Earlier this summer as I was traveling to and from the different summer camps I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the former concentration camp known as Auschwitz. There are many reasons that I have always wanted to visit this place. Historically I feel that the period from 1939 to 1945 is one of the most momentous in all of human history. This time period changed the world in ways which had rarely been seen in previous generations, both for the good and the bad. The events which unfolded during WWII created a stage on which the total range and capacity of human drama was on full display. The highest heights of compassion and courage emerged in countless people around the world as they stood as a shield against some of the deepest depths of evil ever seen in all of human history. Still today there are powerful and moving discussions taking place all around the world regarding the vast implications about the nature of human beings based on the events of this period in history. Many of the discussions focus on who we are at our core asking questions such as: Are we essentially good ,moral beings who sometimes lose our way and produce hurtful, destructive behavior? Or are we basically selfish, immoral beings who have the capacity for occasional compassion. And do we have the power to choose on which of these paths we will walk in our lives or are we bound by something supernatural which is beyond our control?

When we first approached the camp there was a sense of eager anticipation for me, I guess because I have always been fascinated by the history of this time period. I knew this was no ordinary tourist attraction which explains why my enthusiasm was subdued. However it didn't take long for me, only about 10 minutes, to experience something much more powerful than mere fascination. When we walked through the front gate I found myself unable to move forward. I could only stand in silence and slowly allow my immediate surroundings to soak into my consciousness. As my eyesight began to behold the buildings and fences around me there was some kind of powerful wave welling up inside me. Before I recognized it there were tears in my eyes and on my face. I was caught off guard by this wave of emotion and stood there unable to clearly explain to myself why the tears had come. My attempt to make some sense of my emotional reaction was in vain. This was something beyond ordinary words and beyond simple thoughts. I cannot remember another time or situation in my life when I felt this way and the fact that I couldn't understand it didn't bother me as it might have in a more normal situation.. The emotion flowed freely as I eventually began walking ahead slowly.

The words displayed there in the iron gate over-head say: Work Shall Make You Free. Many of the people who did not die in the gas chambers here were worked to death. Thus, I couldn't help but wonder what was the intention and purpose of these words. What is real freedom? Certainly it doesn't include being tortured with hard labor until you expire. Is freedom simply living somewhere which is devoid of oppression and brutality? Or maybe we can define freedom as having the type of financial stability which allows us to buy the things we need (and want). Maybe there are multi layers to the notion of freedom, the tangible and the intangible. Some might say freedom is having access to higher education or a good paying job. However many people who have all these freedoms, as well as many more, still feel as if they are trapped or somehow entangled in a way which makes true freedom elusive. Could it be that the ingredients for the recipe of true freedom are found in a supernatural encounter beyond our human understanding or ability to create? Is it possible for people to experience genuine freedom even within the confines of an earthly hell like Auschwitz?

After only a few more steps inside the front gate we encountered this sign. It would be the first of many of the shocking realities found in this place. One of the first thoughts which came to my mind as I surveyed the well built buildings and the common sense design and layout of the camp was 'all of this creative planning, hard work and organizational fortitude was all done with one purpose in mind-to murder people.' Its staggering to the point of being unfathomable. During our time there the weather was very pleasant and there was a calm tranquility in the air. Despite these tangible external realities there was a constant heaviness in my soul as we walked around, a sense that we were walking on unholy ground. And yet after reading some of the accounts of the people who were imprisoned here there can be no mistaking that a sense of the sacred could be found here as well. Throughout the course of my life there is a constant process going on inside my head, or better said a drivenness, to try to make sense of the world around me. As a human being I think its programmed into me to want to ask “why?” However, each time I tried to wrap my mind around the reality of the events which unfolded here 70 years ago I received a 'failure to compute' message from my brain.

This building, outside the fences, was used for German officers quarters and administrative offices.

As you can see there were many other people here the day we visited (hundreds). When I see this picture I am reminded of how loud the silence was among these people as they experienced the powerful presence of this place. There was no laughter, no cell phone conversations, only an occasional hushed comment between family members or friends. At times it felt as if I was attending the wake of a dear loved one. The words that come to mind to describe the feelings of the visitors here are somber, reverent and shocked.

We began entering into the buildings, many of which have been turned into a museum like environment where pictures, documents, clothing, furnishings and a host of other items are on display. The first of these items which captured my attention were the documents circulated among the German officers who were in charge of this nightmare. The documents spoke of the transfer of the prisoners from various cities in Europe to the camp, the requisitioning of all that they would need to operate such a camp and the decisions that they made with regard to the ultimate fate of the people they kidnapped. Again, as with the design and construction of the camp, I was struck with the audacious and casual business-as-usual mentality of the people who wrote these documents. It was as if they were corresponding about the transfer and liquidation of cattle rather than human beings. How is it possible for human beings to come to the point in their thinking where it is a just and noble purpose to decide that other human beings are inferior and thus deserving of extreme prejudice and extinction? Were the people who made these decisions different than you and I? Did they have something in their DNA which we do not have or were they missing something which most of us possess, like a genetic element which creates the possibility for compassion?

What's even more interesting as part of this discussion is that the extreme prejudice and bigotry displayed by the people involved in this genocide did not come into full bloom without a long and slow percolation of hatred. There were many small decisions that were made over a long period of time which lead them to this idea that Jews, Poles and others were subhuman. In the beginning ,decades before this camp, the beliefs about these people being less than human were not so prominent, nor the feelings of blood hatred, only the unspoken notion that there were differences between them as people, an unbalanced value. However, nurtured by simple and common belief's such as 'I am a good person' and 'I have value and importance above these others', they eventually found they were able to convince themselves that it was acceptable and appropriate to slaughter these 'less important' people. While I cannot imagine myself believing that it is right and acceptable to treat other people in such a heinous fashion, its no problem for me to identify with the mentality that I am a good person, even to the point of somehow being better than others (more caring or more acceptable...). Does that mean that myself, and others like me, have the capability to perpetrate similar types of atrocities? Could it be that this seemingly innocuous mentality of being good is actually a dark internal seed which when fully blossomed can produce a variety of terrible consequences?

One of the most emotional parts of our walk through the camp was here in this building where the personal effects of prisoners is on display. Clothing, shoes, suitcases, hygienic tools (brushes, combs...), glasses, even hair and prosthetic limbs can be seen here. There are no words that can be spoken as you look at these objects. Even though the room was full of people the only sounds that could be heard was the whimpering of people's sobs and others using their handkerchiefs. I dont exactly know why but there was something even more profoundly moving about seeing people's names on the suitcases. Before arriving here, most of them had already endured horrendous abuse by their captors as they were ripped from their homes and put into ghettos or into trains bound for one of these camps. Many families had already been separated, seeing each other for the last time. They were forced to put all their most valuable possessions into one suitcase. They tried their best to clearly mark their suitcases believing that they would get their things back when they arrived to their ultimate destination.

This display was about the size of a small bedroom and this is only a fraction of the shoes which were left behind.

These are the cannisters containing the gas which was used to kill millions.

If you click on this photo you can see the registration photos of some of the people who were forced to work and die here. Some of the actual clothing worn by these people is there in the foreground.

Appalling! This is the cesspool people were forced to use as a bathroom.

These are the barn like structures where people were forced to sleep. The prison architects designed these to occupy 4, and sometimes 5, people in each space. There was no insulation on the ceiling of these structures. One can only imagine how cold it was for the prisoners during the winter months.

This is a small court yard right next to the main administration building. It was primarily used for the execution of prisoners who had tried to escape or were refusing to work (usually after a 10 minute “trial”). When Allied forces were driving the German army back and getting closer to the camp, the people operating the camp began to systematically destroy the buildings and other evidence which was proof of their crimes. These sections of concrete like material were pieces of a larger wall which was used to shoot people in front of a firing squad. The wall was broken into many pieces before the Germans escaped the on-coming Russian soldiers, but these pieces were saved and replaced in their original position.

The barbed wire fence surrounding the camp was juiced with high voltage electricity. Something the designers of the camp probably hadn't imagined when they originally made up the design is that prisoners would use the fence as a means to end their suffering. Some of the people who lost all hope during their time here threw themselves against the fence committing suicide.

As I said earlier, my time here at the camp was an emotional experience. In addition to the sadness and the incredulity was a silent anger. The questions kept rolling through my mind: how could they perpetrate such a heinous act, what were they thinking, how can people be so ignorant, cruel? However these moments of anger were abruptly interrupted for me on more than one occasion by some of the reading material displayed on the walls. Each time I was forced to ask myself a very difficult question; am I really so different from these people? In amongst the thousands of stories about the people who were brought here to die, there were a few accounts about how some of the German soldiers, many of whom were considered monsters, evolved from children in normal, loving families to killing without a conscience. What happened with these soldiers? What horrific force lead them to this 'heart of darkness'?

In this photo we have a large group of German young people attending a rally to honor Adolf Hitler. The quote from Hitler was cut off in my photo so I will put the quote here. Hitler said to the young crowd: “I freed Germany from the stupid and degrading fallacies of conscience, morality...We will train young people before whom the whole world will tremble. I want young people capable of violence, imperious, relentless, cruel.” I thought about this quote for a long time. Is it really enough to just breed a violent, amoral mentality in people to convince them that slaughtering 6 million people is the right thing to do? I cant imagine it would be true. I have to think that somewhere along the way, maybe as you see your first real person being tortured and killed, that your early childhood training about treating other people with civility and decency would be activated on some level. There must be something else at work here, something beyond the influence of a family, a leader, a movement or a society.

Looking at the explanation of God's word we see that indeed each one of us is irrevocably broken, morally bankrupt. Oh yes, we have the occasional capacity for kindness, goodness and a counterfeit type of love. However any close and honest evaluation of the human condition must accept the fact that we all possess the same disease, in the bible its referred to as sin. What would have happened had we been born and raised in Germany at that time? Would we have recognized the situation as morally wrong and protested? Granted, many common citizens were not aware of the “Master Plan” and the “Final Solution” regarding the Jews. Some were forced to choose: comply or die. On the other hand, however, people heard Hitler making these speeches on many occasions and witnessed the brutal treatment and extradition of Jews in their cities. When I consider these questions I have to be honest with myself and say I can imagine myself either silently going along with the events unfolding in Germany at that time, if not participating in them willingly. Why? Because I know that my heart is capable of horrific things, indeed the same type of things demonstrated in Germany in this time period. Its a stark and difficult realization, that we could go from a simple belief that we are somehow more valuable or acceptable than some other human being, to developing a course of action by which a violent expansion of this belief could be perpetrated at the expense of these 'less important' people. The biblical anecdote for this disease is first a personal recognition of our broken condition. Secondly, the realization that there is nothing we can do to change that reality with our own will or intellect. And third, to throw ourselves at the mercy of Jesus and His ability to save us from ourselves. Lastly, to thank God almighty we have not been rejected by Him.

Finally we come to the end of the tour and more gruesomely what would be the end of millions of lives-the gas chamber. Imagine it, you're only minutes from arriving by train to a camp which has a reputation for unconscionable brutality and relentless death. The train ride itself has been horrendous as you were smashed into a rail car, designed for cows, with dozens of other people. Finally the train stops and the doors open. For a brief moment you feel relieved because you get a breath of fresh air and the chance to move your limbs. However the feeling of relief is fleeting as you see the soldiers with machine guns as they begin barking out orders to the people. If you are an elderly person, a child or someone with a disability you are immediately separated from your family and brought to this building for what the guards claim is a chance to have a warm shower. The ashes billowing out of the smoke stack, along with the stories you have heard about this place conspire to bring to your mind the reality of the situation.

Being here, seeing this room where so many perished, was almost overwhelming. Its difficult to imagine what we would be thinking and feeling walking into this room in 1944. “How did I get here, what have I done to deserve this fate”? Maybe our minds would be racing with pictures, images and memories of all the people, places and experiences of years gone by. Or maybe all the experiences you will never have, the people you will never see again. What is it like to have every ounce of hope crushed out of ones soul? “Is this the end of the story for me?”

“What was the purpose of my life, does it have any meaning?” “And is this really the end, or can I hope for something more?” What if “something more” is the reality? What if there is a Master Plan and a Final Solution to the pain, sorrow and death of this planet? What if Jesus is who He says He is? And what if His death and resurrection can accomplish what He claimed it could? What if birth is the end and death is the beginning? What if...


May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)