A guest post from Jeff. Grateful for his words and his call to compassion, thoughtfulness and peace.
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In 2006, I was given the opportunity to go to Poland as part
of a Holocaust remembrance trip for college and seminary students. As a part of the trip, each group was placed
together with a Jewish tour guide as well as a Holocaust survivor. The survivor’s name was Pinchas, and
throughout the week he shared his story with us. We listened to him talk about the prejudice
against Jews, and his experience of being forced into a Warsaw Jewish ghetto
that was made smaller and smaller, until finally they packed everyone onto
cattle cars and shipped them off to the concentration camps.
We stood in the concentration camp of Majdanek where his entire family
was murdered and listened to him talk about his experiences in that place.
That trip shaped my life, and it also made me painfully
aware of what is possible when a group of human beings are deemed as “other”
because of their race, nationality, religion, physical or mental abilities, and
even sexuality. I say this because Jewish people were not the only ones murdered in the Holocaust, although the majority of those
killed were Jewish. Close to six million Jewish people were killed. But Gypsies, Poles, political dissidents and
dissenting clergy, people with physical and mental disabilities, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, homosexuals, and other groups were exterminated simply because of
who they were or what they believed.
Why do I say this now?
I am not one to speak politically.
I believe in the separation of church and state. However, when I hear or read something from
the state that strikes to the core of my experience in Poland, I have to stop,
and I have to speak. It is my Christian
duty to speak.
The conversation has shifted, and now we are talking about
turning away all Muslims from the United States. Perhaps this is just campaign rhetoric. However, people
strongly agree with this sentiment. It
has gone from turning away refugees (yikes) to turning away a group of people
because of their religion. This is the
platform of one of the frontrunners for the presidency: Turn all Muslims away because we do not know
which ones are good and which ones are bad.
I recognize that this is a complicated situation because the
evil we face comes from a radicalized group that is rooted in Islam, yet is
greatly distorting the Islamic faith. But
distorting the faith is not something that ISIS has a monopoly on. With Jerry Falwell Jr saying: "I've always thought if more good people
had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked
in," it should remind us that a violent branch of Christianity is only a
trigger-finger away.
Perhaps we need to step back, America, and take a look at
ourselves. Perhaps we need to step back
and take a look at history. If the
language we are using or the values we are espousing reflect in any way the
language and values of 1930’s Germany, we may have a problem. Because once we label a group of people as
“other,” we begin slowly to remove their humanity. And when you remove someone’s humanity,
anything is possible. Just ask
Pinchas.
Pinchas, standing in Majdanek, telling the story of what it was like the last time he stood there.
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| Playing "We Shall Overcome" at Auschwitz-Birkenau |
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| Crematory ovens at Majdanek |
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| One of many crematory ovens |
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| Monument/Mausoleum of ashes at Majdanek |
