emotions, thoughts, words or deeds that partake of 'the sin of anti-Semitism'. To that end we command to them the quest for 'the fullness of Christ' within their lives. We call upon our fellow citizens to remember that anti-Semitism is a threat to democracy and a denial of the fundamental principles upon which this nation is founded. We extend to our brethren and fellow citizens of Jewish race and blood our solemn assurance that by the constraint of our deepest Christian conviction we shall oppose unceasingly 'the sin of anti-Semitism' and we shall strive continuously for the realization of that brotherhood which humanity needs, democracy requires and Christianity demands." [560]
b. At War with Germany. Co-operation with Jewish Leaders
The Executive of the Federal Council addressed the following "Message for
Race Relations Sunday" (Febr. 8, 1942) to its members:
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word even this: thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal. 5, 14. Let us translate this pattern into a social program. Our pronouncements must now be supported by our practices. Where attacks are made upon Jews or the sinister spirit of anti-Semitism appears, we must protest in the Name of Christ and the Church… Where any racial minority within our borders is exploited or barred from equal opportunity, we Christians must take a stand for the sake of our faith. We must, furthermore, create a genuine fellowship that will prevent the development to such injustice towards any group. Our love for the Church requires that it be pre-eminently the abode of fellowship. The Church, by reason of its origin in the universal Christ, must be a brotherhood of all peoples, remembering that in Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. Therefore, let every follower of Christ search in his own soul to see if any enemies of brotherhood are lurking there. Let him examine his own daily relationships. Let us all in this awful and creative hour march resolutely forward, not faithless nor fearful, but confident in the future when democracy and brotherhood are one. "If a man say I love God and hateth his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen." 1 John 4, 20. [561] <260>
In September and October, 1942, the General Secretary of the Federal Council, Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, visited France and Switzerland. The Director of the World Jewish Congress at Geneva, Dr. Gerhart M. Riegner, stated:
"With regard to our knowledge of the Nazi plan of total extermination of European Jewry, I wish to state that the first report on this plan reached me in the last days of July 1942 and I communicated it to Rabbi Wise in New York and Mr. Silverman in London during the first days of August 1942 (through diplomatic channels). Dr. Wise received the message during the last days of August 1942 and asked Mr. Cavert to use his visit to Geneva at the beginning of September 1942 to find out from us whether deportation really meant extermination. After having spoken to one of us - I believe to Prof. Guggenheim - he confirmed this in a cable to the United States." [562]
On Dec. 11, 1942, at the great Biennial Assembly of the Federal Council, the following Resolution on Anti-Semitism was adopted:
"The reports which are reaching us concerning the incredible cruelties towards the Jews in Nazi occupied countries, particularly Poland, stir the Christian people of America to the deepest sympathy and indignation. It is impossible to avoid a conclusion that something like a policy of deliberate extermination of the Jews in Europe is being carried out. The violence and inhumanity which Nazi leaders have publicly avowed toward all Jews are apparently now coming to a climax in a virtual massacre. We are resolved to do our full part in establishing conditions in which such treatment of the Jews shall end. The feelings of the Jewish community throughout the world have recently been expressed in a period of mourning, fasting and prayer. We associate ourselves with our Jewish fellow-citizens in their hour of tragic sorrow, and unite our prayers with theirs. We confess our own ineffectiveness in combating the influences which beget anti-Semitism in our own country, and urge our constituencies to intensify their efforts in behalf of friendly relations with the Jews. We urge that all plans for reconstruction in Europe shall include measures designed to secure full justice for the Jews and a safe and respected place for them in western civilisation. For those who, after the war, will have to emigrate from the war-ridden lands of Europe, immigration opportunities should be created in this and other lands. We recommend that the officers of the Federal Council transmit this action to the Jewish leaders in person." [563] <261>
On Dec. 31, 1942, the Synagogue Council of America published a New Year message it had addressed to the Rev. Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and to Mgr. Michael J. Ready, general secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. The message was signed by Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the Council.
"American Jews," the message said, "share with their Christian brothers the sense of having been privileged to bear burdens not only in answering the call of our nation's defence needs, but also in heeding the call of human needs overseas. "To the Jews of Hitler-ridden Europe the year 1942 has been the most catastrophic in their tragedy-laden history. Helpless women, aged and children, and defenceless men have been slaughtered wholesale and a whole people has been marked for extermination. Among no other people is such a toll being taken. If the executioner's hand is not soon stayed, all the Jews whom it can reach will perish." The message said the greeting was "preferred to you and to the great body of Christians whom you represent", and expressed hope for an Allied victory and a just peace in 1943. [564]
On January 6, 1943, the heads of the six Jewish organizations which comprised the Synagogue Council of America, under the chairmanship of Rabbi Israel Goldstein, met in conference with official representatives of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. The purpose of the meeting was to afford an opportunity to discuss together what the Christian Churches could do to assist the Jews of Europe.
Desiring to express its sympathy in something more than resolutions, the Federal Council arranged for the conference with the Jewish leaders. Several fruitful suggestions emerged as to ways in which the Churches might help to develop stronger support for the needs of refugees from Europe, a measure of relief in the form of food for at least some of the Jews in Europe, and a safe and respected place for Jews in the post-war world. [565]
c. Practical Steps Demanded; the Bermuda Conference <262>
"On March 1, 1943, a great demonstration, one of the largest ever held in the United States, took place in Madison Square Garden at the initiative of the Congress and under the joint auspices of the American Jewish Congress, the American Federation of Labour, the CIO, and the Church Peace Union. Twenty-two thousand people crowded into the great hall, while 15,000 stood outside throughout the evening listening to the proceedings through amplifiers. The demonstration was addressed by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Senator Robert F. Wagner, William Green, and others. The British Section transmitted cable messages from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the late Cardinal Hinsley, whose last public utterance it was before his death a week later. The meeting laid down a 12-point program for the rescue of European Jewry prepared by World Jewish Congress experts. The effect was immediate. On the following day, Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles declared that a note had already been sent to Great Britain on February 25 offering the cooperation of the United States in organizing an intergovern- mental meeting for study of methods to save 'political refugees' in Europe. The meeting came to be known as the Bermuda Refugee Conference…" [566]
On March 1, 1943, the Executive Committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America appealed to the Governments of the United States and Great Britain "to consider offering financial assistance to Jewish refugees who have escaped to neutral countries from Nazi held territory, and the possible establishment of temporary places of asylum for those evacuated from Europe".
The committee urged that the proposals be considered at the forthcoming conference in Toronto of representatives of the two governments on the Jewish problem. The suggestion was part of a three-point program calling for a report by the council's department of research and education on the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime and setting aside May 2 for observance in churches as a "Day of Compassion" for the Jews in Europe. The committee's action was a sequel to the adoption at the council's biennial meeting in Cleveland in December of a statement setting forth the organization's determination "to do our full part in establishing conditions" in which harsh treatment of Jews should end. The proposals outlined by the committee for consideration of the British and American representatives at Toronto were: <263> "To offer financial assistance for the support of refugees that neutral governments (for example, Switzerland, or Sweden, Spain, Portugal and Turkey) may receive from areas under Nazi control, as a result either of infiltration across their borders or of negotiations with the Axis powers, with the expectation that, after the war, such refugees would be repatriated in their own countries. "To provide places of temporary asylum to which refugees whom it may be possible to evacuate from European countries may be removed, these refugees to be supported in camps for the duration of the war, with the understanding that they will then be repatriated in their own country or be provided with permanent homes in other ways." At the same time the committee urged Christians throughout the country "to give their moral support to whatever measures afford promise of rescuing European Jews whose lives are in jeopardy." The committee invited all Christians to "join in united intercession on May 2 for the victims of racial and religious persecution as a special occasion for the expression of Christian sollicitude." [567]
The practical steps proposed by the Executive Committee of the Federal Council to the Governments of the United States and Great Britain were similar to the steps proposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the House of Lords at about the same time, [568] and to the Aide-memoire sent by the Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and of the World Jewish Congress (Geneva), to the American and British Governments. [569] Not withstanding all this, the Bermuda Conference became "a monument of moral callousness and inertia". [570]
d. Different Churches Speaking on Different Occasions
The following is a chronological record of statements made by Churches or Church leaders in the United States from May, 1943, until the end of the second world war.
Henry St. George Tucker, Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church and president of the Federal Council of Churches, in a statement on the observance by the Council of a "Day of Compassion" for persecuted European Jews, said that there had been found a "rising tide of concern among Christians" over their fate. <264>
Dr. Tucker said it was the first time Christian churches had set aside a specific day for a "united expression of their sympathy with a suffering and persecuted Jewry".
"What is happening to the Jews on the Continent of Europe is so horrible that we are in danger of assuming that it is exaggerated," he said, and cited a recent survey by the council of evidence that he said indicated that under the Nazis a policy of deliberate extermination of Jews was carried out. "The survey shows that the actual facts are probably more, rather than less, terrible than the reports," he continued. "The Christian people of America vigorously protest against this brutal and cruel persecution. But protest is not enough." Two remedial measures have been set forth by the council: First financial assistance for support of refugees reaching neutral countries from Nazi- occupied areas, and second, provision of temporary asylum to which refugees evacuated from European countries may be removed. [571]
On October 20, 1943, American religious leaders denounced "the recent acts of terror in Denmark" and expressed sympathy for the Jews in that country. The Rev. Dr. P.O. Bessel, president of the Augustan Synod, Minneapolis, said that the synod was shocked at the German barbarism in Denmark, but was happy about Sweden's firm stand in offering refuge to the persecuted Jews. The Rev. Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, general secretary of the Federal Council, said that "the American churches have been thrilled by the news that the Danish Church has refused to be cowed into silence in the face of the Nazi attack upon Jews in Denmark". [572]
The following article in "The New York Herald Tribune" shows how strong anti-Semitic influences in the United States were, in 1943:
BISHOP OXNAM ASSAILS BEATING OF JEWISH BOYS
Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, of the Boston area of the Methodist Church, denounced today the alleged beating of Jewish boys as an apparent expression of incipient Fascism and, in a statement, demanded, "who is flooding the nation with anti-Semitic literature, and why?" <265> Declaring that "the beating of Jewish boys is not the work of hoodlums," Bishop Oxnam expressed hope that Jews, Catholics and Protestants could unite "in demanding that these beatings stop and that steps be taken to discover and destroy the dangerous forces that lie back of them." The Bishop's statement followed the placing of charges before Governor Leveratt Saltonstall that Jews had been made the victims of ruffians over a period of months in the Boston area. The Governor, acting upon a petition of which Bishop Oxnam was one of the signers, has appointed five prominent citizens of various faiths to an advisory committee on anti-Semitism. "The beating of Jewish boys must stop," the statement said. "The beaters must be apprehended and punished. The beating of any boys by gangs is bad enough at any time. The beating of boys of a particular race is worse. But the real menace lies in the apparent fact that these beatings are an expression of incipient Fascism, that they follow a similar pattern, and that, in one case, at least, the beaters wore black shirts. "Who is flooding the nation with anti-Semitic literature, and why? Who finances these movements? Why is it that the anti-Semitic leaders now under Federal indictment have attacked such religious organizations as the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the Methodist Church and other Protestant religious bodies? Why has Franco, the Fascist dictator of Spain, been extolled? Bishop Oxnam, in an interview with "The Boston Traveller", said that the recent outbreaks of racial violence in the Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan districts of Boston follow a pattern. "I was in Germany when these things began there. It is the same pattern in which organized gangs beat up a scapegoat race whether they be Jews or any one else," he asserted. He asserted that Fascism is prevalent in Brooklyn now, and predicted that it would show itself in Detroit and sections of the Pacific Coast before long. "I think Brooklyn, New York and Boston are currently the most difficult centres, however," he added. [573]
In Dec., 1943, a Senate resolution proposed the creation of a special commission "to bring about the rescue of the surviving Jews of Europe". Eight Protestant leaders sent "a Christmas Appeal for speedy adoption of the Resolution" to Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Senate majority and minority leaders and members of the House and Senate committees involved.
Asserting that "more than 2,000,000 European Jews have been slaughtered by the Nazis, the message added that "we cannot approach Christmastide without declaring that too many of us have been found wanting in the will to rescue these suffering people." <266> "Let no possible sanctuary be closed, whether in America or elsewhere," the appeal said. "Let each door of refuge be kept open. This is the Christian way."
The message was signed by Bishop William T. Manning (Protestant Episcopal);
Archbishop Athenagoras (Greek Orthodox); Bishop William J. McConnell
(Methodist), and others. [574]
On Jan. 15, 1944, fifteen hundred persons attended a rally against anti-Semitism at Carnegie Hall. Dr.Henry Smith Leiper of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, chairman of the meeting, asserted that anti-Semitism was "treason against God, treason against the country".
"Anybody spreading such slander," he said, "is helping Hitler just as much as if he were a paid agent of the Reich." Dr. Leiper and several others spoke out against what they said was the desire on the part of many to approach the problem of anti-Semitism with too much caution. Dr. Leiper said that exactly this idea prevailed in Germany in 1932, but did not halt the rise of fascism. [575]
The biennial convention of the United Lutheran Church in America adopted, on Oct. 13, 1944, the following Resolution:
"Recognizing that the Jewish problem has been made one of the central elements in the present assault on civilization, the United Lutheran Church in America, viewing with concern the manifestations of a rising tide of anti-Semitism in American life, begs its members to consider their Jewish brethren in the spirit of Luther, who spoke kindly things of them as 'blood brothers of our Lord', to use every available means to assure the Jewish people of their communities of the efforts of our church for the preservation of their rights, and to offer prayers on their behalf." [576]
We do not record all the statements issued by Protestant Churches in the United States over the years 1943-1944. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church in North America issued a statement in 1943; the American Baptist Convention, the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the General Synod of the United Church of Christ issued a statement in 1944. Most of these statements condemned anti-Semitic and anti-Negro prejudices. <267> e. The Churches in the U.S.A. that kept Silent
Three important Protestant denominations in the United States did not speak out unequivocally against anti-Semitism and the persecution and extermination of the Jews: the Southern Baptist Convention, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and the American Lutheran Church. [577] John G. Mager comments:
"… It might have been felt that since a large proportion of the membership of the Synod was of German origin or descent, it would have made for ecclesiastical suicide if the official organ of the Synod made pronouncements against a country to which many were bound by ties of blood, culture and sentiment…" [578]
It must be borne in mind that the Lutheran Churches in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Slovakia clearly expressed their horror at German anti-semitism, and they did so under much more difficult circumstances. This should dissuade us from wrong platitudes such as: "Lutherans tend to be anti-Semitic".
Recently it has been suggested that "the causal chain that links Christian belief and faith to secular anti-Semitism begins with orthodoxy - commitment to a literal interpretation of traditional Christian dogma". [579] My knowledge of the situation of Churches in America is limited. Therefore I would not venture to suggest that there is a causal chain between the orthodoxy of a Church in America and its failure to denounce anti-Semitism. Moreover, in other countries, like the Netherlands for example, such a connection does not appear to exist. <268> It is noteworthy, however, that the three great Protestant Churches in the United States mentioned above, which failed to issue a clear statement against anti-Semitism, were not members of the Federal Council. Moreover, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) are not members of the World Council of Churches, to this day. These Churches apparently did not feel challenged by the protest issued by the Assembly of the Church of England, in 1935, as was the Federal Council; [580] they did not receive the information provided by the General Secretariat of the World Council of Churches, Geneva, during the war. [581] Ecclesiastical isolationism is very dangerous indeed, especially in a time of crisis. They were probably afraid of watering down their own principles by co-operating with other Churches and this lack of co-operation and communication probably contributed to the fact that they did not fulfil the word of the Bible: "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and the needy". (Prov. 31, 8-9).
35 THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
The war years were the testing time of the World Council. Contacts with Great Britain and the United States were relatively frequent until the end of 1942, when the whole of France was occupied by the Germans. Since it proved impossible to hold fully representative meetings, the Provisional Committee met and continued to meet in three groups - one in Geneva under the leadership of Dr. Boegner (later of Dr. Koechlin), one in Great Britain under Archbishop Temple, and one in New York under Dr. John R. Mott. <269> The fact that the World Council had offices in New York, London, and Geneva, proved a blessing, for each office had its area of contacts with Churches which the other could not reach. [582] When the second world war broke out, the World Council of Churches was still "in process of formation", and it had not as yet an adequate apparatus at its disposal. But the General Secretary, Dr. Visser 't Hooft, and the Director of the Department for Refugees, Dr. Freudenberg, had their contacts with the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, and with Church leaders in Germany and the occupied countries. They could thus pass on valuable information to the Churches in the free world, and stir them to action.
a. Letters Sent to the International Red Cross
On October 29, 1941, Dr. Visser 't Hooft sent the following Memorandum to the President of the Mixed Relief Committee of the International Red Cross, Prof. Dr. Karl Burckhardt:
Memorandum on the Situation in Poland
I. "We have received some information about the situation in the General government of Poland from a reliable and objective observer who has been travelling there during recent weeks. According to him, there exists a great difference between city and country. In the large cities, especially in Warsaw, the Polish and, to a greater extent the Jewish population, is suffering famine. Typhus is spreading in and outside the ghetto of Warsaw. Our spokesman heard of 2,000 cases in the ghetto alone. The mortality of infants less than three years old is amounting to 26%… We know of only one modest relief activity: American Poles have, in co-operation with American Mennonites, the German Red Cross, the Polish and the American Relief Committee (Hoover), organized a soup-kitchen, where they weekly distribute to the distressed population of Warsaw, fish purchased in Danzig for DM. 5,000. This feeding, which is merely a drop in the ocean, reaches Poles as well as Jews. Moreover, a despatch of medicine from the United States is expected to arrive in Lisbon one of these days.
II. The greatest wave of deportations of German Jews and Christians of Jewish origin to Poland has been going on since the middle of October. Seven thousand Jews were deported from Berlin to Litzmannstadt on the nights of October 18/19 and 19/20. 20,000 Jews of the Rhineland are already there, or are en route. 2,000 are to be transported from Prague. Deportations from Vienna have already been going on for some time. A number of Jews from Breslau is believed to be engaged in labour in the Bohemian Riesengebirge. <270> According to our spokesman, the able-bodied men who have been deported to Poland are constructing roads behind the Eastern front whilst the able-bodied women are employed in ammunition factories. In Litzmannstadt hut camps are said to be provided as temporary lodging, but we have no particulars about this. The deportees were allowed to take only a handbag and 10 RM. with them. Sufficient protection against the cold will be out of the question. One may assume that these measures are the beginning of the complete deportation of the Jews and Christians of Jewish origin from the Reich and the Protectorate. This concerns people the majority of whom, owing to their mental powers having been overcharged for many years, will be unfit to cope with these new hard measures.
III. In view of its Christian responsibility the Provisional Ecumenical Council of the Churches cannot heedlessly close its eyes to this misery of the refugees in Poland. As it practically can no longer carry out its own relief work, it feels all the more its duty to intervene with the competent bodies towards quick relief action. The Jewish organizations, generally speaking, are no longer in a position to undertake effective steps on behalf of their co-religionists. The Jewish question touches the centre of the Christian message: neglect of the Church to raise its warning and protective voice here, and do all in its power to help, would be disobeying its God. It is, therefore, the duty of the Christian Churches, and especially of their Ecumenical representative, the Provisional Ecumenical Council, to intervene on behalf of the persecuted.
IV. Therefore the Provisional Ecumenical Council of the Churches appeals to the competent bodies of the Red Cross with the request to pay special attention to the situation in Warthegau and the General government of Poland. We urge that the Red Cross speedily send a delegate, if possible a medical man, to the regions in question. This delegate would have to investigate, especially in the large Polish cities, the most urgent needs of the Polish as well as of the Jewish population, thus ascertaining the medical, sanitary and clothing requirements. Such a survey should include not only the Warthegau (especially Litzmannstadt) but also the region of Lublin where the Jews from Germany, Austria and Bohemia who were deported in the winter of 1939/1940 are said to be living. We hardly know anything about their fate but it is most certainly very critical. The Provisional Ecumenical Council is prepared to request urgent support from its member Churches, especially those in the United States, for a relief action organised by the International Red Cross." [583] <271>
Dr. Visser 't Hooft stated in the covering letter that he had also sent a copy to the President of the Red Cross, Dr. Huber, and that he would be grateful for a speedy reply.
On June 3, 1942, the Secretary of the Ecumenical Commission for Refugees, Dr. A. Freudenberg, sent the following letter to the Mixed Relief Committee of the International Red Cross:
"An absolutely reliable correspondent requests us, to communicate to the organizations of the Red Cross the following: 'A serious lack of restoratives, digitalis etc. is prevalent in the Jewish ghettos in the East, especially in the camps of Yzbica and Piaski near Lublin, and also in Riga, Wilna, Kowno, Warsaw and Lodz. Many people who had been admitted to the hospitals because of diminishing strength and under-nourishment or other reasons, must now perish there owing to a lack of these restoratives. They could be saved if one could supply them with strengthening food. I have been implored to inform the International Red Cross about this, so that it may render aid wherever possible.' This information, indicating that the deportees and the Polish Jews are suffering terribly from famine, has been confirmed by others As most of them are destitute, numerous cries of distress have reached us both directly and indirectly. Therefore we join in the request of our correspondent, and implore the organizations of the International Red Cross to continue to relieve the fate of these unfortunate people in every possible way." [584]
On December 3, 1942, Dr. Visser 't Hooft again wrote to the President of the Mixed Relief Committee of the International Red Cross, Prof. Dr. Karl Burckhardt. The letter reads as follows:
"We refer to our letter of 29th October, 1941, in which we submitted to you a Memorandum concerning the persecution and the misery of the Jews in Poland. Since then the situation has deteriorated in an alarming way. No doubt you have been informed of the mass executions of which the Polish Jews and the Jews in Poland deported from the European countries, are the victims. To the information that has reached other organizations, we can add the contents of a message received from a very distinguished German personality whose reliability we can guarantee. The message informs us that at one place in Poland, 6,000 Jews - men, women and children - are being shot every day. These executions are made in three groups, each of 2,000 persons, and this has already been going on for weeks. <272> In our Memorandum of 29th October, 1941, we remarked that the Jewish question touches the centre of the Christian message. Therefore we feel compelled to raise our voice anew on behalf of these people who are being threatened with extermination. We therefore permit ourselves to renew our suggestions of last year, that the International Committee of the Red Cross take urgent steps to send delegates to the areas in question. There is reason to hope that such steps, even if they do not directly have the desired result, would encourage certain circles in Germany to combat the mass executions more energetically. Though from the letters received from Theresienstadt in Bohemia it is not possible to ascertain the real conditions existing in this reception centre, we would be grateful if the requested action could also include that city." [585]
The letter mentions "certain circles in Germany". These were groups of resistance with which the Secretariat of the World Council of Churches was in contact, especially the "Kreisau Circle" and Dietrich Bonhoeffer with his friends. [586]
b. Co-operation with the World Jewish Congress
A unique aspect of the activities of the World Council of Churches regarding the persecution of the Jews was the close co-operation between Dr. Visser 't Hooft and Dr. Freudenberg on the one hand, and the Director of the World Jewish Congress at Geneva, Dr. G. M. Riegner. Dr. Riegner stated: "… My correspondence with Dr. Freudenberg starts already in November, 1940, and during certain periods we have been in nearly daily contact". [587] In the same letter to Dr. Visser 't Hooft, Dr. Riegner wrote: <273>
"I remember that you and the World Council have also played an important part in convincing the Swiss authorities of the deadly danger threatening the Jews in all occupied countries and trying to obtain from them a more liberal attitude in admitting refugees. I remember distinctly, though I do not find any trace in writing, that I have put at your disposal several times very detailed information and reports which you have been good enough to communicate on behalf of the World Council of Churches to the Swiss authorities. If I am not mistaken, at least on one occasion you have personally intervened with Federal Councillor von Steiger in such matter."
Dr. Riegner commented on this point as follows:
"I am still convinced that these interventions of the World Council have been at certain moments of great value. In the course of the discussions which I had during the last year with either Dr. Visser 't Hooft or Dr. Freudenberg, I became convinced that these representations have most probably been made by Dr. Alfons Koechlin, (Base]), the former head of the Protestant Federation of Switzerland and one of the Presidents of the Provisional World Council at that time. Dr. Koechlin, of course, received the material from Dr. Visser 't Hooft and Dr. Freudenberg." [588]
Jews and Christians also co-operated together in breaking the wall of silence. The Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in the United States, Dr. McCrea Cavert, visited Dr. Visser 't Hooft in Sept., 1942. Dr. Riegner reports about this visit:
"With regard to our knowledge of the Nazi plan of total extermination of European Jewry, I wish to state that the first report on this plan reached me in the last days of July I 942 and I communicated it to Rabbi Wise in New York and Mr. Silverman in London during the first days of August 1942 (through diplomatic channels). Dr. Wise received the message during the last days of August 1942 and asked Mr. Cavert to use his visit to Geneva at the beginning of September 1942 to find out from us whether deportation really meant extermination. After having spoken to us - I believe to Prof. Guggenheim - he confirmed this in a cable to the United States." [589]
In the same letter to Dr. Visser 't Hooft, Dr. Riegner stated:
"Some of the very forceful speeches by Dr. Bell and other dignitaries of the Anglican Church in the House of Lords were based on reports which we have communicated to them." <274>
A telegram was sent by Dr. Visser 't Hooft to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the Federal Council of Churches in the United States. Its contents were as follows:
15.000 Berlin Jews brought to assembling centres Some hundreds shot. Total evacuation Berlin in execution. Similar news other regions prove extermination campaign at climax. Please back Allied rescue efforts suggest rapid proposals exchange against German civilians and guarantees of re-emigration money food supply enabling European Neutrals to grant transitory asylum. [590]
On March 23, 1944, Dr. Visser 't Hooft and Dr. Freudenberg sent a telegram to the Bishop of Chichester, Dr. Bell:
Most anxious destiny 800,000 Hungarian Jews among whom numerous Christians stop suggest you contact Mr. Silverman World Jewish Congress, I Harley Street W.I. and support suggestions cabled by Riegner to Silverman stop suggest also interest Church of Scotland. [591]
We know of another joint approach made by the Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and the World Jewish Congress. The following Aide-memoire was sent to the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, and to the High Commissioner for Refugees of the League of Nations:
Aide-memoire <275>
The Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and of the World Jewish Congress have taken note with great satisfaction of the aide-memoires exchanged between the Governments of the United States of America and Great Britain on the present situation of refugees in Europe, and of their decision to meet at Ottawa with a view to a preliminary exploration of ways and means for combined action by the representatives of their Governments. [592] Having studied the suggestions and proposals contained in the aide-memoires of the two Governments, the Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and of the World Jewish Congress beg to express their views on the above-mentioned topic. While welcoming most warmly the determination of the Allied Governments to bring help to the persecuted people of all races, nationalities and religions, fleeing from Axis terror, they wish to emphasise that the most urgent and acute problem which requires immediate action, is the situation of the Jewish communities under direct or indirect Nazi control. The Secretariats of the World Council of Churches and of the World Jewish Congress have in their possession most reliable reports indicating that the campaign of deliberate extermination of the Jews organised by the Nazi officials in nearly all countries of Europe under their control, is now at its climax. They therefore beg to call the attention of the Allied Governments to the absolute necessity of organising without delay a rescue action for the persecuted Jewish communities on the following lines: 1. Measures of immediate rescue should have priority over the study of post-war arrangements. 2. The rescue action should enable the neutral States to grant temporary asylum to the Jews who would reach their frontiers. For this purpose a definite guarantee by the Governments of the United States of America and Great Britain, and possibly by other Allied Governments including the British Dominions, should be given to the neutral States, that all refugees entering their territories would be enabled to be repatriated or to re-emigrate as soon as possible after the end of the war. In view of the special characteristics of the Jewish problem, in view of the attitude adopted in the past by many European governments, and furthermore, in view of the present attitude of absolute political neutrality adopted during the hostilities by the neutral countries, it may be stated that the giving of assurance for the prompt repatriation of refugees upon the termination of hostilities, would in the present circumstances not be considered as a sufficient guarantee by the neutral States. Only explicit and comprehensive guarantees of remigration of the refugees, given by the Anglo-Saxon Powers as a reinforcement of any assurances of repatriation which may be given by the Allied Governments in exile, can lead the neutral countries to adopt a more liberal and understanding attitude towards the Jewish refugees. <276> These guarantees should provide for the granting of facilities concerning the supply of food and funds for the maintenance of refugees during their stay in the neutral countries. 3. A scheme for exchange of Jews in Germany and the territories under German control for German civilians in North and South America, Palestine, and other countries, should be pressed forward by all possible means. We should like to stress the fact that the number of nationals of Axis countries living in Allied countries - particularly in North and South America - exceeds by far the number of nationals of Allied countries living in Axis countries. We feel that in spite of the great difficulties which we do not underestimate, a workable scheme of exchanging Jews for Germans would constitute an important method of rescuing a considerable number of persecuted people from the countries under Nazi control. In view of the immediate urgency of the situation, the admission of Jews to the scheme of exchange should be granted en bloc to the greatest possible number, as conditions no longer allow time-wasting and in many cases fruitless individual investigations. This scheme might include war-time security measures. 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 Ambassador 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 Ambassador 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 mass 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 Ecumenical 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
Ecumenical Commission for Refugees, "closely co-operating with other
organizations", succeeded in assuring 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 pass 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 passports 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 Ambassador immediately passed 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 Ambassador 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 circumstances, 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 Ecumenical Commission for Aid to Refugees published the
following statement:
<280>
The Fate of the Jews in Hungary
"The Ecumenical 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 God 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 endorsement 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 attitude 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 God'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.
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 identity cards. In this way they were protected from further persecution. We cannot, unfortunately, send you any proofs, e.g. documents, 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 attitude of the head of the Greek-Catholic Church in Galicia, the Metropolitan Andrew Sheptitsky, 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 Constitution 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 Constitution 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 Nazi- 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 analyse the influence of Luther's attitude 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 God rules this world (the spiritual one, or the Church, and the secular one, or the "worldly authorities") on the attitude 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 attitude towards the "ungodly 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 documentation provided by this book will stimulate others to further study and investigation.