FORGIVENESS

DAILY MAIL SATURDAY
APRIL 25 2015, Page 37

The extraordinary moment when an Auschwitz survivor embraced death camp Nazi.
EVA KOR – RINGED – 10 YEARS OLD – A PRISONER AT AUSCHWITZ

This is an amazing story about a Holocaust survivor who waited 70 years in order to come face to face with a former SS man on trial for his alleged part in the slaughter at the notorious death camp Auschwitz. The extraordinary moment of reconciliation took place as the 93-year-old former death camp clerk – known as the Bookkeeper of Auschwitz prepared to listen to Mrs Kor’s evidence in a trial that could condemn him to die in jail.

When the two of them came face to face, it would appear that Eva Kor approached Oskar Groening before the hearing with outstretched arms and the two became locked in an embrace. She thanked him for having the decency to accept his responsibility for what was done at the camp and said that she forgave him.

Groening looked startled at first, smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek and as he listened to her words of forgiveness he became so overwhelmed that he promptly fainted, whereupon Eva screamed for help.

In her evidence, Eva said that Groening bore responsibility for helping run the wartime death camp – but urged him to spend the rest of his life warning and teaching others about the evil of Nazism. Groening’s job at the camp was to collect and tally money stolen from all new arrivals and then to send it on to Berlin. He denied being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews there, but begged forgiveness for what he called his ‘moral guilt’. In a moving interview with a BBC Radio programme, she said that Groening was 93 years old and putting him in jail is absurd, because out of it he could do some good.

AUSCHWITZ FRONT GATE

It was at the camp that Eva and her ten-year-old twin sister Miriam were singled out by Doctor Mengele who was known for his grotesque and barbaric genetic experiments on humans, especially twins. Both her and her sister were subjected to injections containing deadly germs and to this day she does not know what the syringes contained, but she does vividly remember Mengele standing by her bedside and laughing sarcastically after reading her fever charts and saying she had only two weeks to live.

A down side to her remarkable capacity to forgive was the enormous amount of criticism she received from fellow survivors. Not only was the criticism of her public forgiveness hurtful, she was also labeled as a traitor. In trying to make sense of this reaction she told the reporter that she, as a victim, had a right to be free, and that you cannot be free from what was done to you unless you remove from your shoulder the daily burden of pain and anger and forgive the Nazis – not because they deserve it, but because I deserve it!
She went on to say: When I talk to survivors, and I say;  why on earth does my forgiveness hurt you? They have no answers. I guess victims like to have more victims; the bigger the crowd, the better.
After 70 years since liberation the victims with 300 others were all talking about their experiences and were, at times, falling apart …. poor me …. what have they done to me? But I come to a different conclusion, I don’t forget what they have done to me. I don’t look at myself as a poor person – I am a victorious woman who has been able to rise above the pain and forgive the Nazis.

After reading this astonishing account of forgiveness in action, my thoughts dwell on another amazing story of mercy and compassion which happened over 2000 years ago. This account involves none other than the Creator of Heaven and Earth Himself, who came to remove our sins and present us clean, holy and acceptable to God the Father.

Yes I am talking about Jesus Christ who lived and died for us. He lived a sinless life doing good to all He came into contact with. He healed the sick. He restored the sight to those who were blind. He even raised people from the dead, such was His love, benevolence and forgiveness toward everyone. And yet it was not good enough, because no sooner did they want to make Him their King – they changed their minds and called for Him to be executed. He was tried by Pilate who found no fault in Him and who even wanted to release Him, but the people were so enraged that they demanded His execution which meant He would be nailed to a cross and left to die.

The Scriptures tell us of the most amazing love and compassion shown by anyone ever in this world, because as He hung on that Cross of shame he cried out to His Father asking for forgiveness for the people who put Him there.

I cannot even begin to imagine what Eva Kor and her twin sister Miriam went through at Auschwitz, nor can I imagine what the millions of others had to endure at the hands of the Nazis. All I can say is that my wife and I have visited both concentration camps in Poland and I would not be stretching the truth when I say that what we saw and heard from our tour guide, changed our lives! For ever! No description and no amount of tears from us or any other person comes close to describing what must have happened behind those wretched fences and inside those dreadful buildings. The hate of one human being for another defies description in any language. Just as the hate for the Saviour of the world defies description. Apart from the original sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden which led to man being banished from God, there is one thing that mankind did that changed the course of the whole world.

• It changed mankind irrevocably.
• It brought judgment upon the entire human race.
• It was the most tragic and dreadful deed ever committed.

God’s monumental sacrifice for all of us was Jesus and if ever there was a display of the depth, breadth and height of love our Creator has for us, it is wonderfully portrayed in Him and yet He was taken by man, tried and convicted in a court of law on trumped-up charges in a complete and utter mockery of justice, and nailed to a cross and left to die.

The thought that no one ever was so shamefully treated, as the only Perfectly Wise, Holy and Beautiful Person that ever appeared on earth, MUST lead those who are serious about life, to have very strong views of man’s wickedness and enmity toward God. An enmity which has been played out in so much, if not all of mankind’s history, including the holocaust.

This document began with the word – FORGIVENESS and I would like to close by looking at the word – LOVE which makes the act of forgiveness possible.

• LOVE led to the greatest gift being conferred on us by our Creator
• This gift was Jesus.
• Mankind revealed his heart by hating Him without a cause.
• Jesus revealed HIS heart by loving them without a cause.
• In their hating they gave HIM a cross.
• They gave HIM a cross to remove HIM from this world.
• In love, HE made it into a ladder to raise them up to heaven.
• The removing and raising are two ways and two choices that each of us must decide on before leaving this earth’s shores. Which then begs the question – What will you do with Jesus?

There is a Hymn that comes to mind whenever the words LOVE, FORGIVENESS and MERCY are contemplated and it goes like this:

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.

Refrain:
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary!

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!

Finally, there can be no doubt whatsoever that we are living in the last days. Man’s inhumanity to man knows no bounds. After the holocaust the words – NEVER AGAIN! reverberated around the world, sadly to no avail. The hatred and slaughter continues unabated – until that is, Jesus comes again, as He has promised. My heart and gratitude goes out to Eva Kor for showing us all that forgiveness is possible. What is so sad is that there aren’t more like her in the world

My sincere prayer is that you the reader will consider Jesus Christ and that you will trust Him with your life and your future – for eternity.