Terezin

Friday May 25.  Today we spent most the day at the Terezin Concentration Camp.  Terezin was a late 18th century fortified city constructed in the shape of a star.  It's purpose was to keep the Prussians out of Prague.  In 1941 the Nazis removed the cities 7000 inhabitants and brought in 60,000 Jews.  Then the walls of this fortress were used not to keep invaders out, but prisoners in.  This camp was used as a propaganda tool via an unwittingly deceived Red Cross who had come to investigate Nazi camp conditions.  What they found was a completely staged 'independent settlement' where the residents were nearly scripted to give the false impression that this camp and others, like Auschwitz, were suitable and even prosperous places.  One wonders if anything on this scale of deception could happen again given the connectedness of our world.  Between Wiki Leaks and Arab Springs, information is transmitted nearly without constraint via twitter and other social media.  In moments the world is aware.

Patti has been to Dachau and Auchwithz and thought that this would be a more gentle introduction for the kids to this very dark period in our recent history.

The first part of our tour took us to some of the artwork produced by the prisoners here.  This image in particular caught me.  A wife being torn from her husband and shiped almost certainly to her extermination.  Just as families were torn apart and lives were torn from the Earth.  From Terezin tens of thousands of Jews and other enemies of the Reich were shipped to extermination camps.  Only a few of every 1000 of those deported survived to see the end of the war.

This 'shave room' was staged for the Red Cross visit.  While never seen by the inspectors, it was nonetheless prepared to look good.  The faucets were never plumbed.

There were a number of executions in this camp and on their way they would pass this swimming pool, that was built by the Jewish inmates for the commander, and into the portal on the left.  West stood in rooms that were 20 x 20 where 100 people would be kept standing for months and would only leave when their souls departed their bodies.  In the best of conditions that 20 x 20 would be 30 x 50 for the same number of people.

Man is a contrast.  At the same time the most noble and the most cruel of all Gods creatures. 

We were in Salzburg just days ago, home to Mozart, who composed some of the most enduring music known to man.  Also from Austria, hails Hitler, who engineered the mass murder of millions.

Ideas have consequences. 

While some may claim that it was Christian ideology that led to the Holocaust, it is clear that Christ never lived or taught in such a way.  His way is to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  Hitler was influenced by Darwin's theory of biological macro evolution.  Arian's were the master race, the highest evolution of the human species.

As well, their morality defined Jews as 'life unworthy of life', not as fellow humans made in the image of God.

If there is no transcendent moral law given by God for us to live by, then we make up our own rules.

Majority opinion makes right, or personal preference make right, or might makes right.

Take your pick and then change it when it becomes inconvenient.

If morals are relative, then the Holocaust cannot be condemned.

This was the defense given at Nuremberg.  

For the last 40 years our own government has enabled the mass extermination of 50 million 'lives unworthy of life'.

When will it end?

You will find pictures linked in Terezin above to the right.