Those People At Their Windows
By summerbreeze ~
Lately I've noticed that there has been a lot of news on the web, and particularly on CNN, about Nazis and the evil destruction that they brought to the world.
Aside from helping my kids with school papers / reports, etc about the Nazis ( years ago ), I've tried not to think too much about that dark subject. But because of all this attention about that time in history, my mind has gone back to some powerful feelings that I had while living in Germany.
My husband was an Army Major and we lived in Schweinfurt, in the center of Germany.
We did a lot of traveling during our stay there, thanks to Uncle Sam and his shipping our old Oldsmobile over there, ( not because we were wealthy jet-setters ! ).
It sounds gruesome, but we visited several concentration camps.
I remember the day that we visited Dachau as if it were yesterday. As we stood at the front gate on a clear sunny day, I looked over at the town of Dachau, which was extremely close to the camp. In fact it was so close, I remember seeing a figure of someone standing at a third floor window. At the time, I was neither a believer nor a non-believer, but I remember thinking "those people HAD to know what the hell was going on here !"...I remember how a wave of horror and repulsion instantly came over me, looking at those many windows facing the camp, just a stone's throw away.
In the war years the majority of Germans were religious, God fearing people, and even after Hitler slowly tried to eliminate the church's influence on the population, it's a fact that people clung to their faith especially later on when it was clear that they were losing the war.
Aside from the common German people ( who perhaps pretended to be Nazis ) the majority of Nazis themselves were religious, including the higher-ups in the regime.
In a nut shell, how could a people who loved their Christian God so much, be so cruel and do so much harm on this earth.
On the drive home, after visiting the depressing camp, my husband and I discussed the proximity of the camp to the town. His take on it all, was that the town's people were scared to death to do anything to help the Jews because then their own families would be put in jeopardy.
I agreed, but I still found it disturbing.
Since that time, I became 'born again'...loved Jesus....started to think...started to investigate...dropped Jeebus like a hot potato....became a proud 'free - thinker'.
Looking back from this perspective, I now see how strong the christian mind does not question 'God's word', and the stories in the bible, no matter how perverse.
In the bible ( small 'b' ) it's the old "In - Groups" vs "Out Groups". God teaches to kill those that think different and ARE different. Thousands upon thousands are slaughtered just because they belong to the wrong tribe., ( men, women and children ).
Superiority is the name of the game in the bible, it breeds hatred of people who are not of the same cloth, and gives a green flag to eliminate those who are deemed unworthy.
Certainly the Nazis thought they were very superior, not only to the Jews, but to the majority of other countries in Europe that they destroyed in order to expand their blonde, blue-eyed Empire.
How much of this entitled attitude came from reading the bible ?
As for those people who could see from their windows, I agree that they WERE terrified for their loved ones, and I also think that for a lot of them their bible told them that there are groups of people that need to be eliminated...and it's O.K. with God.
Aside from helping my kids with school papers / reports, etc about the Nazis ( years ago ), I've tried not to think too much about that dark subject. But because of all this attention about that time in history, my mind has gone back to some powerful feelings that I had while living in Germany.
My husband was an Army Major and we lived in Schweinfurt, in the center of Germany.
We did a lot of traveling during our stay there, thanks to Uncle Sam and his shipping our old Oldsmobile over there, ( not because we were wealthy jet-setters ! ).
It sounds gruesome, but we visited several concentration camps.
I remember the day that we visited Dachau as if it were yesterday. As we stood at the front gate on a clear sunny day, I looked over at the town of Dachau, which was extremely close to the camp. In fact it was so close, I remember seeing a figure of someone standing at a third floor window. At the time, I was neither a believer nor a non-believer, but I remember thinking "those people HAD to know what the hell was going on here !"...I remember how a wave of horror and repulsion instantly came over me, looking at those many windows facing the camp, just a stone's throw away.
In the war years the majority of Germans were religious, God fearing people, and even after Hitler slowly tried to eliminate the church's influence on the population, it's a fact that people clung to their faith especially later on when it was clear that they were losing the war.
Aside from the common German people ( who perhaps pretended to be Nazis ) the majority of Nazis themselves were religious, including the higher-ups in the regime.
In a nut shell, how could a people who loved their Christian God so much, be so cruel and do so much harm on this earth.
On the drive home, after visiting the depressing camp, my husband and I discussed the proximity of the camp to the town. His take on it all, was that the town's people were scared to death to do anything to help the Jews because then their own families would be put in jeopardy.
I agreed, but I still found it disturbing.
Since that time, I became 'born again'...loved Jesus....started to think...started to investigate...dropped Jeebus like a hot potato....became a proud 'free - thinker'.
Looking back from this perspective, I now see how strong the christian mind does not question 'God's word', and the stories in the bible, no matter how perverse.
In the bible ( small 'b' ) it's the old "In - Groups" vs "Out Groups". God teaches to kill those that think different and ARE different. Thousands upon thousands are slaughtered just because they belong to the wrong tribe., ( men, women and children ).
Superiority is the name of the game in the bible, it breeds hatred of people who are not of the same cloth, and gives a green flag to eliminate those who are deemed unworthy.
Certainly the Nazis thought they were very superior, not only to the Jews, but to the majority of other countries in Europe that they destroyed in order to expand their blonde, blue-eyed Empire.
How much of this entitled attitude came from reading the bible ?
As for those people who could see from their windows, I agree that they WERE terrified for their loved ones, and I also think that for a lot of them their bible told them that there are groups of people that need to be eliminated...and it's O.K. with God.