Remembrance: Challenge for the church

During the week of April 11, people of all ages, nationalities, races and creeds throughout America will observe Yom Ha ShoahHolocaust Remembrance.

This annual observance offers Christians an opportunity not only to mourn the unfathomable loss of dignity and human life but also to reflect on the Holocaust-which is certainly a Jewish tragedy-as a Christian tragedy.

To call the Holocaust a Jewish tragedy requires little explanation, as Jews were the primary target of Nazi persecution and millions were executed. But to call the Holocaust a Christian tragedy requires honesty and openness.

The Christian church bears an indefensible share of guilt for the Holocaust because many of those who sought refuge and hope in Adolf Hitler were practicing Christians.

While the church didn't create the Nazi "Final Solution" (genocide of all Jews), neither did it strive to end the reign of terror that ran contrary to the faith it should have been proclaiming.

Christian anti-Judaism has deep roots, stemming back to early church leaders, even Martin Luther, whose writings include anti-Semitic statements. By his and others' examples, the Christian church over time gained a perverted, racial view of Jews as well as a distorted theological view of Judaism.

And during Hitler's rise, many Christian theologians and historians were little help to lay people or pastors in avoiding such perversion of the truth. Instead, many scholars attempted to blend Christian and Nazi values and visions.

But some individuals, such as Lutheran pastor/theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, emerged from the chaos of those years to speak with clarity and conviction. Bonhoeffer saw clearly Hitler's anti-Semitic vision, finally sacrificing his life for his words and witness.

As a Christian tragedy, the Holocaust challenges the church to confront and repent of its complicity in this chapter of history. A Holocaust survivor wrote, "The world still is not free of the disease that led to Auschwitz and Treblinka."

We, as post-Holocaust Christians, must say, "The church still is not free either." al

Matthews, pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church, Afton, Minn., is vice president of the International Bonhoeffer Society-English Language Section, and serves on the ELCA Consultative Panel for Lutheran-Jewish Relations.

Copyright Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Apr 1999
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