It’s hard to leave home - - friends and family - - even under the best of circumstances.  But in the 1930s thousands of Jews were forced to flee with only their memories. Many of these found refuge in England, where, as the excerpt below from an article by Jennifer Lipman shows, they were forced to become servants in the homes of the well to do.

The daily life of a Jewish Holocaust refugee who escaped the Nazis by working as a servant in a British home will be discussed in a BBC documentary tomorrow. Edith Argy's story will be told in the third part of the BBC2 series Servants: the True Story of Life Below Stairs.  Mrs Argy, who was just 18 when she arrived in Britain in 1938, was one of thousands of young Jews from Austria and German who escaped the Nazis on domestic service visas after the British government brought in a visa requirement for refugees in March 1938. The exact number who worked as servants to middle or upper class homes in the late 1930s is unknown.

Mrs Argy, who spent 16 months as a domestic servant and worked in nine different places in that time -including for three Jewish families - arrived with little experience of housework, having "not so much as held a broom" before she secured her first job working for a headmaster. "I found it very hard to adjust to being a servant," she said, adding that she spoke little English when she arrived. "In fact, I was so unhappy and so lonely in my first job that I no longer wanted to live".
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Sometimes helping the Jews was as dangerous as being one! That’s what Corrie Ten Boom found to be the case. You can learn about her trials by reading her book, THE HIDING PLACE, or by taking a virtual tour of her home in Ha’arlem, Holland, which has been made into a museum.  Prior to WW II she and her family followed the dictates of Ps. 122:6 and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem in a weekly prayer meeting that lasted 100 years! With the state of affairs in the world today, especially the Middle East, it would be wise if we, too, prayed for the peace of God’s Holy City!

As the Muslim Brotherhood continues to deny one of the most horrific events in the course of history, there are others around the world that are doing their utmost to make sure the truth continues to be shared. In the excerpt from an article by Constance DeVereaux below, we see how NAU, in Flagstaff, Arizona, is helping to share the truth.

The Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University was founded twelve years ago by Flagstaff resident and Holocaust survivor, Doris Martin. Her goal was to promote tolerance through education in hopes of preventing future atrocities. This year, the institute has a new executive director, Bjorn Krondorfer. He spoke with Arizona Public Radio's Constance DeVereaux about the importance of studying the Holocaust.

BK: It's important on many levels. For one, you really need to study it, in and of itself as a watershed event in human history. It's the first time that genocide was really perpetrated on this kind of scale on such a geographic scope and with such industrial and bureaucratic means behind it, sponsored by the state. But it also keeps affecting us today. We keep reading contemporary issues and problems and genocides through the lens of the Holocaust, so we need to have a good understanding of the history in order to learn something about the present day conflicts that we see all over the world.

DVX: I understand that recently you were going through some cupboards in your office and you found some interesting objects.

BK: We have a storage room and the first week when I arrived here I looked through it and we found a box. In the box were all kinds of material objects related to Nazism and the Holocaust that came as a big surprise to me. I can show you some of the objects, for example we found money from the Littzmannstadt Ghetto and in that ghetto the Jewish Council had to print their own money pretending as if it's an autonomous little city, when of course it was ruled by the Nazis and everyone was eventually deported or killed. So we have printed money from the large ghetto which is unusual to find here in Flagstaff.

DVX: How was this currency? How did it gain its value or how did it have value? Was it just a substitute? Did people buy it with German money?

BK: It really was valuable only within the ghetto. And even there it's questionable if it had much of a value. It's more a kind of a pretense, a policy of delusion. The most unusual find is that we found a stamp, a seal. It clearly has a swastika at the bottom. We took an ink pad and actually tried to see what it says. And to my shock, I would have to say, it turns out it is the stamp of the commandant of Gross Rosen. Gross Rosen is a concentration camp now located in Poland.

To learn more of what the Holocaust was like, read Corrie Ten Boom’s book, THE HIDING PLACE. Or, take the virtual tour of her home in Ha’arlem, Holland which has been converted into a museum by visiting the Corrie ten Boom Museum.   After learning more, you, like the Ten Booms, might find that you want to honor God by praying according to what He told us in Ps.122:6, where He directs us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. That seems to be the case in Hungary, as the article below by Gulliver Cragg points out.

Last July, one of the world's most wanted war crime suspects, Laszlo Csatary, was arrested in Hungary. He is accused of sending more than 15,000 Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz. But Hungarian police did not arrest the 97-year-old until a British newspaper, The Sun, made his location public. That has led some to say the authorities were dragging their feet.  Most worryingly, those who complained have been the target of anti-Semitic hatred.  It’s hard to believe that any nation, let alone one that was part of the WW II Holocaust, still harbors hatred towards the Jews. Yet, apparently, such is the situation in Hungary. They, as before, are treading on thin ice, if you would, as we are told in Genesis 12:3a, “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee.” One of the ways that we can ensure our blessing is to follow the directive found in Ps. 122:6 and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

One of the greatest enemies any society fights is ignorance. That’s why Margot Barnard, the subject of an article by Tara MacIsaac excerpted below, has dedicated her life to informing Germans about the Holocaust, as the aforementioned excerpt explains:

Margot Barnard was a pioneer of Holocaust education. As early as the 1950s, the German Jew began openly discussing the Holocaust with Germans. The spirited 92-year-old has talked to students at hundreds of schools in Germany and England over the decades. Her tiny stature and south-German sense of humour put students at ease, explained Barnard. She has subdued hostile skinhead teenagers in German schools with her smile and kind manner; resistance from some of the Jewish Community has been more difficult to dispel. Some Jews saw her education campaign as fraternizing with the enemy. Her brother, Walter, once asked whether her forgiveness would extend to her parents’ murderers.

“There are many holocausts,” said Barnard. “We have to stop it somewhere; we have to try at least.”

When Barnard arrived in England in 1945, she met with hostility and ignorance. She had moved to Palestine in 1933, three years after Hitler gained power. Her parents wanted to join her later, but could not get visas. She joined the British forces and married a British soldier, Ted Barnard. As they sailed from Egypt to England, Barnard heard the announcement: “The war in Europe is over.”

When her husband was stationed in Germany in 1956, she returned with him to her homeland. She was, however, a foreigner even there. Being Jewish and now a British citizen— part of the occupying power—she felt unwelcome.  Many Germans continued to support Nazism, others denied the genocide. What was worse for Barnard, however, was the feeling that life continued as usual. She watched a woman eat cake outside a Hanover café as though millions of Jews had not been led to gas chambers. Barnard’s grief burst to the surface.

Barnard spoke at a German school for the first time in 1987. The students were happy to talk about the Holocaust openly, as many of them were unable to do so at home. They felt guilt and shame; they knew some people hated Germans for the Holocaust.

For Barnard, it is important to not only discuss the war, but also the roots of anti-Semitism. She finds teachers are often ignorant of those roots, and thus unable to educate students.

“You are our teacher,” a teacher in her native Bonn told Barnard.

A testament to Barnard’s educational influence is the recent renaming of Bonn’s Medinghoven Realschule (secondary school) as Margot Barnard Realschule.

To take a virtual tour of her home in Ha’arlem, Holland, which has been converted to Corrie ten Boom Museum, click here.

And, like the Ten Booms, you can bless God by following the directive He gave us in Ps. 122:6 to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

When the question, “What was the Arab position on the Holocaust?” was posted recently, a number of interesting answers came in. Below are a few of those answers:

Answer from Directmale

Many Arabs still deny it happened.

Answer from PMStern

For most of the Muslim world, the Holocaust never happened. They claim it is a total fabrication.

Answer from 1TubeGuru

There is no unified arab position on the Holocaust.

Answer from MaryAnn

I don't know about the entire Middle East, but the president of Iran (who is Persian) thinks it is a fable. It feeds into his antagonism about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He made an interesting comment while in New York. He recognizes the fact that Jews have existed for centuries but doesn't recognize what he calls "the Zionists" in Israel today, that they don't belong there. He fails to recognize that the majority of them migrated there because of the Holocaust.

Answer from charlie95

That it didn't happen. That General Eisenhower insisted that hundreds and hundreds of photographs be taken of at each death camp preserved the awful scenes for posterity means nothing to people who deny that the Holocaust occurred. What is historical fact is meaningless to people whose hatred of the Jews blinds them to fact. "The roots of Islamic extremism lie in Adolf Hitler’s call to the Arab world to destroy Jews
during World War Two, a new book has argued.  'Your only hope for rescue is the destruction of the Jews, before they destroy you!' the Nazi leader declared in a 1942 radio broadcast. It was one of 6,000 broadcasts the Nazis directed at the Arabs as their death camps were killing Jews by the hundreds of thousands in Europe. ‘Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World,’ by American scholar Jeffrey Herf, shows how Hitler and his aides relied on radio broadcasts to sew propaganda because most of the Arab world was
illiterate at the time."

As indicated, most people recognize that the Arab world staunchly maintains that the Holocaust never exited. They may not be aware of what Isaiah says about such situations,  however, in 5:20-22: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” In denying an obvious reality, the Arab world certainly puts “darkness for light.” As a result, we need to make sure that we continue to pray according to Ps. 122:6 - - and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  Corrie Ten Boom and her family did, for over a hundred years. Then, when WW II came, they did far more. To learn about the Ten Boom’s efforts in WW II and her book, THE HIDING PLACE, or the Corrie ten Boom museum virtual tour, visit here.  To learn what others had to say, go to:  What was the Arab position on the Holocaust?

As unbelievable, and disturbing as it may seem, the 20th Century was wrought with genocides.  The three most well known, of course, are the Armenian Genocide of pre-WWI, the Jewish Holocaust of WWII and the Rwandan Genocide of the early 1990s.  As the excerpt below shows, South Africa wants everyone to be aware of, and remember, how tragic these events were:

The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre was established in 1998 and is dedicated to Holocaust and genocide education and memory. The JHGC works widely in the field of Holocaust, human rights and genocide education. In 2007, the South African Department of Education implemented a new National Curriculum, which contains a strong human rights focus. Having operated from temporary premises, the JHGC has recently secured ground on which to build a permanent centre, which will be a centre of learning for young and old, from all walks of life, to come together to learn from the histories of the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda.

The excerpt from an article by Anthony Posner below presents an interesting and provocative thought knowledge of atrocities alone does not prevent future atrocities in the same realm:

The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre will not only focus on the extermination of European Jewry but will also contain a section designated to the Rwandan genocide. Moria Schneider writes in The South African Jewish Report: "The message the juxtaposition sends is stark: that the Holocaust and remembrance of it, did not prevent another genocide from occurring."

The only similarity between the genocide that took place in Africa and the one, many years earlier, in Europe is the fact that people were specifically identified and killed ( 800,000 Tutsis and 6,000,000 Jews). From a historical point of view, there is nothing else worth comparing and if one is encouraged to make connections, there is a danger that this will only be done whilst sacrificing the true causes and horrors of both.

Knowing about these atrocities isn’t enough - - you have to do something about them. Corrie Ten Boom and her family did. In her book, THE HIDING PLACE, she shares how during WW II they hid and protected Jews from the Nazis. Their home in Ha’arlem Holland that has been turned into a museum   Take the virtual tour to learn more about the Ten Boom family and the Corrie ten Boom museum.   We don’t have to wait for atrocities, however. Also like the Ten Booms we can pray - pray according to Psalm 122:6 - - pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Country singer George Jones once did a song titled “WHO’S GONNA FILL THEIR SHOES,” where he asks what is going to happen when all the “old” singers are gone. The Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh faced a similar concern, and as the excerpt below from an article by Abby Gordon shows, rose dramatically to meet their concern.

The Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh celebrated its 30th anniversary last week by releasing The Holocaust Testimony Project — a two-disc DVD set preserving the firsthand accounts of Pittsburgh residents who lived through that devastating time. The project consists primarily of survivor accounts, but also one liberator.

Edie Naveh, Iris Samson and David Cohen acted as executive producers for the project. Naveh actually began work on it while she was director of the Holocaust Center. She knew upon returning in 2005 for her second stint in the job that something must be done to preserve the authentic voices of the survivors before they’re gone.

“In 1988, there were 25 to 30 survivors that could go out and speak [about their experiences], and they were youthful and vibrant,” Naveh said. “By 2005, only a handful remained, and they were fragile.”

One challenge the project posed was deciding which stories to include. According to Holocaust Center Senior Associate Samantha Patty, the staff strived for a wide range of different people and experiences.

“That was a challenge because every story was amazing,” Patty said. “We really looked at all the stories we had from survivors and knew we wanted to have an across the board representation.

“I think we do a very good job of showing a 360 [degree] perspective of showing the survivor experience and a liberator,” she added.

These varied testimonies, Naveh said, are essential in educating young people about social justice and the need to stand up for anyone that is being bullied, and to take a stand against genocide all over the world.

Corrie ten Boom knew the importance of making sure that stories about the Holocaust live on, so she recorded hers in her book, THE HIDING PLACE.  The Jerusalem Prayer Team also knows the importance, and that is why they have done a virtual tour of the Ten Boom home in Ha’arlem, Holland, which is now a museum.  More importantly, you can emulate the Ten Booms, who prayed for the Jews for 100 years before WW II, by following the same directive they did - - the one found in Ps. 12:6 that tells us all to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  Visit the Corrie ten Boom Museum to learn more about the Ten Boom family.

To read Ms. Gordon’s article in its entirety, go to the Jewish Chronicle website:

“There is none so blind as he who will not see” almost describes the status of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. More accurately, however, might be that he is blinded by his hatred, as the excerpt below from the Internet Newspaper, HUFF POST WORLD shows:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to infuriate the world by refusing to acknowledge that the Holocaust ever happened. During an interview with CNN, which aired Monday, September 24, 2012 on "Piers Morgan Tonight," the Iranian president said he will not judge Nazi Germany's extermination of the Jews during World War II.

"Whatever event has taken place throughout history, or hasn't taken place, I cannot judge that. Why should I judge that? I say researchers and scholars must be free to conduct research and analysis about any historical event," Ahmadinejad said.

Outlandish and inflammatory statements are the norm for Ahmadinejad, and his latest appearances in the U.S. showed he had no intention of aiming for diplomacy on any issue. While speaking before a group of editors and news executives in New York on Monday, Ahmadinejad said Israel has no place in the Middle East. Unlike Iran, which has been in existence for thousands of years, the modern state of Israel has only existed for six decades, he said. "They have no roots there in history. They do not even enter the equation for Iran."

In a speech at the United Nations on Monday, Ahmadinejad accused some members of the Security Council of having "chosen silence with regard to the nuclear warheads of a fake regime, while at the same time they impede scientific progress of other nations." Many western nations suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapons program. However, Ahmadinejad claims that his country's project to enrich uranium is for peaceful purposes, The Associated Press reported

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks as though he is ignorant of history, while in reality he tends to simply ignore it. What he doesn’t realize, apparently, is how many aspects of Proverbs 6:16-19 he violates: “16) These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethern.” It is because of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cohorts that we must take Ps. 122:6 very seriously and pray for the peace of Jerusalem - - every morning, noon and night!

There are probably two universal elements that bring all of mankind together: Food and Music. The former helped to unite all the victims of the Holocaust. In the excerpt below from an article by Ginny Beagan, it’s easy to see how many of our best memories revolve around food and our favorite dishes.

Commemorating the stories and culinary histories of Holocaust survivors, Joanne Caras of Port St. Lucie has written two cookbooks and soon will be starring in her own cooking show on Jewish Life Television (JLTV)

“The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” and its sequel “Miracles & Meals” are collections of kosher recipes from Holocaust survivors and their families. The recipes come from all over the world and each comes with a story of survival and courage — stories Caras is determined to get out there to honor the victims and to teach tolerance to the rest of us. All profits from the books are donated to the Jerusalem soup kitchen that first inspired Caras and other charities around the globe. The books have raised $600,000.  Here are some of the recipes and stories you can find in the “The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook:”

One night a soldier stopped my grandfather and demanded his ID number. Faced with no other choice, he slipped off his bracelet and handed it to the soldier. The next day a list of numbers were called to be shot, as a lesson to the rest of the camp. All but one person came forward. The camp ledger was checked out but the number did not exist! My grandfather looked down at his bracelet and realized that his number comprised digits that could be read upside down as well as right side up.  He had given his bracelet to the soldier upside down, and the soldier dutifully copied down the wrong numbers. All the people who had been called up were killed. Thanks to a piece of leather and some crude metal I am able to have a grandfather.  It is a pretty ugly bracelet to look at, yet more precious than any other jewelry our family can own.

Rose Meller left Checkocheen, Poland, to escape the Nazis. Lured out of the forest she was hiding in by the false promise that her mother would be spared if she came forward, she ended up in a labor camp in Czechoslovakia for 3 1/2 years and her mother was killed. Rose spun thread used to make Nazi uniforms. When Russian soldiers liberated her, she returned to Poland to discover she was the only one of her family to survive.

Preserving life, especially the lives of Jews, was a grave challenge for Corrie Ten Boom and her family. To learn how they met that challenge, read her book THE HIDING PLACE, and/or take a virtual tour of her home in Haarlem, Holland where they hid people from the Gestapo, and which has since been turned into a museum at www.tenboom.com. Today we can emulate the Ten Boom’s other effort on behalf of God’s chosen people, as they prayed for a hundred years prior to WW II. We, like they, can pray according to Ps. 122:6 and pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

To read the rest of Ms. Beagan’s article, including several of the recipes she included, go to: Recipes commemorate stories and culinary histories of Holocaust survivors

Atrocities come in many forms. Typically, they are acts of commission but, occasionally, they are an act of omission. Such is the case of the Voyage of the Damned, as indicated by the excerpt from a recent article by Irv Osterer below:

Among the most infamous events that preceded the Holocaust is the incredible story of the MS St. Louis, which left Hamburg on May 13, 1939, with 935 Jewish passengers hoping to find refuge in Cuba. Günther Krebs was on the MS St. Louis as it wandered the Atlantic seeking refuge from the Holocaust for its Jewish passengers.

While in Cuban waters, the police were ever present, making escape impossible, and although those on board could see and hear friends and family on shore, no one was permitted to leave the ship. Günther’s facility with Spanish would have crystallized events. He understood that mañana would never come and that the passengers on the St. Louis were in serious trouble.  Ultimately, after much lobbying by the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, four countries agreed to accept the St. Louis passengers.

Günther’s ordeal had not ended. Amid fears of a fifth column of enemies, he along with many German speakers in England were detained as undesirable aliens for 2½ years, much like many of our own Japanese and Italian citizens. He was sent by the British to internment camps — first on the Isle of Man and then to Île aux Noix, not far from Montreal. Prime Minister Mackenzie King had not been interested in accepting any Jewish refugees, but relented after politicians and Jewish organizations pressed for their release.  Gunther was not a bitter or resentful man — but like many of his generation, never forgave Germany for murdering his mother.  He refused to set foot in that country or to speak its language — even to his father with whom he was reunited with in New York after the war.  In a surreal twist, after 1944, son and father communicated only in English, the language of freedom that afforded Günther passage to Southampton rather than a probable demise in Rotterdam, Antwerp or Boulogne sur Mer.

Those 935 passengers could have used a friend like Corrie Ten Boom and her family.  Concerned about God’s chosen people and the land He has promised them, the Ten Booms held weekly prayer meetings for over 100 years to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Then, when more direct actions were needed, they opened their home to those the Gestapo was pursuing.  The results of that effort was chronicled in Corrie’s book THE HIDING PLACE. To learn more about this, go here  and take a virtual tour of the Ten Boom home in Haarlem, Holland that now serves as a museum.  At the same time, make sure you don’t fall guilty of a faux pas of omission - - rather, make sure that you, as the Ten Booms before you did, pray according to the dictates of Ps. 122:6 and pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

To read Irv Osterer’s article in its entirety, go to: A survivor of the Voyage of the Damned

Sometimes we can’t rest until we resolve unanswered questions. That’s the challenge that faces Yoram Haimi regarding his uncles who met their demise during the Holocaust. As the excerpt from the article by Aron Heller below indicates, Mr. Haimi discovered more than even he could have imagined!

When Israeli archaeologist Yoram Haimi decided to investigate his family's unknown Holocaust history, he turned to the skill he knew best: He began to dig.  After learning that two of his uncles were murdered in the infamous Sobibor death camp, he embarked on a landmark excavation project that is shining new light on the workings of one of the most notorious Nazi killing machines, including pinpointing the location of the gas chambers where hundreds of thousands were killed.  Sobibor, in eastern Poland, marks perhaps the most vivid example of the "Final Solution," the Nazi plot to wipe out European Jewry. Unlike other camps that had at least a facade of being prison or labor camps, Sobibor and the neighboring camps Belzec and Treblinka were designed specifically for exterminating Jews. Victims were transported there in cattle cars and gassed to death almost immediately.  Over five years of excavations, Haimi has been able to remap the camp and has unearthed thousands of items. He hasn't found anything about his family, but amid the teeth, bone shards and ashes through which he has sifted, he has recovered jewelry, keys and coins that have helped identify some of Sobibor's formerly nameless victims.  Based on debris collected and patterns in the soil, he has been able to figure out where the Nazis placed poles to hold up the camp's barbed wire fences. That led him to his major breakthrough – the mapping of what the Germans called the Himmelfahrsstrasse, or the "Road to Heaven," a path upon which the inmates were marched naked into the gas chambers. He determined its route by the poles that marked the path. From that, he determined where the gas chambers would have been located.

The Holocaust is interesting to many, as is what led up to it. To learn more about this topic, read Corrie Ten Boom’s book, THE HIDING PLACE, to learn how she and her family protected as many Jews as they could. Click here to take a virtual tour of their home in Haarlem, Holland, which is now a museum.  Equally important is praying for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Ten Booms did for a hundred years prior to WW II.  To read Aron Heller’s entire article, go to: Israeli archaeologist digs into Nazi death camp

A mirror doesn’t have much to do. To do its job it just must hang or
stand in the right direction. You and I don’t have to do a great deal
either. We need only to look to the Lord Jesus and He will make us
like mirrors, and He does it so well! We don’t need to strive and try
to be a blessing but just look in the right direction. Then Jesus makes
us a mirror of Himself. When you get to heaven, people may say to
you, “You invited me here.” Then you will ask, “When did I tell you
about the heaven?” You will discover that Jesus used you when you
were really looking to Him.”

- Messages of God's Abundance by Corrie Ten Boom

Did you ever see a cloud again after it had once disappeared? No,
never. When once it disappears that same cloud will never again
come back. That is what the Lord does with your sins. Isn’t that
a joy?

CORRIE TEN BOOM SPEAKS TO PRISONERS
With Chaplain Ray

   

There are two spirits who talk to us: The Lord talks to us, and the
devil talks to us. When the devil talks to you about your sins, he
says, “Now look what you have done. That is exactly your
character, and now there is no hope for you.”

It is quite different when the Lord talks to you about your sins.
Then His Holy Spirit tells us, “That was very bad what you did,
and what you said and thought. But for those sins, Jesus died on
the cross.”

Corrie Ten Boom speaks to prisoners with Chaplain Ray

==========================================

Corrie Ten Boom continues to inspire millions of people around
the world.  Her strength and love for the Lord is truly admirable.
One of her famous book, The Hiding Place, has touched and
changed many lives.