Auschwitz

January 27, 1945 the death camp 30 miles west of Krakow, Poland, named Auschwitz was liberated by the Russian army.  They found about 7,600 prisoners sick or dying, 3,800 suitcases, 88 pounds of eyeglasses, seven tons of human hair, and mounds of dead bodies.  Over the main entrance were the infamous words, “Work makes you free.”

Auschwitz was opened in the spring of 1940 as a detention camp but in September of 1941 it was turned into an extermination camp.  Some 1.3 million Jews were sent there and some 1.1 million died.  It and a couple of sister camps were the most notorious for their gas chambers and ovens.  Also, it was marked brutality and extremely harsh conditions for those not immediately gassed.

At Auschwitz, SS physicians carried out barbarous experiments on prisoners.  The best-known of these physicians was SS Captain Dr. JosefMengele called the “Angel of Death”.  There were 180 children found on January 27, 1945 in good condition and kept that way for experiments – they were used instead of mice.

As the Russian army approached many buildings were destroyed or burned along with records.  A couple of weeks before the Russians arrived, the Nazis removed about 60,000 prisoners so that the Russians couldn’t interview them.  They were marched some 30 miles to board trains for Germany – many died on the march or in transport as they were subjected to cold with no food or water.

Such a horrible thing perpetrated on humans by humans!  Over the past months I have watched a number of videos about Auschwitz all leaving me both sick and angry.  In 1965 there were trials of some of those who ran the camp – less than 10% of the workers.   They all insisted they were only following orders and thus did nothing wrong.  Only a few of those tried by the court spent time in prison and just a few of them got life sentences.  They didn’t see what they were doing as sin.

How true that is for so many people today:

People lie – not a sin.

People gossip – not a sin.

People live together – not a sin.

People steal and cheat – not a sin.

People use God’s name in vain – not a sin.

People hold anger toward others – not a sin.

Matthew 5:21-22, You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.  And whoever says to his brother,  ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council.  But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 

God condemns a settled anger developed from some past event (angry with his brother) or an anger explosion (Raca – temper) or a permanent hatred toward a group or race like Jews (you fool).  God deals and ultimately sends to hell fire.  The word here is Gehenna – the dump south of Jerusalem that burned continually with unclaimed bodies.

Anger toward Jews, those handicapped, homosexuals, gypsies, or other is not acceptable to God and is subject to His wrath.  May we not be on the wrong side of God as were the Nazis!