As we prepared to visit Auschwitz, we experienced a range of reactions. For some of us, it would be a deeply emotional experience; others wondered if we would feel anything at all.
The night before our visit to the camps, we heard a talk by Dr. Michael Rydelnik, who is a Professor of Jewish Studies at Moody Bible Institute and a son of Holocaust survivors. He began with the historical progression of the increasingly severe legislation against Jews in Germany, and showed how the "Final Solution" evolved into harassment, violence, and finally enslavement and extermination. Dr. Rydelnik described the perpetrators of the Holocaust, as well as the bystanders, telling how ships full of Jews fleeing the Nazis were turned away by other nations. Finally, he discussed some of the historical causes and effects of those horrific years - not only were six million lives lost (representing one-third of the world's Jewish population), but also Jewish people had become psychologically scarred and spiritually weakened, asking the inevitable question: where was God?
After Dr. Rydelnik's lecture, we reflected, prayed, and shared with each other. It turned into a spontaneous worship night as we sang "Kadosh Atah" (You are Holy), "Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good," and John 3:16 in Hebrew and English.
We spent the next day at the death camps. Auschwitz I has a museum with belongings of those who were killed: eyeglasses, shoes, prayer shawls, toothbrushes, suitcases, children's clothing. Maps showed the transport of Jews from all over Europe to the camp - some spending over a week locked in a train car with no food, no water, and no air. We saw canisters of Zyklon B, the gas used in the chambers for the mass exterminations, as well as 2,000 kilograms of human hair, which the Nazis had been recycling into fabric. We walked through the barracks with their inhuman living conditions, and even entered one of the gas chambers. While standing by the ruins of the crematoria, we said Kaddish (the Mourner's Prayer) and blew the shofar. There we stood, over 100 young believers from six countries, testifying to God's fulfillment of His promise to preserve His people.
One participant wrote,
"The single moment of the conference that I'll remember forever is when the shofar was blown in Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had been to Auschwitz before, but this time was special because I was with other Jewish believers in Messiah. Blowing the shofar at that site was a confirmation of God's faithfulness to His people, and it was so meaningful to be there as Jewish and Gentile followers of Yeshua."
Although there is pain, there is also hope. Am Yisrael Chai - the people of Israel live! The Body of Messiah also lives, and will never be destroyed. We serve a King who rose from the dead and will one day return to put an end to evil and death - forever.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).
