Posted on 04/15/2012 5:37:34 PM PDT by PRePublic
- 10:03:00 PM
Days of Remembrance event is Sunday
Holocaust survivors Herman Schloss, Irene Danon and Abe Greenberg gathered in Prescott on Monday.
PRESCOTT - Irene Danon, 82, said she survived the Holocaust in the former Yugoslavia by hiding from the Nazis during World War II.
And while the Nazis killed several of her family members in concentration camps, Danon said she has learned to forgive the Germans and other nationalities responsible for the genocide of 6 million Jews.
"I hope to show the world the Holocaust really happened, and in order to move on and heal myself, I have learned to forgive," Danon said. "Forgiveness is the key for survival and healing."
(Excerpt) Read more at dcourier.com ...
They took in and hid many Jews during the Holocaust...& helped by her brother, his 20 yr old son and other members of the family
..they were discovered...
Father ten Boom (a respected watch maker) died in prison......
..Betsie ten Boom died in the concentration camp she shared with her sister....
...Corrie's nephew died in a different concentration camp.....the dad contracted tuberculosis of the spine and died shortly after the war....
..Corrie barely survived....
..but after the war, took in displaced Jewish Holocaust survivers...
...and continued to spread the Word of repentance and forgiveness.
She made this her life work and died at age 94.
She was counted as one of the Righteous.
There is no pit so deep, that God is not deeper still....Corrie ten Boom
She was about 52 when arrested and eventually sent to Ravensbruck....
..and 91 when she died.
Since all your statements, save the last, are simply conclusions, I have nothing to answer. Rather than name-calling, try explaining your severe judgments.
As far as “confusion” goes, I suppose Burke was also confused when (it is supposed) he said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” The forgiveness in this story is worse than doing nothing. Still confused?
As far as a Divine basis goes, I’m surprised that your Grace couldn’t think of the fate of the Egyptians as a ready example, but perhaps the Passover story did not occur to you. My only pretension is to believe in the Book of Exodus.
I am somewhat familiar with her story. But having last read her biography in High School, I thank you for recounting it. It is a great comfort to know that such people exist. Without question a very righteous lady.
I respectfully disagree. Although the one granting forgiveness may be the primary beneficiary, it does not take away from the fact that the evil done has received a sort of dispensation. Think of the idea of others pursuing the forgiven. Is it not very common that we hear in criminal court cases that the accused (or convicted) cite the forgiveness from their victims as mitigating circumstances?
..with forgiveness.
I believe we are called to defend ourselves...
...the ten Booms did all they could to defend themselves against the enemy, the Nazis...
...they were part of the underground smuggling Jewish children, adults out of the country...
..as well as hiding them in their own homes.
They fought back against the system.
But their Christian upbringing stood ground in the end...
..it wasn't easy....Corrie especially struggled with her anger....but her kindly, soft hearted sister challenged her to remember her Lord and Savior.
He too was beaten, spat upon, disgraced, humiliated...put to death.
..and on the Cross....Forgave.
She did forgive......She didn't...and couldn't do it in her own power...
..but God have her the power to forgive.
Thank-you
I’m Jewish and I’m not confused at all. Respectfully, I don’t believe in the ideas you are putting forth based on Christianity.
I realize you don’t....
Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand
....it may give you a different perspective.....
..it's a best seller, and the narrative is excellent!
Bless you!
She has had no ability to retaliate, seek vengeance or to mete out justice; her tormentors are dead and gone from this world. To continue to allow that past horror to haunt her, to poison her heart and thoughts, well, it can eat you alive.
So, to heal herself she's learned to forgive. Does that mean she's saying it was all OK? No, it doesn't. She wants the world to know that this was a very real thing, in order to guard against it ever happening again.
I get the sense that there is some equivalence for you between forgiveness and pacifism or weakness. That is just not the case. It takes a very strong person to do what she's done, it's not easy at all.
But, she is right, there is peace to be found personally, in forgiveness. I applaud her for having the fortitude to have done it.
Thank you. A well written post IMO...
I’m not married, and never have been. But I think the example is fitting. Do you not?
Your grandmother sounds like she was a lovely lady. I’d have liked to know her.
The Germans who did the terrible things that they did, do we know that if we were in the exact same situation as they, with the same indoctrination, we would be different? In a normal world they would likely have been normal, probably fairly decent people. That is not to say that what they did isn't as horrible as horrible can be. It is to say "there but by the grace of God go I". The human heart is capable of great wickedness, given the opportunity, because of our fallen nature.
Because God, who is perfect, is willing to forgive us (by His own Son's death whose shed blood paid for our sins), we can forgive others, no matter how terrible their sins against us are. There were those who had been in the camps, who lost love ones and had been the victims of immense cruelty, who forgave those who had harmed them, even to their faces. There are those who were forgiven who repented in tears and who lives were changed. It is possible and good to forgive, even the most unforgivable, with the help of God's Spirit, and by His grace, which is unmerited favor, knowing that He, who is absolute perfection, is willing to forgive us.
Thank you. Extremely well written. You have summed up the discussion and the ideas those of us who are less eloquent were trying to say. Perfectly expressing the power of forgiveness AND IT’S ABSOLUTE NECESSITY for the well being of the human soul.
Germany, a Christian nation, committed the most horrific acts of genocide against my people, the Jews of Europe. They murdered many members of my family. For every Ten-Boom, there were thousands of Christians who either kept quiet or actively helped the slaughter of the Jewish people. Not just in Germany, but in Denmark, France, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland (yes, even neutral Switzerland), Bulgaria, Romanian, Austria, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, England (yes, England, which sent boatloads of refugees back to the gas chambers) and America, which did the same, clamped down on immigration and refused to bomb the gas chambers or the railroads. (Of all these, only America and England have anything to say in their favor, because at least they fought the nazis).
So please, spare me your beautiful Christian lectures on forgiveness. In practice, down the centuries, Christian forgiveness is drenched in Jewish blood.
Germany, a Christian nation, committed the most horrific acts of genocide against my people, the Jews of Europe. They murdered many members of my family. For every Ten-Boom, there were thousands of Christians who either kept quiet or actively helped the slaughter of the Jewish people. Not just in Germany, but in Denmark, France, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland (yes, even neutral Switzerland), Bulgaria, Romanian, Austria, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, England (yes, England, which sent boatloads of refugees back to the gas chambers) and America, which did the same, clamped down on immigration and refused to bomb the gas chambers or the railroads. (Of all these, only America and England have anything to say in their favor, because at least they fought the nazis).
So please, spare me your beautiful Christian lectures on forgiveness. In practice, down the centuries, Christian forgiveness is drenched in Jewish blood. I have a lot of respect for my non-Jewish friends on FR, but you are way out of line.
Blood libel is blood libel...whether said by a Christian against a Jew or a Jew against a Christian, my friend. Your father may have comes to terms with the past and moved on, but you have clearly not. Furthermore, it is never out of line to call on someone filled with as much rage as you to learn to forgive. That you would explode like this on a topic that was about loving your enemies and forgiving speaks more about the darkness in your heart than what happened in history against the Jews.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.