Last night I heard a Holocaust survivor speak at our church. Max Steinmetz is now 86 years old and told his story for forty-five minutes. When the Nazis came to his town he, along with his brother and his mother and father were placed in a crowded cattle car for a three-day journey. Before they left the Nazis emptied the hospitals and crammed even the very sick into those railroad cars. He told us that thirty-per cent of those in most of the cars died during that journey. They had no idea where they were going.
After three days the doors were opened and they found themselves in a place called Auswitz. As they stood in long lines the soldiers came by and pointed to the left and right. His mother and father were sent to the right—he and his brother were taken to the left. He said this was the last time that he saw his parents. Days later he learned they had perished in the gas ovens and their bodies incarcerated.
He and his brother worked in hard labor with only a little food every day. He told of the electric fence that surrounded the place. Prisoners would throw themselves on the fence knowing they would be electrocuted. The next day, he said, the bodies would be removed and another group would take their place. There were four gallows near the entrance and daily people were hanged as a warning to all the others.
He and his brother were transferred to Buchenwald which was another terrible place. And from there they went to another prison camp where his brother died. He told of foraging through garbage cans trying to find something to eat. He told of unbelievable brutalities. Little children placed in boiling or freezing water as a scientific experiment to see how long they could take it. Babies were thrown into the air and shot like birds. He told us about horror after horror.
He escaped on a march, was taken in by a German family who fed him and gave him a bath. He said he could not remember the last time he had bathed. The father in the family was a German soldier but not a member of the S.S. One day while he was there Americans soldiers came to that farmhouse and took him to a hospital. He made his way finally to America and eventually found himself in Birmingham, Alabama where he met his wife and raised his family.
He told us of speaking all over and being besieged by Holocaust deniers who swore that his testimony was exaggerated and untrue. At the end of his talk, someone asked him how he felt about the political climate in our country today. He said this was a dangerous time for America. He said we might not think it could happen here—they never thought it could happen to the six million Jews and Gypsies and homosexuals and the old and infirm. But he said the hate talk today is dangerous. This is how it started in our country, he told us.
Today was another Tea Party celebration around the country. Did you see the signs showing President Obama and Hitler side by side. Pictures of the President portrayed as a monkey. Placards saying that Obama was not born in the United States and is a secret Muslim.
There is crazy talk in the land. Michele Bachman (R-Minn) proclaiming that the President is building political reeducation camps for our children. Glenn Beck and others fan the flames with talk of conspiracy theories and how our President is anti-white racist.
Many think our President is the Anti-Christ. One group called on citizens to stand up against health care by targeting those Democrats that voted this bill into law. They were encouraged to smash windows; one gas line was cut at what was thought to be a congressman’s house. Family members of Senators and Congressmen have received death threats. Death threats on our President have escalated at a frightening pace.
Fearful people do strange things. Race, fear of immigrants, financial woes—these are some of the fears of some of our people. A changing country terrifies many. I asked Mr. Steinmetz, the Holocaust survivor what should we do. “Be vigilant,” he said. “Speak up. Raise your voice.” And then he read that powerful quote by Martin Niemoller, German Luther Pastor who stood up to the Nazi regime:
“They came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
On this week when we remember Holocaust Remembrance Day—it is a time to ponder and pray and work. And-- God bless America.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, located in Montgomery, Alabama keeps its hand on the pulse of our time. You might be interested in what they say on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing.
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