The Grey Book: A collection of protests against anti-semitism and the persecution of Jews issued by non-Roman Catholic churches and church leaders during Hitlers ruleSnoek, Johan M.
Religion
The Grey Book: A collection of protests against anti-semitism and the persecution of Jews issued by non-Roman Catholic churches and church leaders during Hitlers rule
Snoek, Johan M.
Antisemitism; Christianity and other religions -- Judaism; Judaism -- Relations -- Christianity; Protestant churches -- Europe
On the other hand, public opinion possibly tends to underestimate the
official activities of Churches against anti-Semitism, because they are
not generally known. The attitude of the Churches with regard to the
persecution of Jews under Hitler's reign of terror was far from uniform.
The picture is neither completely black, nor purely white. White and black
are mingled. Thus the name chosen for this publication is "The Grey Book".
The darkness of the holocaust was so great that one can hardly comprehend
it. It is understandable that there are people who tend to ignore the lights
that were so small, far too small. But "the greater the darkness, the
brighter the light, be it no more than that of a small candle." [618]
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In cases where Church leaders or individual Christians did risk their lives,
they should remember the words of their Lord: "Is the master grateful to
the servant for carrying out his orders? So with you: when you have carried
out your orders, you should say, 'We are servants and deserve no credit;
we have only done our duty'."(Luke 17, 9-10).
On March 23, 1943, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared in the House of
Lords: "We stand at the bar of history, of humanity and of God".
It is appropriate to conclude this book with the words of Ecclesiastes
(12, 13-14): "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,
and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God
shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil."
<290>
APPENDIX I
DECLARATIONS AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM ISSUED
AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Much has been spoken against anti-Semitism by non-Roman Catholic Churches
and Church leaders, after the Second World War. We only mention the most
important declarations and statements.
On April 8, 1948, the NATIONAL BRETHREN COUNCIL (Reichsbruderrat) of
the Evangelical Church in Germany, meeting at Darmstadt, issued the
following "Message Concerning the Jewish Question".
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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