The Holocaust

During the summer of 2007, Les and I traveled to Washington, D.C. for a short vacation. While there, we visited the Holocaust Museum. I could never adequately describe this 4 story building and all that is preserved there, but it struck a deep chord within me. The things we read and saw there moved me deeply, often bringing tears. We spent an entire day going through the exhibits and we were both completely drained when we left. Realizing the suffering that went on, the evil that was done, the deception that people fell for completely - it was very thought-provoking.

Since that visit, I read anything I see about the Holocaust. There was an interesting article in yesterday's LA Times about Holocaust survivors. There aren't many of them left and few have been willing to speak publicly, not wanting to relive the horrors they endured. There are a few that speak at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. One of the speakers is Eva Brown (pictured above), currently in her 80's and fighting leukemia.

On speaking at the museum, she said:

Talking, she says, is a lot like forgiveness: Hard to do, but harder not to.

On facing additional chemotherapy:

Brown figures faith will get her through these next hard weeks. After all, it worked during the Holocaust.

Or as she told one woman in late August, who heard her story at the museum and asked how a survivor can continue to believe in God: "That's all that's left. Everything was taken away from me. The only thing left is God."

This poem, posted near the exit of the Holocaust Museum, made me really think:

First they came for the communists, but I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Written by Martin Niemoller in 1946

I did a little research and found that Martin Niemoller was a pastor in Germany that did not originally speak out against the Nazis, but by 1934 began speaking out. He ended up in Dachau in 1937, was there through the end of the war, and survived.

I am not one to be confrontational, but I hope with God's help that I will speak out for truth and righteousness.