Tuesday was a different day. Tuesday was a sombre day, for it was the day we chose to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.
Much has been documented and recorded of those horror times of several decades ago yet, however prepared we may think we are, when visiting one of the locations where such gruesome, inhumane treatment was so ruthlessly administered to innocent and undeserving victims, the truth of what occurred registers with a deep, new reality,
Perhaps the first impression to impact me was the vastness of the place. Then, when touring the exhibits, we learned of the thousands who had passed through there.
It appears that no one was exempt. Those who suffered here included loyal Germans who were interned in the early years simply because they posed opposition to the ruthless Nazi dictatorship. In time men, women and children of many nationalities and different faiths entered this place - many not to leave. I was particularly mindful of our Jewish brothers and sisters. The memory of their suffering was especially strong as I stood in the gas chambers. How can humanity treat fellow humanity in such a way? And yet, atrocities continue in today's world!
And so to my Scripture, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." I simply couldn't imagine the incarcerated having any feelings of love for the monsters who lorded it over them. Then, the verse tells us to pray for them. To pray to whom?
What, I wonder, would the inmates thoughts be toward a God, especially one who espouses love, grace, and mercy? This thinking came through strongly as we visited the various faith memorials that now sit on the outer perimeter of the death camp.
Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel (1960)
Carmelite Convent (1964)
Jewish Memorial (1967)
Protestant Church of Reconciliation (1967)
Russian Orthodox Chapel ((1995)
These reminders of God's presence are clearly in evidence in Dachau today, but what of those horrific years when brutality seemed to reign supreme? I know that faith existed then. Through the writings of Dietricht Boenhoeffer and Victor Frankl together with the testimonies of others, I can believe that people held to their faith even in the darkest, dimmest times. In one way, there were thousands of "Job" experiences but without the happy ending. That is, without a happy ending on this earth. May each one who suffered have passed victoriously into the glory of heaven!
And was God present in Dachau? I believe so. He promises never to leave us. He accompanies us everywhere. Yet how hard it might be for Him. The phrase that follows my quoted verse is: that you may be sons of your Father in heaven (Matt. 5.45a). We are joined to Christ in our sufferings. When our Lord and Saviour was nailed to the cross in ignominious death it was the cruellest act imaginable in those days. The treatment at Dachau and similar establishments paralleled, in a way, the crucifixion. And the barbaric acts that are perpetuated today in various places surely echo the same theme. Jesus overcame. Let us cling to Him in faith for our own overcoming.
Lord, Mighty God and Loving Father,
I thank You for the Dachau experience, as chilling as it was. I pray that all who suffered there now live in glory with You. I pray similarly for all who now suffer and are yet to suffer.
And, though I do not fully comprehend, I pray for those who persecute. I pray for them and release them to You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
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