The Nightmarish Reality of Evil Imagination

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It may be mentioned beforehand that the author is a animal friendly person. The cause of this blog post is to have a closer look at symbols, their manifestations and dangerous abuse in history to make the reader aware of epistemic dangers.

„… By the way, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd …“

My hands held the remote control in a tight grip as memories flooded into the dark living room as enthusiastically spoken words poured out of the TV.

Vivid memories took ahold of me and in an instance took me back to my ten-year-old self. The trembling of my hands extended into the living room many years later. As I wanted to open the dark and heavy metal garden gate to my late grandfathers house, I halted in an instance as I saw the aggressive German Shepherd speeding towards the gate like a gray-black-and brown lightening bolt. His massive body shook as he let out a deep barks gnashing his huge teeth. I retreated, clinging to my school bag as the German Shepherd rested his muscular paws as a additional sign of aggression on the dark fence while trying to get his teeth into what he perceived to be a dangerous enemy.

My grandfather came running out, calling his „good boy“ back to him. The German Shepherds were Opas the whole pride. As they had served a full life in the German Police force, he made it his calling to give them a good retirement in his home. These dogs had many privileges. They sat at the table. Were fed high quality food. Took the best spot on the sofa. And they rewarded my grandfather with unconditional love combined with a aggressive form of protection towards anyone, who seemed to be an enemy.

Opa shook his head as he saw my ten-year-old self shaking heavily. Then he opened the gate while having a good grip on his dog. „He doesn’t mean it. Right, my boy? You are such a good boy!“ Only slowly the adrenaline in my body subsided as I entered my grandparents´ home and the smell of homemade German food wove me into a blanket of sweet expectations for a good meal.

„… By the way, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd …“

Other memories flooded my mind as I sank deeper into the sofa. It was last summer, that the sight of German Shepherds at a memorial send shivers of fear down my spine combining the memories of my ten-year-old self with the experiences of those targeted in the protests of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Sculpture in Birmingham, AL, captured the horrible scene of suppression, brutality, and racism in a lively way – warning of instruments of hate. Durning the Birmingham campaign students flooded the prisons, causing the racist police commissioner Eugene „Bull“ Connor to turn to a very different tactic as prisons had to be shut down. He used fire hoses and sicced trained police dogs on the „Foot Soldiers“ of the movement that had fought for equality and freedom in a world of separation and injustice.

The pictures of the aggressive German Shepherds went around the world. Setting a spotlight on the racial injustice and oppressive system, which could no longer be ignored or downsized. As the obedient dogs did their duties for their masters the heartbeat of the world skipped in grief as once again injustice showed its evil grimace.

„… By the way, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd …“

„The dogs are here at Dora, as in all camps. Held on leashes by their masters, they grow ferociously whenever a prisoner is near. One word or gesture from the SS and the dogs will tear the prisoner apart. They are really more efficient than their masters; a prisoner seeking death could cross the line without worrying too much about a bullet in the back or head, but the dogs are a terrifying, visceral fear.“

Yves Béon, Planet Dora, A Meomoir of the Holocaust and the Birth of the Space age, trans. Yves Béon and Richard Fache (Boulder, Colo.: Westvieew Press 1997), p. 43.

In German concentration camps the German Shepherd was widely used as a guard dog and instrument of horror. While the breed was a relatively recent creation accepted in 1899 by the German Kennel Club, it became the distinctive German breed very popular amongst the Nazi officials. Max von Stephanitz saw his breed as distinctly German. Breeders and owners in other countries venerated the dog for its purity of blood, bravery and loyalty, a dog soldier. This back then much admired breed soon became a symbol for its owners rootedness in Aryanism.

Hitler playing with a German Shepherd
(https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-madman-of-the-mountain-adolf-hitlers-personal-life/)

„The German is a real dog-lover, for it is part of his nature … to enter into the spirit of the Aryan mysticism, which makes us feel at one, interiorly, with clouds, trees, lake and heath, and with all living creation…. This appears in his religious beliefs, for the eagle and the wolf were dedicated to All-Father Wotan, King of Battlefields, Bestower of Victory…. [H]is wolves … roam the battlefields, crouch at his feet, and are cared for by the Lord of the World himself…. [T]wo stones with bason-like hollows were erected to the right and the left of the ancient altars of sacrifice, from which poured the blood of the sacrifice which had been offered in honour of Wotan, so that his wolves could feast on the entrails of slaughtered enemies.“

Max von Stephanitz, The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture, 1923.

It must be pointed out, that the German Shepherd itself like most dog breeds follows his instincts of bonding to his owner. As one should maybe discuss at another point the underlying Nazi thoughts the proclaimed scientist and nobel prize winner Konrad Lorenz must have had, it is interesting to point towards the psychological mechanism in bonding between dog and master.

„Lorenz […] explains that a dogs youthful attachment is an important milestone in development, because „love for the mother is transformed into love for the human master. Their main focus was not to be a rampaging killer, but to please their master. By being trained and rewarded in a certain fashion, they became horrible instruments of destruction.“

Robert Tindol, Animals and War, BRILL, 01. Nov 2012, p. 111.

Their actions therefore reflected the intention of their Nazi-Masters, who dehumanized and killed Jews and other incarcerated. The German Shepherd therefore is a specialized example of human cruelty. A pars pro toto for a system of pure evil.

“… By the way, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd …“

Childhood memories , memories of important happenings in the Civil Rights Movement, and memories of the cruelty my ancestry had inflicted on others during the Nazi-terror, hit me with full force as I heard the speech of the President Trump at a rally in El Paso, Texas on Feb 11.

Donald Trump spoke admirably of the German Shepherd in the context of the war on drugs. for him they seemed better weapons than any intelligent machinery. Cold flashes of fear and hot flashes of anger raced through my body as I tried to make sense of the most powerful man of the world talking admirably about a dog, who well through history had become a instrument of fear and destruction. A loyal, unreflected soldier, whose only target is to impress and please his owner, no matter whom might suffer.

The Holocaust, the Civil Rights movement, the many usages for suppression and domination, made the marveling words of Trump into a grotesque scene of simplistic thoughts or even worse: showed a vivid and very well alive expression of „fantastic hegemonic imagination“, which with the Nazi-regime become not only a imagination, but a manifested weapon made out of flesh and blood.

“… By the way, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd …“

In many respects, the German Shepherd is a living and breathing symbol of what Emilie M. Townes calls the „fantastic hegemonic imagination“. A manifested weapon of devoted hate and suppression.

In her book “Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil” Emilie M. Townes explores the creation and cultural reproduction of structural evil as it is manifested in public policies and public policy making by highlighting this fact through examples within the US.

“Exploring evil as a cultural production highlights the systemic construction of truncated narratives designed to support and perpetuate structural inequities and forms of social oppression.”

Emilie M. Townes, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, New York 2006, p. 4.

Townes emphasizes that a passion for justice is not enough, but that we need to become aware of a system in which we all participate and therefore take in injustice through supposedly harmless appearing caricatures and images. She calls this „fantastic hegemonic imagination“ (Ibid., p. 113.)

The German Shepherd was certainly for many Nazis a beautiful symbol of domination, superiority, and Aryan strength as we have seen above through the words of Max von Stephanitz. But while Townes refers to symbols like the Black Mammy woven into the conscience of society, this living and breathing symbol goes a step further: the imagination or Aryan-„dream“ became a dangerous, complicit, and nightmarish reality for uncounted victims.

The dogs of the camps, after all, did not kill 6 million humans, or even a small fraction of those 6 million. Their handlers, even if they did nothing in the war but train animals, were not quite so innocent.

Robert Tindol, Animals and War, BRILL, 01. Nov 2012, p. 120.

The German Shepherds have been mirrors of their masters evil deeds, who themselves were bound into a demonic system of dominance and destruction.

Is there really nothing better than a good old fashioned German Shepherd? May the people in power choose their words and actions wisely while drawing on life giving imaginations, not manifested weapons of hate.

Forgiveness beyond time and borders

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The engines of the small airplane rattled loudly as if they were exhausted from the quick climb through turbulent north sea weather. My eyes fixated the slowly disappearing islands as if they wanted to hold on to them as long as possible. As I admired the beauty of the Orkney islands glistering in the sun, memories of a lifechanging time in ministry flooded my thoughts. I could almost feel the warmth of a nice cup of tea and the overwhelming admiration of the spectacle evolving in front of my eyes as stormy waters crashed over the Churchill barriers. The view of the old Church of Scotland Manse was one of a kind and had left a lasting impression on my mind. Not only because of its unique and spectacular beauty, but more so for me as German minister. Eleven years ago I had been allowed to care for the people of the East Mainland Church of Scotland, over whom and uncounted others my German nation had brought terrible pain and suffering. I very soon in my call learned a very deep and moving lesson of reconciliation and forgiveness.

Churchill Barriers with Kirk Sound and Italian Chapel

Almost every day as I was working in the study of the Manse, my eyes traced the tracks of the life destroying Nazi fleet as it sailed through Kirk sound into the natural harbor of Scapa flow killing brutally quick in an unexpected attack 883 men out of a crew of 1219. As my own German grandfather had served in the Nazi navy fleet, I over and over couldn’t believe that the very same people, who suffered under my nation had welcomed me and my family in such a heartfelt way into their daily life. They soon changed my life’s path forever as grace and forgiveness took hold of my calling as a woman of faith.

As if to make it sink in, I looked at the view unfolding beneath the Manse over and over again. October 14, 1939 was according to a parishioner one of these rare very calm Orkney nights as captain Günther Prien sailed around Kirk Sound into Scapa Flow  as “HMS Royal Oak” lay there on anchor. This well accomplished battleship had fought successfully at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, but by 1939 had not been as versatile as the modern warships of the Kriegsmarine, which were much smaller and faster battle cruisers. As war broke out, the “Royal Oak” had been stationed in Scapa Flow as part of a large naval fleet and it was presumed that it was perfectly safe from any foreign attack. But the starry and calm October night shattered this illusion as torpedoes fired by the German submarine ripped holes into the well accomplished battleship forcing it to sink very quickly. 883 men, amongst them many boy sailors, lost their lives. As disaster and devastation struck their families and Great Britain as a whole, this crime was celebrated as the first big success in Nazi Germany. Today it is one of the largest war graves, reminding everyone of a brutal and destructive Nazi dictatorship. As the commemoration of this brutal event will be marked for the 80thtime in October 2019, this large war grave may warn all nations about the brutality and destruction mankind can bring over one another.

Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(08)#/media/File:U-47_raid.svg

It has been this exact spot that had filled my life and identity as a German with a unforgettable lesson of reconciliation and forgiveness as I was accepted as a human being beyond my national identity and once even asked to be part of a service commemorating the lost lives. As prayers and readings filled the small Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm, it was a tender experience of grace that flooded my being and made me understand Paul´s words to the Ephesians in a deeper way (4:31-32):

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

A tender ripple shook the small plane as if to wake me out of my thoughts. I blinked as the beautiful Islands of Orkney disappeared completely under a soft, bright blanket of clouds surrounding me of a warm feeling of thankfulness. The privilege of ministering in Orkney had both gifted me with the beautiful gift grace and had put my determination as a minister on the path of bringing reconciliation and forgiveness into our broken world.

The Sound of Broken Glas under my feet

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As my heels touched the sidewalk the sound of broken glas sent a cold shiver down my spine. The words of Ruth Zimbler, who had experienced Kristallnacht  as a ten year old Jew in Vienna, Austria, echoed through my mind: „The sound of broken glas under my feet haunts me every day.“

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Here I stood as a Lutheran pastor in front of our small German Lutheran Church in Chelsea and couldn’t move one bit as the nightmare of the Kristallnacht haunted me in a unexpected way on this bright and sunny Sunday morning. In not even a weeks time it would be 80 years since Germany exploded in an orgy of unbelievable violence. As businesses and synagogues were destroyed. „This night of horror, a retreat in a modern state to the savagery associated with bygone ages, laid bare to the world the barbarism of the Nazi regime. Within Germany, it brought immediate draconian measures to exclude Jews from the economy, accompanied by a restructuring of anti-Jewish policy […]“ (1)

It took the Hitler´s regime over five years until it showed its ugly face of destruction and hate to the world. Up to this point hate crimes had been steadily on the rise. The acceptance of these incidences grew into the normality of a steadily increasing number of Nazi-supporters, who were numbed by Hitler´s words and perspectives of work and bread through a increasingly busy rearming economy.

The political underdog Hitler had at last succeeded. After Hindenburg had brought him into office in January 1933, he had steadily built up a system of expansion based on the suffering of millions. His speech in front of SS leaders in early November 1938 had sparked deep hate and named the blameworthy people: Jews, freemasons, Marxists, and the Churches of the world were the enemies of his system of expansion (and mass destruction). Hitler pointed towards the Jewry as the driving opponents against his plans of „German grandness“.

This speech unleashed the terrors of Kristallnacht over Germany and Austria, and marked the official begin of unprecedented suffering and terror. The SS, the fire services, the police and other instruments of law and order, looked the other way – becoming instruments of terror and murder themselves.

The signs had been there from the beginning as Hitler was instated as Reichskanzler bei Hindenburg. Back then, numerous politicians thought, they´d be able to contain him and influence his political actions through a strong system. On his sixth anniversary of his takeover of power, Hitler publicly announced his evil plans to the public, which were received with great joy. The derided prophet had at last succeeded: „I have very often in my lifetime been a prophet,“ he declared, „and a mostly derided. In the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish people who received only with laughter my prophecies that I would some time take over the leadership of the state and of the entire people in Germany and then, among other things, also bring the Jewish problem to its solution. I believe that this once hollow laughter of Jewry in Germany has meanwhile already stuck in the throat. I want today to be a prophet again: if the international finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will be not the bolshevization of the earth and thereby the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!“ (2)

This political speech soon became a bitter reality as slow beginnings and normalization of hate numbed a whole nation. The „derided“ prophet had at last succeeded in his evil doings.

May we be warned by history about those, who draw their diabolical strength and dehumanizing power as they gather followers for their evil deeds around them. May we be „upstanders“ and not „bystanders“, as Ruth Zimbler had urges us to.

I tried to rub the shattered glas from my heels on the Church entrance, but with every new twist and turn of my foot they had dug themselves deeper into the shoe sole. I halted in my movement. Maybe they would be a fitting reminder for me as a German speaking pastor reminding me of the necessary commitment to stand against any hate crime in action.

(1) Ian Kershaw, Hitler. A Biography, New York 2008, p. 449.

(2) Ibid., p. 469.

The Slippery Slope starts with Words

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The silence was ear deafening. One by one candles were lit by the tender hands of the female Rabbi. As the mourners kaddish filled the room said by numerous Jewish and Interreligious voices the grief formed a strong bond of commitment binding together the gathered people of different walks of life and faith.

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„The slippery slope starts with words.“ David Harris, Chief Executive and CEO of AJC, reminded in a calm and even more so intense voice of how the path leading to the Holocaust began long before the Kristallnacht on Nov 9, 1938. The big auditorium of the German General Consulate was filled to the brink as AJC together with the German Consul General David Gill and Ruth Zimbler, a 90 year old Kristallnacht survivor, commemorated together this despicable and tragic moment in German history.

I shivered in my seat as the events past and present simultaneously went through my mind. Kristallnacht began way before 1938. But in my mind they suddenly appeared isochronal. Wiping away the 80 year divide with one blink of an eye and a simple, but ever so wise statement.

„The slippery slope starts with words.“

Most beginnings are quiet. Almost silent or with few words change will begin to unfold. No one back in the spring of 1912 as Hitler was stranded in a Men´s home in Vienna had ever thought this drop-out and postcard painter would later become the greatest criminal and murderer of over 6 million people. Back then, his audience was small as he voiced his thoughts about race and inferiority of the Jews. Hitler then was still the underestimated outsider. The underdog. A existence he later very successfully used to climb to the highest political ranks as he spread disaster of almost the whole world.

My eyes were fixated to the lit memorial candles as if I tried to hold on to hope despite disaster past and present. But the sentence had a tight grip to my thoughts as I could feel my heartbeat increase even though I was sitting.

„The slippery slope starts with words.“

As my head was spinning my thoughts were pulled to Germany of January 1933. It was in the office of the Reich President that Hindenburg expressed is great satisfaction that the political right had at last united against all the liberal and democratic forces. As Hitler himself swore he would act in the good of the whole nation, Hindenburg gave this political newcomer his blessings. In one voice, as it is stated through different sources, the call of Hitler as new Reichs Chancellor was underpinned with a single sentence: „And now, gentlemen, forward with God.“

As a woman of God, a faith leader and a German this heresy and abuse of faith is deeply hurtful. Even then, many, even Hindenburg, hadn’t suspected that they were already on a slippery slope leading to disaster, murder and destruction.

„The slippery slope starts with words.“

May this sentence remind us of the power of words, which can develop the beautiful and more so the disastrous. „The Anti-Defamation League logged a 57 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017, compared to the previous year — including bomb threats, assaults, vandalism, and anti-Semitic posters and literature found on college campuses.“ (1) Words of hate and anti-Semitism lead to the deadliest attack towards Jews in the US in Pittsburgh as eleven innocent believers were murdered by a white supremacist. We know by now that the perpetrator Robert Bowers was encouraged and fed by anti-Semitic words and thoughts expressed by numerous sources.

The dehumanizing words presently used in politics are leading to a never before experienced rise in hate crimes. Murders like the one of the Pittsburgh Eleven, the two African-American in Kentucky, and „smaller“ despicable acts in numerous shapes and sizes against women, LGBTQ, and other marginalized people are changing the shape and form of a free and accepting US-society.

In Germany it once began with small words and ideas uttered in back yards, at ordinary tables and in small groups. They infected others and spread hate like a deadly cancer in German society.

I sighed as my eyes fixated the candles. Never again. If the world is again on the path of a slippery slope, it will be our responsibility to hold against this trend as courageous as we are able to. As God commands us: „Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.“ (Joshua 1:9)

(1) NY Times

A Daily Life of War and Peace

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The tires of my small car hummed over the asphalt as I drove the well-known highway at 6 am towards the church in Chelsea. As my left hand rested on the stirring wheel, the other hand held a strong cup of coffee. My eyes glanced along the high rise buildings as they flew by. The uncountable number of lit windows announced a new day against a dark sky as I was on my way to prepare a Interfaith Breakfast for Women Religious Leaders in my congregation. I sighed as a warm feeling of peace and joy flooded my tired mind. In a broken world it was a special blessing to draw near to likeminded leaders, who were pursuing a calling for peace and justice at the Big Apple.

After taking another sip of warm coffee I reached towards the radio and switched to CNN. A swell of agitated words flushed through the speakers into my thoughts as the commentator talked about mail posts being delivered to a number of officials and news institutions. They all were linked through a common thread of political hate and had transformed the daily mail into instrument of evil deeds. War had come to the doorsteps of normal life.

As the news reporter talked about a mail bomb being evacuated from Tribeca in a special containment truck on the Westside of New York, the northbound side of Henry Hudson Parkway suddenly was lit by lights and sirens in front of my eyes. A large truck surrounded by police cars sped by me on the other side of the road as the feeling of peace was washed away by this war like scenario. Hot tears of fear and anger filled my eyes as New York life was unexpectedly transformed into a sudden state of war.

I silently wept as I couldn’t bring this daily life at war and peace in New York together. As I felt the hot tears running down my cheeks, the feeling of despair was transformed into a unusual calmness. Consoling words echoed in my mind reminding me of the importance of struggling for peace in a broken world:

„Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.“ (Mat 5:9-11 NRSV)

I gripped the stirring wheel with both hands as daylight lit the morning sky and my car plowed through the increasingly busy morning traffic. As Christians we shouldn’t give up seeking peace. For it would give the evil doers their wished for success. It was Martin Luther King Jr., who emphasized that the long arch of history bends towards justice. May we therefore not be discouraged as the evil knocks at the door of our daily life as we take up our call as peacemakers.

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Prayer for „A Daily life of War and Peace“

Lord of Life,

as evil knocks at the doorstep of our daily life

may you guide our thoughts and actions.

Remind us of the calling as your children, who seek peace.

As evil knocks at the doorstep of our daily life

may you help us to see that the kingdom of heaven can only grow by seeking peace.

Fill us with the reassurance that while we experience setbacks and people utter lies against us

that you are with us in this tribulation.

As evil knocks at the doorstep of our daily life

may you fill us with the confidence that the long arch of history bends toward justice.

Amen.

 

Beating the drums for God´s justice

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I couldn’t set my eyes off the drum. Beautifully matured wood was covered with dark, well used leather that was tightened around the sturdy body by thick tightropes. This instrument was beaten by famous hands for God´s justice as disaster struck Germany, Europe and the whole world. It was no one less than Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A prophet, who was amongst a number other theologians. A brave spokesperson of God´s calling, who opposed the Nazi regime and addressed the collective injustice this dictatorship brought over millions of people.

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While Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent a whole school year in New York in 1930/31, he became friendly with Richard and Frances Ern, who where members of Greenville Community Church in Scarsdale. Many a hours he spent with this special family, receiving love and a home away from his German home. After going on a road trip to Mexico with the families Oldsmobile, he brought to them a small drum.

As Rev. Dr. Edward H. Schreur showed this drum on the sunny Wednesday morning, I was struck with awe and admiration. It was within this congregation and the Ern family, Bonhoeffer was nurtured and filled with incredible love to give him the strength to return to Germany and to join the resistance against the Nazi-tyranny. His words and action made him to the most prominent spokesperson for God´s justice as the darkness of antisemitism and brutality was spread over Germany, Europe threatening the whole world. A great prophet in very dark times.

As he gave his life for God´s calling like numerous others, justice made its way and God´s kingdom grew. Bonhoeffer stood in a long tradition of prophets, from Moses, Deborah, Gideon, Elijah and Elisha and so many more, leading to Jesus as the mighty prophet in deed and word (Luke 24:19). Bonhoeffer was very aware of this calling and beat the drum of words and action for God´s justice up to the ultimate price.

Being called into discipleship, we may have to ask ourselves: Where and how do we beat the drum for God´s justice in our broken world as antisemitism, racism, and injustice are on the rise? It is may continuous prayer that you join us in this act of holy resistance beating the drum for God´s justice as we pray daily „thy kingdom come“.

 

Prayer „Beating the drum for God´s justice“

As we daily beat the drum for justice, dear Lord,

fill us with courage

fill us with strength.

As we daily beat the drum for justice, dear Lord,

give us encounters with You and Your Holy word

give us insights in Your plan for us.

As we daily beat the drum for justice, dear Lord,

help us to counter our fear of the price we pay for obedience to Your call

help us lift our feet when we would rather hide.

As we daily beat the drum for justice, dear Lord,

may thy kingdom come.

Amen.

 

 

The New Colossus revised

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Four years ago we chose the US as our new home and left Germany. Our four kids were uprooted, family and friends left behind as we felt drawn to become part of the US as the largest immigrant nation of this world. What brought us here was not fleeing from a high crime rate in our homelands or to seek riches for ourselves, but the spirit of freedom, opportunity and equality we felt drawn to like many others, who are seeking a new life in this multinational  and -ethnic nation.

But the tide is turning quickly as this nation seems to undergo a massive political shift. While Germany learning from its Nazi history tried to become a welcoming nation during the 2015 refugee crisis, the US is closing its borders with its leader tweeting about rising criminality in Germany. If only one might check the facts! The criminality rate has gone down by 9.6 % and Germany is heavily trying to integrate the welcomed refugees.

What has happened to the Great Nation we sought as our new home only four years ago? The history of Germany teaches us wisely: We once had borders closed. Our leaders circulated fake facts. People were demised and humiliated, spat on because of their skin color and religion. Children ripped out of the hands of their parents, separated and traumatised. The Nazi regime orchestrating this and other uncountable evils lead to the greatest disaster of humanity. It is a very dangerous path to go down.

A lament of rewriting Emma Lazarus famous poem is the only thing that can slip from my lips as I look at the Statue of Liberty on the shores of New York.

„Hold back, ancient lands, your worried masses!“ cries she
With bitter thin lips. „Give me your money, your knowledge,
Your small numbers of rich yearning to act free,

The white upper class of your fruitless shore.
Send these, the powerful, richly abundant to me:
I lift my lamp only for them beside the golden door.“

If Miss Liberty would be able to move… the torch in her hand would fall out of her grip as she witnesses the destruction of the great American vision of freedom, opportunity and equality for all. The only thing she can do is silently weep in the captivity of her congealment.

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When Holocaust denial hits home in German Politics

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Heavy traffic plowed through a busy street at 41st Street and Dyer Ave as I tried to find a clean spot to set my feet upon. The sidewalk was covered over and over with pigeon dirt. As I hurried along to get in time to a pastoral visit after Church, I felt like crying as the impossible dance between disgusting dirt expressed how I was feeling in the eye of a rapidly changing political climate in Germany.

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Over night the news broke of unbelievable words spoken out in public. A Holocaust denial par excellence beyond what I could have ever imagined. In a speech addressed to members of the „Young Alternative“ in Thuringia (East Germany), Alexander Gauland, the party leader of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) and party leader of the party in the German Bundestag, said that Hitler and National Socialism were just a „bird dirt“ in 1,000 years of „successful“ German history. (Link)

How could he ever say such words of pure denial? 6 Million Jews were brutally murdered, and 2 Million Roma, Sinti, as well as disabled people and „enemies“ of the system found a brutal death. As a German pastor devoted to seek reconciliation for the crimes my nation committed, it sickens me to hear of this change of the political climate in Germany. And again, as many years ago, mostly those feeling underprivileged, locked out, and neglected turn to the far right and its terrible lies on humanity.

It cannot be expressed enough: EVERY life counts and every life lost through the Holocaust is one life, which can never be brought back again. Leaving behind a hurtful gap of a person, who was created in the image of God.

Shame, anger and fear accompanied every step forward as I made my way to the visit. No, German and international history is covered by the crimes of Hitler and National Socialism. If Gauland describes this as „bird dirt“, he maybe didn’t have in mind, how aggressive it can eat itself through any material being massively toxic. The crimes of Hitler and National Socialism are such huge piles of toxic waste  –  and I have committed large amounts of my involvement to warn about this life denying and dangerous ideology. Maybe Gauland needs a crash course in Holocaust education? I´d be up to challenge him at the Big Apple and shake him up from his Holocaust denial with strong Jewish and Interfaith partners at my side.

We know, where history leads with the infectious ideology of antisemitism. A nightmare, neglecting to see each person as a beautiful image of God – may we wake up from our daydreams as this nightmare is starting to creeping into our reality in Germany, the United States, and around the Globe.

Though I walk through the valley of death

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Voices rose around me. Grieving people from all walks of life spoke in one voice. Jews, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Roman Catholics joined in the ancient Psalm 23 and filled the dense air of the meeting room with hope beyond grief.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me besides the still waters.

In the midst of preparations for the high holidays of Pesach and Easter, members of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Consuls from numerous countries, clergy, and friends had gathered in Midtown Manhattan to show solidarity with the Jewish Community by sharing the grief about the assassination of Mireille Knoll. The French Holocaust survivor had been brutally murdered on March 23rd in her apartment in Paris and is the newest victim of antisemitism.

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The 85-year old, who suffered Parkinson’s disease, was stabbed to death by two Jihadists. A senseless and brutal end to a life that had been ever so burdensome through the suffering of the Holocaust. Mrs. Mireille Knoll had barely escaped with her life as a ten year old in the Rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver in Paris in July 1942. Thousands of Jewish women, men, and children had been locked into the Vélodrome d’Hiver to be deported to concentration camps in the East. She returned to France after its liberation and married Mr. Knoll, a Auschwitz survivor. The couple was blessed with two sons. But after the nightmares of the Holocaust she had not been granted a peaceful death, but violence and hatred ended a life too quickly.

He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name´s sake.

Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

My heart sank as I spoke the old biblical words, which are my Baptismal verses. Yes, Europe is facing one of the greatest challenges since World War II. Antisemitism, racism, exclusion of those, who are different is on the rise. This senseless and brutal death was its newest expression.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

In their history Jews had to face uncounted enemies. It is like a red thread woven through the countless centuries of the ancient nation. Prosecution, death and murder accompanied their struggle for freedom. In many ways their history and the way they are treated is like a litmus test showing the state of nations and societies. „We have been dealt with like the bird in the cage of a mine. As soon as the bird stopped singing, the miner knew he would need to leave it to safe his life. We are done with being the bird“, David Harris, the AJC Chief Executive Officer, emphasized at the commemoration. What a powerful picture to choose.

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As a Lutheran growing up in the safety of a small, closely knit community in Germany, I never had to suffer abuse or prosecution. I had never been excluded due to skin color, religion, or heritage. I can’t grasp, how terrible it might feel having to endure this generation after generation. Or being forced to grapple with the murder of loved ones. But as a German, bearing the weight of my ancestors and my nations crimes, I am committed to stand up against antisemitism, race, and hate. And many others partaking in the commemoration and beyond are as well, emphasizing the common ground of „Loving neighbor and self“. A glimpse of hope in times of trouble.

It is my constant prayer that these signs of hope will develop into a shield against the evil forces of hatred as more and more pull together as they feel their responsibility for peace. Governments and religions. Representatives and individuals.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

May the memory of Mireille Knoll forever be a blessing.

May Europe wake up through her senseless murder before it is too late.

Bulletproof Backpacks

am von German Pastorin Allgemein1 Kommentar

The sun was shining bright as we waited for the school bus to turn around the small curve to the drive way of our parsonage. Our two younger kids had been playing hide and seek. As they tired out, my younger child took my hand and looked at me. I knew from the way she looked at me and paused her breath, that she was wanting to say something important.

„Mommy?“, a big charming smile was on her lips, „You know, I´m going to go to fifth grade in summer. And I´d love to have a new school bag. Like my older brothers and sisters.“ The smile got bigger and she blinked at me in the most charming way. As I was about to say something, the bus turned around the corner and my youngest child took her sturdy German schoolbag and quickly ran to the bright yellow school bus.

In Germany school kids are gifted a „Schulranzen“, a very stable and high quality schoolbag. This bag is a companion for the first four school years. When entering German Middle School, they will change this bag for a more fashionable, but less sturdy one.

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„What a pity for the lovely blue and pink companion.“ I sighed, but understood. My youngest child would be transitioning to the next step of her life. So here I went, on the search for a new bag. Requirements and needs are different to Germany, with less weight to carry every day and the student not having to take food along for long school days.  As I googled different sites about the needs, feedback on different products and opinions of other parents, I was flabbergasted as I was referred to bulletproof backpacks for school kids.

After living in the US for over three years, I have become accustomed to many things. But firearms, shootings, and the danger of being hurt through guns have alienated this beloved country. As a German, who is aware of the broken history and crimes of our nation, I have never held a real firearm in my hands and do not plan to do so. Reasonings like the second amendment seem difficult for me to understand as there is no real danger having to bear arms supporting the natural rights of self-defense and resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state. For me it seems more like the danger comes from within, when Americans harm Americans. Statistically 96 American citizens die everyday from fire arms.

„Well“, a kind security officer told me, „you will have to adapt to our culture. Fire arms are part of it. Get used to it.“ As I scrolled through the website, my heart sank. What a tough world for kids in America to grow up in, having to live with the fear of being shot. A dangerous and brave new world beyond the one we have left behind. Countries like Great Britain have been able to change their laws as they faced the brutal consequences of school massacres like Dunblane in 1996. But in the US with so many students, teachers and staff loosing their lives, with so many going to the streets in protest, the firearm industry seems unbelievable powerful like Goliath as he bragged in front of his enemies about his strength and invincibility. As a Christian, I can only hope and it is my constant prayer, that this will end in a David-and-Goliath-story, where the weak and small will triumph over the mighty.