All Comments for: Redeeming the Memory of the Holocaust | Christianity Today

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2008 > February (Web-only)

Christianity Today, February (Web-only), 2008 |

THEOLOGY IN THE NEWS

Redeeming the Memory of the Holocaust

French president's plan shows promise but carries a potential problem.

Collin Hansen | posted 2/22/2008 09:15AM

In less than a year as the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has consistently grabbed sensational headlines. Twice divorced, Sarkozy married a popular singer and former model in December 2007. More ...

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Rate and Comment on this article

Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 comments.

Page: 1

Show All

Millie

Posted: February 27, 2008 8:44 AM

There are museums because more Jews were targeted and died. In many cases, Jewish people built the museums. I also feel that Jewish people in Israel are not being fair to Palestine, but nonetheless this does not take away from the fact that my Christian Jewish grandmother and aunt died in Auschwitz for no other reason than that they ethnically Jewish which was enough for Hitler's atrocities. My grandfather was killed. My dad was in a forced labor camp, and survived but lost his mom, dad and sister at 20 years of age. His family was protestant supporters of Jan Hus, the martyr who died trying to do the same thing that Martin Luther did. My cousin, who is Catholic, looks sadly at her dad's name on the memorial wall, and says, "He was a better Catholic than I am." Yes, many Christians (Orthodox, Catholic & Protestant) also died because they refused to go along with Hitler. People considered "defective" like physically handicapped and mentally ill, as well as homosexuals were killed.

David Nix

Posted: February 25, 2008 4:07 PM

It would be wise of us to also remember that others groups suffered horribly at the hands of the Nazi Party. The first were the disabled, both mentally and physically, to be gassed. While I cannot agree with their politics, the German communists certainly did not deserve to be sent to the Concentration Camps, and they were the first to be sent to them. No one did. Also, the almost universally hated Sinti & Roma (Gypsy) people were practically wiped out by the Nazi. None of that detracts from the horror of the millions of Jews that died, but these others too should not be forgotten, and frequently are. The Jews are significant to us, as Christians, from a religious and historical point of view. Unfortunately, there are many other peoples in the world today that suffer current genocide in progress. God loves all the people of the world and wants them to find salvation in Christ and peace in this life, as much as possible. Yes, let us remember and pray and take action when we can.

Irving Hexham

Posted: February 25, 2008 12:58 PM

While Collin Hansen has written an interesting article about French reactions to the Holocaust and Nazi occupation the Editors of "Christianity Today" ought to hang their heads in shame for allowing the following statement to be published. Hansen writes "During World War II, France's powerful army suffered a strangely quick defeat to the Nazis." Anyone who knows anything about World War II knows that the French Army, as Gerhard L. Weinberg points out in his "A World At Arms," Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 127-128, was outmaneuvered and smashed. Some units broke but many fought with great bravery only to be routed by the vastly superior German armored divisions. To imply that somehow the French simply gave up because they harbored anti-Semitic sentiments is an insult to the dead someone who thinks war is a video game. It is this type of a-historical thinking that gives rise to Holocaust Denial by setting up men of straw that can easily be shown to be false.

Lorie

Posted: February 25, 2008 12:56 PM

Black, white, Jew, disabled, pick someone different from yourself and there will be jealousy and controversy. Hate crimes if not exposed are then condoned. By not remembering or pointing out the sin of one's nation, or the sins of a people, then are we not apt to repeat it? I have to believe that God is all wise and has a greater purpose in all the suffering. To neglect telling the story of suffering is to neglect to tell the story of God. There is plenty of suffering in the Bible, and we can see how God's grace and redemption covers multitudes of sin. Sin is such an unpopular word, some would rather use the word issues, politics, or ignore that any iniquity and sin have ever existed. Humbling our selves and admitting that we play a role, have played a role, and need God's discernment, love, and forgiveness cannot be a bad thing. Leaders who are not ashamed to admit their country has sin and need the almighty hand of God to intervene may be described as Biblical in a good way??

bob	Posted: February 25, 2008 12:11 PM

First, the Bible says that "it is not good to live in the past". Second, the Jews ceased to be "God's Chosen People" when they repeatedly broke their covenant with Him. and then ignored God's declaring that Jesus was the new covenant and his followers were the new "Chosen People". This strangely focused hatred of Jews came about not because of their history in the death of Christ but because of two factors. They chose to break their covenant with God and at the same time went about boasting how they were supposed to be His chosen people. They were an easy target for the Nazis because they were different in the same way they were and are today an easy target because they have chosen to invade Palestine claiming a divine right to take whatever they want by whatever means they want. And the Christian Americans and Canadians support this by suppling billions of dollars a years in weapons to Israel to further the bloodshed. Jesus said to love your enemies and pray for them.

Cobus

Posted: February 24, 2008 1:59 PM


Amen! Knowlegde and an understanding of history serves as 'n safeguard against mistakes to be repeated again. But, as Colin Hansen so efficiently puts it, it is the forgiveness as symbolised by the Cross, which serves as the best safeguard against History becoming a weapon for revenge. JJP Prinsloo South Africa

John G.

Posted: February 22, 2008 7:06 PM

No one suffered as much as the Jews did. Certainly the Orthodox have not. Moreover, the Jews are God's Chosen People. They have been the victims of hatred down through the millennia, and still are, in an unreasoning way that can only be described as satanic. Satan hates the Jewish race because God chose them to be the ones to record His Word and to bear the Messiah. And days of greater suffering are coming, "the Day of Jacob's Trouble." But we have the promise of Romans 11:26 that "all Israel shall be saved."

EEF	Posted: February 22, 2008 2:05 PM


"Do this in remberance of me." Focus on the past, just may improve the future.

History Guide

Posted: February 22, 2008 1:18 PM


Strangely quick defeat? You make it sound as if the French we secretly waiting to welcome the Germans. They simply were not prepared for the new mode of fighting that the Germans employed which enabled them to circle around the vast Frech Maginot line by going through Belgium, a neutral country.

The G

Posted: February 22, 2008 12:35 PM


What about the 50 million orthodox Christians murdered in the 20th Century? Where are the museums, the movies, the memorials, the university courses? Something is rotting in Denmark. Where are the War crimes trials held because of the atrocities committed against Christians? Someone answer me.

Page: 1

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment