During the first days of class I was surprised by something which still has a similar effect on me today.
The thing which surprised me is that Nazi measures closely
mirror Canonical Law, which means that Nazis seem to have formed their ideas
from past Christian ones.
Anti-Semitism is a long standing problem in Christianity,
mainly with the deicide charge that the Jews were responsible for the death of
Christ, even though he could have only been killed by Romans. This deicide charge was invalidated by the
doctrine Nostra Aetate in 1965, and work between Jewish and Christian relations
continues.
However the past reveals a shocking story, which some of my
friends do not believe. In year 306
there was prohibition of intermarriage and sexual intercourse between
Christians and Jews. The Nazi measure of
the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor of Septmeber 15, 1935
mirrors this. Another Canonical law is
of the 4th Lateran Council of 1215, which was the marking of Jews
with a badge. Christians wore blue belts
and Jews wore yellow belts. This leads
to the Nazi decree on September 1, 1941 that Jews must wear the Yellow
Star. In 1267 Jews were put into
compulsory ghettos by Synod of Breslau, which was an order by Heydrich on
September 21, 1939. These are only three
examples out of the 13 in the table that I was given.
I find it hard to believe that Christians following their
faith could make such laws, which reminds me of the lecture of Father Dr.
Kamikowska. He spoke to us with a
translator one morning about different perspectives on the Holocaust: Jewish,
Christian German, Christian Polish. He
also discussed his article “Looking at Auschwitz from the Polish Point of View.” As he was speaking, his comment that he was
surprised there were other bishops in Germany stuck with me and I asked him to
clarify when he was finished speaking. I
asked if he meant that he did not think there were bishops in Germany or if he
had meant something else by it. His
reply was more or less because the image of Germans in the Polish conscious or subconscious
was that they were an evil occupant, a perpetrator. Germans had the image of men who invaded
Poland. Kamikowska remembers the fear in
his Mother’s eyes when she heard the German language. He did not think of any religion tied to
Germans. However, this was his first
impression. Upon analysis it became
obvious that there must be Christians in Germany.
Nazi measures which mirror Christian Canonical Laws, and a
faithless group in a land where Christians must exist, gives a negative view of
Christianity. But the noteworthy work in
the positive direction cannot be forgotten either, and will continue with the
new Pope.
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