August 26


GERMANY:

Pope recalls Holocaust as 'darkest period' in Germany


In a visit to a synagogue in his native Germany, Pope Benedict XVI
recalled with sorrow the Nazi persecution of the Jews as "the darkest
period of German and European history."

The pope warned of new signs of anti-Semitism today and said the Catholic
Church has a duty to remember the Holocaust and to teach its lessons to
younger generations who did not witness the "terrible events" that took
place before and during World War II.

Toward the end of his Aug. 19 speech, he said Christians and Jews have to
respect each other and added, off-the-cuff, "and love each other."

The pope spoke to some 500 Jewish representatives in Cologne, in a
synagogue destroyed during the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom and rebuilt in
1959. The Jewish community in Cologne is the oldest in Europe north of the
Alps and was decimated during World War II.

The 78-year-old pope was warmly welcomed as he entered the complex,
pausing to pray silently before a memorial to Holocaust victims. After the
singing of Psalm 23 -- "The Lord is my shepherd" -- an elder blew a long
blast on the ram's horn, or shofar, a Jewish ritual announcing an
important event.

At the end of the service, the sung blessing of "Sim Shalom" implored God
to grant peace and goodness: "Bless us, our Father, all of us as one, with
the light of your face."

The hourlong visit marked only the second time a modern pope has entered a
Jewish place of worship. Pope John Paul II made a historic visit to Rome's
synagogue in 1986.

In Cologne, Pope Benedict began his talk with the Hebrew words, "Shalom
lechen!" ("Peace to you!"). He emphasized that he wanted to follow his
predecessor's lead and "continue on the path toward improved relations and
friendship with the Jewish people."

As a young man, Pope Benedict was forced to join the Hitler Youth program,
and he served in the German army during the war before deserting his unit.
In his talk, he did not mention his personal experiences, but described
how the Nazi rise to power scarred his homeland and devastated Jewish
communities.

"In the 20th century, in the darkest period of German and European
history, an insane racist ideology, born of neopaganism, gave rise to the
attempt, planned and systematically carried out by the regime, to
exterminate European Jewry," he said.

The pope said the victims of this "unspeakable and previously unimaginable
crime" numbered several thousand in Cologne alone.

"The holiness of God was no longer recognized, and consequently contempt
was shown for the sacredness of human life," he said.

Pope Benedict noted that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the
liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, "in which millions of Jews --
men, women and children -- were put to death in the gas chambers and
ovens."

Like Pope John Paul, the pontiff said, he wanted to bow his head before
those who died and remind the world that those tragic events must "never
cease to rouse consciences."

The pope was careful to distinguish between the Nazi attempt at
annihilation of the Jews and Christian-Jewish relations, which have had
their own "complex and painful" history, he said.

Forty years ago, he said, the Second Vatican Council opened up new
prospects of dialogue with Jews, recognizing the common roots and
spiritual heritage shared by members of both faiths. Again quoting Pope
John Paul, he said that "whoever meets Jesus Christ meets Judaism."

The pope underlined the church's commitment to transmit its teachings
against religious discrimination to younger generations, in formal
catechesis and in every aspect of church life.

"It is a particularly important task since today, sadly, we are witnessing
the rise of new signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of general
hostility to foreigners," he said.

(source: The Tidings)

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Nazi-era items stolen from Hitler mountain retreat


Thieves broke into a documentation center at Adolf Hitler's one-time
retreat in the German Alps near the town of Berchtesgaden early Friday,
stealing a weapon along with Nazi-era badges and photos, police said.

Officers found a broken window at the Obersalzberg center when they
arrived at the scene, alerted by the center's burglar alarm.

Display windows inside the building had also been smashed and exhibits
stolen.

Police in the nearby town of Traunstein declined to give details of the
stolen weapon.

"We think this was a professional gang," spokesman Fritz Braun said. "A
political background is not evident."
The intruders had fled by the time police arrived.

Hitler's haunt above the town of Berchtesgaden served as a part-time seat
of government where he and other Nazi leaders often met to plan Germany's
assault on Europe and the Holocaust.

Allied bombers destroyed most of the Obersalzberg buildings in 1945.

The US military used the area as a resort after World War II, before
handing it back to Germany in 1996.

The documentation center opened in 1999 to detail the area's Nazi past.

(source: Associated Press)




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German and Austrian Adventist churches apologise to Nazi victims


Leaders of Seventh-day Adventist churches in Germany and Austria have 60
years after the end of the Second World War drafted a declaration saying
they "deeply regret" participation in or support of Nazi activities.

"The declaration originally published shortly before 8 May has now been
translated into English and sent to the Adventist churches in the United
States," Holger Teubert, spokesperson of the south German church, told
Ecumenical News International.

The Adventist churches in the US sent copies of the declaration to Yad
Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in
Israel.

Teubert said the declaration apologises to German Jews and to members of
the Adventist churches of Jewish origin who were excluded from the
congregations during the 12-year Nazi Regime from 1933 to 1945. It notes
that six million Jews were exterminated during that period and millions of
others were also persecuted.

The statement indicates that today's Adventist church "honestly confesses
that by our failure we became guilty towards the Jewish people, towards
all persons persecuted and all who suffered during the war and also
towards Adventists in other countries. For this we humbly ask God and the
survivors concerned to forgive us".

Teubert said: "We realise we have no right to condemn our ancestors." But
the declaration marks the end of a long process of German Adventists
examining what happened during the Nazi regime era.

"We honestly confess that in those days of distress we as Seventh-day
Adventists did not act more courageously and consequently, in spite of our
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the Prophetic Word, thus failed to
follow our Lord. We did not follow enough the ones among our ranks who
boldly offered resistance and did not bow to the Nazi dictatorship nor
cooperate with it," the declaration said. There had been earlier attempts
at making such statements, mainly by individual church members and the
earliest confession was made in 1988 on the 50th anniversary of the 9
November "Kristallnacht" or the "night of broken glass", a vicious pogrom
(massacre) against Jews on that night in 1938 throughout Germany and
Austria.

(source: Ecumenical News International)


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Candidate Stands by Nazi-Era Slogan -- "Work, Family, Fatherland": Not
just for extremists?


A German politician has refused to drop a controversial election slogan
associated with the Nazis and used by one of Germany's current
right-extremist parties.

Henry Nitzsche, a parliamentarian for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
has said he will stick by his campaign motto, "Work, Family and
Fatherland," despite its association with the Nazi party.

Nitzsche, who comes from the eastern state of Saxony, told Der Spiegel
magazine's online version that he planned to continue using the motto
because it sums up his candidacy.

Dropping the tagline "could give the signal that democrats can't use these
phrases," Nitzsche told the magazine. "We can't leave the topics of work,
family and fatherland to the extremists."

Collaborators' motto

The slogan "Work, Family, Fatherland" was used by the Vichy regime in
France, which collaborated with the Nazis in 1940. It was then taken up by
the far-right NPD (National Democratic Party) in the fall of 2004.

Nitzsche denied that he had "any knowledge whatsoever of the previous use
of the slogan."

Roland Koch, the CDU premier of the central state of Hesse, sided with
Nitzsche.

"For our party, patriotism is self evident," Koch told the Rheinische Post
newspaper.

Typically German?

Koch said the debate over use of the motto is a typically German one.

"In no other country would the use of these three words set off a debate
over whether it should be allowed," he said.

Nitzsche's use of the slogan drew heavy fire from various critics,
including the leader of Germany's Jewish community, Paul Spiegel, Social
Democrat and Green politicians, and even members of his own CDU party.

(source: Deutsche Welle)