There will be accountability for the countless young lives of these precious children who were cut off before their time. In the Sovereign LORD is hope, justice, and redemption. Notice the young boy is carrying a flashlight in his right hand and the older boy at the left in uniform stands with his little brother (also in uniform) and holding his little sister with the red shoes. The look and stance of the little toddler at the right is haunting.
The Scripture that keeps coming to me regarding these children who were literally taken from the cattle cars at Auschwitz and murdered within minutes is this: “All they who devour you shall be devoured; all your adversaries, everyone one of them shall go into captivity; they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh, because they called you an Outcast, saying, ‘This is Zion, whom no man seeks after or cares about’….I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents and have mercy….and out of them shall proceed thanksgiving….and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few…their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me…and you shall be my people and I will be your God.” (Jeremiah 30:17f)
In the Spring and Summer of 1944 alone, 450,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in Auschwitz. Of that group, 75% were women and children and upon arriving were sent to their death immediately. From the time they got off the cattle cars until they were stuffed into the gas chambers was usually no more than one to two hours. This mother appeared to me to be saying, “These, my beautiful children, are being brought as lambs to the slaughter!” (Isa.53) Scripture point to a future judgment for these evils: “Woe to whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble – it would be better if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.”(Matt.18.6)
These two moms and six children wear the yellow stars they were forced to wear back in the ghetto. All are huddled together, after being ordered into the “not fit for work” line. From man’s point of view, they were despised and rejected. They had no worth. They had not a shred of anything valuable to bargain with for their lives. They had nothing to bring to the table. Just so, man always looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart. From God’s stand point “they were and are beloved for the sake of the father’s” (Romans 11:28). Do not think Yahweh Jireh did not see nor does not remember. “The ONE who formed the eye, does He not see?”(Psalm94:9) (Isa.53) God will have the last word on all this evil!
Imagine surviving the horrors of any war and accidentally finding a small album of photos from your home town. Then add to that miracle that the book turned out to be the only known document of the Nazi horrors of WWII. But there is more. The first page you see shows your own Rabbi, others show members of your family, and a historical document of what was later called a “myth.” To this day, enemies of the Jewish people and really enemies of truth and justice, say there was no Holocaust, no destruction of the Jewish people. Yet Lilli Jacobs was just the one who had the evidence to show the entire process from cattle car to the cruel treatment of any slight disability or handicap–from the showers all the way to crematorium.
The baby girl’s warm shoes are stolen. The young, disabled brother is standing rather straight and tall in spite of his wooden cane and the cup his mother had tied to his coat. Was the mother taken because she was crippled, “fit to work,” unattractive or perhaps attractive and chose for the house of prostitution. In the Great Day of the Lord all will be revealed.
Mother holds the hand of her toddler while her young daughter leans into her other side. They are already cut off from those with whom they started out the trip – her husband, the girls’ father, parents, brothers, sisters, and other family members. The baby has no idea what is going on and innocently asks, “Efo Abba?”(Where is Father?). The little one looks into the dark belly of the train and wonders if he is still in there. Mother’s face tells all – not only is he is not in the train – he’s probably dead. She also asks, “Efo Abba?” But she means, “Where is our heavenly Father? Efo Avenu shbaShemaim? Where is God?” Millions before and after her have asked that same question. God only knows.
Appelplatz is a German word meaning place (platz) of roll call (appel). Incoming prisoners were made to stand for hours morning and night, regardless of the weather, while thousands on the roll were counted. It was a time of humiliation and beating. Many died in the rigors of the roll call. On the appelplatz, surrounded by electric barbed wire, Jews gathered for Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Thousands repeated “Baruch Ata Adonai, Melech HaOlam…”
Elie Wiesel wrote, “I listened as the officiating inmate’s voice rose; it was powerful yet broken, amid the weeping, the sobbing, the sighing of the entire ‘congregation.’” The distinguished, faithful Elder of Zion never made it to such a service; he was among those who endured the long train ride in cattle cars, but immediately was herded off after being selected for the category “not fit for work.” It is hard to believe, but this handsome gentleman was photographed to document what the Nazis call the “negative characteristics of the Jews.” Within approximately an hour , he would be disrobed, either gassed or shot and then burned. He still has his prayer book and tallit (prayer shawl) in his hand.
Because I could not see the hand on the photograph very well, my husband, Jim Hutchens, posed with his hand–a very moving experience for us both.
Here is a mother with her four boys. Three are standing with her. One is in the womb. They are pausing in the line until prodded to continue shuffling slowly toward the gas chambers. None of these boys are 18, the age where many boys were kept alive for the horrible work force for the Nazi system. That included Jews herding Jews and sorting their possessions. That included Jews digging ditches where more Jews were brought, made to undress and stand naked at the top edge of the pits, watch others being shot and wait for the one that would kill them and their children. After enough were shot and fell into huge piles in a mass grave, it was set on fire .
Genesis teaches God created all that exists – the heavens, earth and all that has life. Mankind was special, different from the rest of creation, because mankind (men and women) were created in GOD’S IMAGE. “Has not ONE God created us?” (Mal. 2:10) It is not only against God and God’s Image, but against nature to plot to kill a whole body of people. That is what Hitler did. This is what some call for in our time against the Jewish people. Today many are more concerned about a species of animals, birds or fish than they are about Israel and Jews, God’s Covenant people. This is in fact, “contrary to nature.” In this painting, even the trees know that and weep.
Once these women arrived, to Aushwitz everything they had brought with them was taken away and thrown into huge piles. Men were separated from the women and children. Women were then divided into ‘fit to work’ and ‘unfit to work’ lines. Their hair was crudely chopped off. They were sent in groups to shower rooms. They were deloused by having lime poured over their whole body. They were given sack dresses and scarves. These three women were standing among a large group waiting for the next orders. The first one is obviously pregnant and traumatized. The second appears to be praying. The third clutches the top of her blouse as if to recover some degree of dignity while she stares around in unbelief. Measure of artwork is 9” x 9”. Copyright 2010 by Pat Mercer Hutchens.
Biblical faith reveals generational lines all the way back to Abraham, our father in the faith. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac began Jacob, etc. That lineage includes the promised Messiah, still to come for most Jews, coming again for most Christians. Genealogists trace heritages with ease today. The exciting discovery of DNA eventually will make it possible to draw a straight line of one’s heritage back to Abraham. The prophet Malachi speaks of a day before “the great day of the LORD” when the “hearts of the fathers will be turned to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” (Mal.4:6) These women, known by name to our Heavenly Father, will be firmly planted in that line.
It is impossible to estimate the numbers killed in WWII by the Nazis. Commandant Rudolph Hoess at his trial said 2 ½ Million Jews were killed at Auschwitz and half a million died “naturally.” This number has been estimated differently, but the number of Jews who died in the entire war has been estimated at 6,000,000 and the number of Poles, mostly Catholic Christians 3,000,000. The estimate for the entire war is over 56,000,000. Gypies, dissidents, religious and civil leaders who did not support Hitler were also killed. The crimes against Jews were unique – they were the only people in WWII marked for complete genocide, for “ethnic cleansing.” The Nazi goal was to erase their name from history. (Click here to see view original photo)
According to figures supplied in 1943 by the Central Construction office, four crematoria could incinerate 4,416 bodies within 24 hours; 1,440 bodies in crematoria II and II each and 768 bodies in crematoria IV and V each, while plans were made to build more crematoria!
“Only Jews from transports from various European countries were subject to immediate extermination in the gas chambers.” After being unloaded on one of the ramps, being seperated by male and female, being pronounced, “not fit for work,” almost all Jews were immediately taken to be gassed and burned. There 438,000 Hungarian Jews (these two mothers and children were part of that ethnic cleansing) were slaughtered. Prisoners of war, anyone who disagreed with Hitler’s schemes, millions of Polish Christians, and prisoners of many nationalities died in Auschwitz, but Jews were almost always the first in line. Think on that while seeing these beautiful, innocent children.
Many times I heard my mother say,”Always remember when you speak to a child – you never know who you are talking to.” She would go on to say something like “You may be speaking to a child who will find the cure for cancer, or a child who will grow up and save your life – or your child’s life. You may be looking at a great pastor or teacher or leader of people.” When I saw this child I immediately thought of her words. I also remembered the old doctor in Cider House Rules who, just before bedtime and lights out, lovingly called out to the young orphans, “Good night you princes of Maine, you Kings of New England.” This little one represents the countless babies and children whose lives and destiny were snuffed out before their time. Below is an adaptation of part of the prayer that a Cantor chants in memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust:
God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high, grant proper rest under the wings of the Divine Presence in the lofty levels of the holy and pure ones, who shine like the glory of the firmament – for the soul of our little brother, this innocent child of the Jewish people, who fell at the hands of murderers, whose blood was spilled in Auschwitz, who, with his mother, brother and sister, was slain, slaughtered and burned. May they repose in their resting place With God as their inheritance.(Click here to view original photo)
