Where were the Christians In Germany during WWII?

ewq1938

I love you three.
Christian Forums Staff
Administrator
Supporter
Nov 5, 2011
44,413
6,797
✟915,391.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Republican
Yeah the average German didn't know but there were many who lived near the camps and they definitely knew what was going on but they couldn't have done anything, anymore than the disciples could have opposed Rome.


Agreed. That said, I truly believe the average German equated Hitler to Napoleon, rather than some genocidal maniac. They just didn't know what was going on, so didn't know to try and stop him. Shoot even the allies didn't know until we got boots on the ground inside Germany, and we had the OSS as an intelligence agency along with MI6.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Phronema
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
The allies that liberated the concentration camps were appalled at what they saw there. They went to the nearest city to march the citizens to the camp to show it them. On the way to the camp everyone is happy and laughing like they were going on the picnic. After they saw the camp there were devastated by what they saw. They had no idea what was going on at those camps.

From: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/american-response-to-the-holocaust

The Nazis attempted to keep the Holocaust a secret, but in August 1942, Dr. Gerhart Riegner, the representative of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, learned what was going on from a German source. Riegner asked American diplomats in Switzerland to inform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, one of America’s most prominent Jewish leaders, of the mass murder plan. But the State Department, characteristically insensitive and influenced by anti-Semitism, decided not to inform Wise.

The rabbi nevertheless learned of Riegner’s terrible message from Jewish leaders in Great Britain. He immediately approached Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles, who asked Wise to keep the information confidential until the government had time to verify it. Wise agreed and it was not until November 1942 that Welles authorized the release of Riegner’s message.

Wise held a press conference on the evening of November 24, 1942. The next day’s New York Times reported his news on its tenth page. Throughout the rest of the war, the Times and most other newspapers failed to give prominent and extensive coverage to the Holocaust. During World War I, the American press had published reports of German atrocities that subsequently turned out to be false. As a result, journalists during World War II tended to approach atrocity reports with caution.

Although most Americans, preoccupied with the war itself, remained unaware of the terrible plight of European Jewry, the American Jewish community responded with alarm to Wise’s news. American and British Jewish organizations pressured their governments to take action. As a result, Great Britain and the United States announced that they would hold an emergency conference in Bermuda to develop a plan to rescue the victims of Nazi atrocities.

Ironically, the Bermuda Conference opened in April 1943, the same month the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto were staging their revolt. The American and British delegates at Bermuda proved to be far less heroic than the Jews of Warsaw. Rather than discussing strategies, they worried about what to do with any Jews they successfully rescued. Britain refused to consider admitting more Jews into Palestine, which it administered at the time, and the United States was equally determined not to alter its immigration quotas. The conference produced no practical plan to aid European Jewry, although the press was informed that “significant progress” had been made.

Following the futile Bermuda Conference, American Jewish leaders became increasingly involved in a debate over Zionism. But the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, led by Peter Bergson and a small group of emissaries from the Irgun, a right-wing Palestinian Jewish resistance group, turned to pageants, rallies, and newspaper advertisements to force Roosevelt to create a government agency to devise ways to rescue European Jewry. The Emergency Committee and its supporters in Congress helped publicize the Holocaust and the need for the United States to react.

President Roosevelt also found himself under pressure from another source. Treasury Department officials, working on projects to provide aid to European Jews, discovered that their colleagues in the State Department were actually undermining rescue efforts. They brought their concerns to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., who was Jewish and a long-time supporter of Roosevelt. Under Morgenthau’s direction, Treasury officials prepared a “Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews.” Morgenthau presented the report to Roosevelt and requested that he establish a rescue agency. Finally, on January 22, 1944, the president issued Executive Order 9417, creating the War Refugee Board (WRB). John Pehle of the Treasury Department served as the board’s first executive director.

The establishment of the board did not resolve all the problems blocking American rescue efforts. For example, the War Department repeatedly refused to bomb Nazi concentration camps or the railroads leading to them. But the WRB did successfully develop a number of rescue projects. Estimates indicate that the WRB may have saved as many as 200,000 Jews. One can only speculate how many more might have been saved had the WRB been established in August 1942, when Gerhart Riegner’s message reached the United States.

The American public discovered the full extent of the Holocaust only when the Allied armies liberated the extermination and concentration camps at the end of World War II.
 
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
Or like Christ and his disciples did under Roman oppression.

I'm not aware of Jesus Christ or the Disciples joining the Roman Oppression as The Christians in Germany and Italy did under Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
 
Upvote 0

dqhall

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Jul 21, 2015
7,547
4,171
Florida
Visit site
✟766,603.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Where were the Christians In Germany during WWII?
Thursday, Sep 27th 2018

Chilling confessions of PoWs captured by the British have laid bare the brutality and excesses of ‘ordinary’ German soldiers in the Second World War.

A book of transcripts to be published in Germany next week reveals how the honour of its old army was lost amid the frenzy to be ‘perfect, pitiless Nazis’.

In the interrogation transcripts, the German soldiers speak of the ‘fun’ and ‘pure enjoyment’ of massacring innocent civilians and enemy troops.

If you dare read it all here> The 'perfect, pitiless, Nazi': Soldiers' interviews reveal how German troops driven by 'bloodlust' killed for fun | Daily Mail Online
I have read Stalin killed more people in his Gulag prison camps than Hitler did in his concentration camps. Not much is spoken about these times. Religion was a crime under Stalin's Marxist atheist regime. Many of the people Stalin killed were Christians. They were sent to camps in Siberia to serve one or two seven years sentences of forced labor. Most did not survive seven years due to hunger and exposure to the cold. The USSR remained brutal for decades. To this day a reporter might be executed for criticizing the government.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Doctor.Sphinx
Upvote 0

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Perhaps they should have practiced there Christian Faith
There is a story going around that Corrie Tan Boon has the best Mansions in Heaven. Maybe her dad has some of the best looking clocks there.
 
Upvote 0

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
until we got boots on the ground inside Germany,
My dad was stationed in Germany right after the war. HE was one of the first to go into one of the German concentration camps. 20 years later he went back and he said that he could still smell the burnt flesh. I never did ask my mom if it was just his imagination or not.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Phronema
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
I agree that the Wehrmacht was involved, but there certainly was resistance from the Wehrmacht General Officers. Quite frankly it was to the point that some of them made an attempt on Hilter's life, and were unfortunately unsuccessful. It's also well documented that the Wehrmacht leadership didn't get along very well with Himmler or the SS either.

From the sources I've read the Wehrmacht was involved, but involuntarily so. I can't say with 100% confidence that every single soldier fighting for Germany was either involved in the crimes mentioned, nor that they were a brainwashed member of the party. I think most of the soldiers who fought for Germany were doing it because they loved their country, and not as Nazis. IMO, it was a terrible time, with absolutely heinous atrocities having been committed. War is terrible, and a result of our fallen world, and state. I pray it never happens again, and that we never forget how terrible it was.


The atrocities however were not war they were cold bloodied GENOCIDE! I agree however with your other statements as in Operation Valkyrie. There were good honest honorable Germans who resisted Adolf Hitler to a point. I am not trying to criticize anyone's dead relatives or the German people as a whole as that would neither be fair or accurate. I only reported on one of the latest findings coming out in 2018 on what really went on during WWII in a research report.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Phronema
Upvote 0

Phronema

Orthodox Christian
Angels Team
Supporter
Dec 2, 2016
1,387
1,532
41
Florida Panhandle
✟738,917.00
Country
United States
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Single
My dad was stationed in Germany right after the war. HE was one of the first to go into one of the German concentration camps. 20 years later he went back and he said that he could still smell the burnt flesh. I never did ask my mom if it was just his imagination or not.

I'm sure that would be something a person wouldn't forget. How terrible that he had to experience that. Lord have mercy...
 
Upvote 0

ewq1938

I love you three.
Christian Forums Staff
Administrator
Supporter
Nov 5, 2011
44,413
6,797
✟915,391.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Republican
I'm not aware of Jesus Christ or the Disciples joining the Roman Oppression as The Christians in Germany and Italy did under Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Only because the Roman's did not want them to but if Rome did, them they would have had to. The key thing here is there is no Christian requirement or commandment to fight oppressive and evil governments.
 
Upvote 0

lismore

Maranatha
Oct 28, 2004
20,671
4,354
Scotland
✟242,456.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Where were the Christians In Germany during WWII?

Only a percentage of church goers are 'Christians', or 'born again'. As the Lord commanded us to enter through the narrow gate, only a few would find the path to life. God Bless :)
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I'm sure that would be something a person wouldn't forget. How terrible that he had to experience that. Lord have mercy...
My dad was a doctor. He set a lot of broken arms and sowed up a lot of cuts. The funny thing is he walked away from that with the opinion that people have to be a functional member of society. He saw that as their solution for what to do with dysfunctional people that do not contribute in a productive way.
 
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
There is a story going around that Corrie Tan Boon has the best Mansions in Heaven. Maybe her dad has some of the best looking clocks there.

She was an AWSOME lady!!! I'm looking forward to seeing her again in the not to distant future. I saw her at Christ for the Nations.
 
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
Only because the Roman's did not want them to but if Rome did, them they would have had to. The key thing here is there is no Christian requirement or commandment to fight oppressive and evil governments.

If that is your mindset all I can say is I will pray for you and I mean that not being nasty or sarcastic.
 
Upvote 0

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
Any group of Christians trying to oppose the Nazi's would have been slaughtered. The allied forces had a hard enough time defeating the Nazi's.


I will gladly give up my life on earth to save my soul and an eternity in Heaven. I have been in that position on more than one occasion and if G_d had not saved me I would be there now! Thank you Jesus and Holy Spirit! I am ready anytime you are G_d!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lismore
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
She was an AWSOME lady!!!
I read a lot of her books. I remember when her sister died she went to look and see. She said her sister looked beautiful. All the stress and worry was gone and she was radiant. I saw that in some of the old news film clips where there were people that were beautiful like a fine porcelain doll and they died in peace. Then there were people that died in terror trying scratch and claw and hold onto their life.

She talked about a little vitamin bottle she had. She would give people a drop of vitamin every day but the bottle never ran out. It was as if she had an endless supply in that bottle. It seems like that here sometimes. Like the shampoo or the toothpaste does not run out. Like it goes on forever.
 
Upvote 0

joshua 1 9

Well-Known Member
Supporter
May 11, 2015
17,420
3,592
Northern Ohio
✟314,577.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Only because the Roman's did not want them to but if Rome did, them they would have had to. The key thing here is there is no Christian requirement or commandment to fight oppressive and evil governments.
There is no reward in the next life but they receive their reward here in this life. It is the government they serve not God. Although God gives authority to the government.
 
Upvote 0

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
Only because the Roman's did not want them to but if Rome did, them they would have had to. The key thing here is there is no Christian requirement or commandment to fight oppressive and evil governments.


That would have been interesting seeing the Roman Empire trying to make G_d in the flesh do anything He did not want to do! Those of us who can are to protect the weak!
 
Upvote 0

DamianWarS

Follower of Isa Al Masih
Supporter
May 15, 2008
9,486
3,322
✟858,457.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Where were the Christians In Germany during WWII?
Thursday, Sep 27th 2018

Chilling confessions of PoWs captured by the British have laid bare the brutality and excesses of ‘ordinary’ German soldiers in the Second World War.

A book of transcripts to be published in Germany next week reveals how the honour of its old army was lost amid the frenzy to be ‘perfect, pitiless Nazis’.

In the interrogation transcripts, the German soldiers speak of the ‘fun’ and ‘pure enjoyment’ of massacring innocent civilians and enemy troops.

If you dare read it all here> The 'perfect, pitiless, Nazi': Soldiers' interviews reveal how German troops driven by 'bloodlust' killed for fun | Daily Mail Online
It was a dark time and the stories of the wicked tend to get more attention, but there of course were notable people that would not let it triumph such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: The Gryphon
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

The Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2018
541
222
Canyon Country
✟23,870.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
My father died of three types of Cancer and all the nurses on the Cancer ward commented how Peaceful my father looked. They even noticed he had smile on his face which they had not seen him have all the time he was there due to all the pain he was in. I like to think it was like just before my mother died and a carrying Nun came into her room and asked her if she had seen any Angels. My mother smiled and said why yes he is standing right over there as she pointed to the corner of the room. My mother died a short time later. As I have said elsewhere here I was once escorted to Deaths Door before I was turned around back to my ICU room. I had no fear Praise Yeshua, The Holy Spirit, and G_d for all they have done for me. They truly took a wretch and gave me greatest LOVE I have ever known!!!!! There is no way to repay what I have been given, allowed to see and experience!
 

Attachments

  • 15492222_1820106214874730_36045437034252977_n.jpg
    15492222_1820106214874730_36045437034252977_n.jpg
    8.5 KB · Views: 2
  • Like
Reactions: FireDragon76
Upvote 0