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The Grey Book by Johan M. Snoek

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The motion was carried. [191]

The Bishop of Chichester followed this move with a plea for more vigorous
Government action in his maiden speech in the House of Lords, on July 27, 1938.
He began with a strong condemnation of the Nazi persecution:

"I cannot understand - and I know many Germans - how our own kinsmen of the
German race can lower themselves to such a level of dishonour and cowardice as
to attack defenceless people in the way that the National-Socialists have
attacked the non-Aryans. <77>

He then pleaded with the Government to follow up the initiative of President
Roosevelt by increasing its facilities for training younger refugees in Great
Britain, by providing greater scope for settlement in the Colonies, and by
persuading the Dominions to open their doors more widely.
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs assured him that the
Government would do what it could. But Dr. Bell remarked a few weeks later
in his Diocesan Gazette:

"It is almost as hard to understand the seeming apathy with which the fate of
the Jews and the non-Aryan Christians is being regarded by the people of the
British Empire...
These non-Aryans can no longer be called 'refugees' for they have as yet no
country of refuge. We emphasize the responsibility of the British Empire in
this connection, because the British Colonies and the British Dominions cover
the larger part of the whole available globe. It seems to us impossible, both
on the grounds of charity and on the grounds of statesmanship, that the doors
can remain forever shut." [192]

Resolutions adopted by the Presbyterian Church of England exposed the danger
of anti-Semitism existing in England in those days.
In 1937, the General Assembly stated:

"The Assembly notes with concern the attempts which have been made to create
racial antipathy against the Jews, with whom the Assembly expresses its
sympathy.
The Assembly expresses its conviction, that in a nation professing Christianity,
no discrimination on grounds of race must be recognised.
The Assembly urges that the freedom accorded by law in this country to
citizens of any faith to live in peace and pursue their lawful callings
shall be specially safeguarded.
The Assembly resolves to send a copy of this resolution to the Board of
Deputies of British Jews, and to the Home Secretary." [193]

In May, 1938, the General Assembly adopted the following Resolution:

"The Assembly urges its faithful people to encourage every effort to overcome
the evil spirit of anti-Semitism which thing we hate." <78>

There was hesitancy in the minds of some about the word 'hate', when the
Convener moved this resolution, but the Assembly overwhelmingly approved of
it. [194]

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland certainly did not mince words.
It declared in 1936:

"The General Assembly learn with profound regret that the past year has brought
no alleviation of the sufferings caused to the Jewish people by the inhuman
political, social and economic persecutions prevalent in Central and Eastern
Europe.
They protest against the religious intolerance, the narrow nationalism and
race-pride on which anti-semitic hatreds are based.
They call on the Christian people of Scotland, in loyalty to the law of Christ
and their own high traditions of liberty and toleration, to rid their minds of
all narrow anti-Jewish prejudice, and to broaden out their obedience to the
Gospel ever commanding peace and goodwill to all men.
The General Assembly again commend to the liberality of their faithful people
appeals made on behalf of refugee Jews from Germany and other lands, specially
remembering the Christians of Jewish race who are involved in the terrors of
persecution." [195]

In 1937, the General Assembly declared:

"The General Assembly renew in Christ's name their condemnation of the
unabated brutality still being dealt to the Jewish minorities in Central
and Eastern Europe, and lament that the protesting voice of the Christian
Church has been so barren of result.
They deprecate the attempts in certain parts of England to create antipathy
against the Jews." [196]

The statement adopted in May 1938, reads as follows:

"The General Assembly renew their protest against the virulence and cruelty of
the attacks still being directed against helpless Jewish minorities in Central
and Eastern Europe, and they affirm that no Church can be truly Christian and
anti-semitic at one and the same time." [197]

* * *

The first reaction to the horrors of the "Crystal Night" pogroms was a letter
of the Archbishop of Canterbury to "The Times":

"I believe that I speak for the Christian people of this country in giving
immediate expression to the feelings of indignation with which we have read
of the deeds of cruelty and destruction which were perpetrated last Thursday
in Germany and Austria. <79>
Whatever provocation may have been given by the deplorable act of a single
irresponsible Jewish youth, reprisals on such a scale, so fierce, cruel and
vindictive, cannot possibly be justified.
A sinister significance is added to them by the fact that the police seem
either to have acquiesced in them or to have been powerless to restrain them.
it is most distasteful to write these words just when there is in this country
a general desire to be on friendly terms with the German nation. But there are
times when the mere instincts of humanity make silence impossible. Would that
the rulers of the Reich could realize that such excesses of hatred and malice
put upon the friendship which we are ready to offer them an almost intolerable
strain. I trust that in our churches on Sunday and thereafter remembrance may
be made in our prayers of those who have suffered this fresh onset of
persecution and whose future seems to be so dark and hopeless." [198]

The Archbishop's letter expressed "feelings of indignation", but also
reflected the spirit of appeasement: the British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain had signed the Munich agreement with Hitler, only six weeks
before.

On November 16, 1938, during the Autumn Session of the Church Assembly, the
Bishop of Chichester pleaded that help should be given to Christian refugees
of Jewish origin. In January 1939, he was to urge "to aid the entire mass of
non-Aryans". Now the tendency still was to stress the help to Christians of
Jewish origin, not to the Jews in general.
There was one notable exception, in which Jews and Christians jointly took
action, without asking themselves whether the persons to be helped were Jews
or Christians. Lord Gorell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be
joint Chairman (with Lord Samuel) of the "Movement for the Care of Children
from Germany", in February 1938.
This movement succeeded in bringing over 9,354 children from Germany to
England. Roughly nine-tenths were Jewish, and one-tenth Christian children.
<80>
"Where a Jewish child was received in a Christian home - which occurred
frequently - it was prescribed by the Movement, and accepted by the
foster-parents, that there should be no attempt to proselytise.
The nearest Rabbi, or Jewish teacher, was put in touch with the child,
and if personal contact was not possible, instruction was arranged by
correspondence. The last transports of the children from Germany reached
England a few days after the outbreak of the war." [201]

A Joint Statement was issued by British Church leaders, in April 1939:

"In making the following statement, we, the undersigned, - the Archbishop
of York; Dr. Jas. Black, Moderator of the Church of Scotland; the Bishop
of Edinburgh; Dr. S.M. Berry, Congregational Union of England and Wales
and Federal Council of Free Churches; the Rev. M.E. Aubrey, Baptist Union
of Great Britain and Ireland, - feel that we are giving expression to
the convictions of a large number of Christians in Great Britain:
1. We believe that the following is an essential and basic principle of all
true civilization: Religious freedom, freedom of opinion and action in
accordance with religious beliefs, provided that social order is in no
way endangered thereby; legal equality for all, independently of social
position or race..." [202]

In November, 1938, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland wrote a letter
to the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, who replied as follows:

London, 24th Nov. 1938/5699.
Dear Dr. Black,
"I am indeed touched by your letter of the 18th inst. conveying to me on
behalf of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the deep horror
of the suffering inflicted on the Jewish people throughout Europe.
In the agony through which hundreds of thousands of my coreligionists are
now passing, it is fortifying to read your strong repudiation of all
persecution as unchristian, inhuman and pagan; and to learn that the love
of God, love of fellow-man, and love of freedom rule with undiminished
strength in little, but great Scotland.
I should be glad if you would kindly convey to the General Assembly the deep
felt thanks of my community for their kind expression of Christian sympathy
with the suffering of Israel.

The General Assembly commented: <81>

"It is now the duty of the Church to contrive that the wave of sympathy shall
not ebb, but, while it is on the flow, shall be turned into the only channel,
which, as we believe, reaches the heart of the Jewish problem. The immediate
duty, however, is to direct sympathy towards practical and generous action with
regard to the gigantic Refugee problem which confronts the free peoples of the
world..." [203]

The following statement was issued by the Conference of the Methodist Church in
Ireland, in June 1939:

"The Conference notes with grave concern the growth of anti-Semitism in Europe
and America, and expresses its profound conviction that this tendency is
directly contrary to the spirit of Christianity.
It views with horror the treatment now being meted out to men, women and
children in Germany on purely racial grounds, and regards with apprehension the
possibility of the spread of such policy to other countries.
It commands to the sacrificial sympathy of the Church, the efforts being made on
behalf of non-Aryan Refugees both in Eire and in Northern Ireland, and suggests
that they offer a most effective method of bearing Christian testimony against
the terrible divisions of the present hour." [204]


17 THE UNITED STATES

Protestant Churches in America have protested against racial discrimination
in general. We only record, however, the resolutions and statements, which
expressly denounced anti-Semitism.

On March 22, 1933, American Christian clergymen and laymen appealed to the
German people to put an end to the persecution of Jews. They urged preachers
throughout the United States to rally their congregations on the following
Sunday for a united stand against Hitlerism. The summons to the Churches was
sponsored by the Interfaith Committee and signed by Bishop Manning
(Episcopalian), Mr. Al Smith, the former Governor of New York State (a Roman
Catholic), and others equally prominent. [205] <82>

On March 28, 1933, a mass meeting was held in New York, Madison Square Garden,
attended by 20,000 persons, as a protest against anti-Semitic activities in
Germany. 38,000 swarmed round the building to hear the voice of speakers
brought to them through amplifiers. The meeting followed a day of fasting and
prayer with similar protests being staged in 300 other cities. Former Governor
Alfred Smith, Bishop William T. Manning, and Senator Robert F. Wagner were
among the speakers. [206]

On May 26, 1933, a Manifesto signed by 1200 Protestant ministers from 42 States
of the United States and Canada was published:

"We Christian ministers are greatly distressed at the situation of our Jewish
brethren in Germany. In order to leave no room for doubt as to our feelings
on this subject, we consider it an imperative duty to raise our voices in
indignant and sorrowful protest against the pitiless persecution to which
the Jews are subjected under Hitler's rule.
We realize full well that there are religious and racial prejudices in America,
against which we have repeatedly protested and for this very reason we all
the more deeply deplore the retrogression which has supervened in Germany
where so much had been achieved while we in America were still fighting for
human rights.
For many weeks we have waited, refusing to believe all the reports concerning
a State policy against the Jews. But now that we possess the irrefutable
testimony of facts, we can no longer remain silent. Hitler had long vowed
implacable hatred against the Jews. One of the fundamental Nazi doctrines is
that Jews are poisonous germs in German blood and must therefore be treated as
a scourge. Hitler's followers now apply this doctrine. They systematically
pursue a 'Cold Pogrom' of inconceivable cruelty against our Jewish brethren,
dismissing them from important positions they had occupied, depriving them
of civil and economic rights, and deliberately condemning those who survive
to a life without legal protection, - as outcasts, threatening them with
massacre should they make the slightest protest. We are convinced that the
efforts made by Nazis to humiliate an entire section of the human family,
are liable to cast the civilized world back into the clutches of mediaeval
barbarism.
We deplore the consequences which may ensue for the Jews and also for
Christianity which tolerates this barbarous persecution, and, more
particularly, for Germany herself. We are convinced that in thus protesting
against Hitler's cruel anti-Semitism we are acting as sincere friends of
the German nation." [207] <83>

Speaking of their "Jewish brethren in Germany", those 1200 Protestant
ministers apparently had in mind the Jews of Germany in general, not just
the Christians of Jewish origin.

* * *

The next statement to be recorded in this chapter was issued by the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in America. This organization represented
the great majority of American Protestants. The total membership of Churches
affiliated with it was, in 1941-1942: 25,551.560.
The Executive Committee of the Federal Council published the following
statement in November 1935:

"At a recent meeting of protest against the treatment at present inflicted
on Jews in Germany, the Assembly of the Church of England expressed the hope
that other Christian bodies would join in this protest. We feel constrained
to do so.
We are members of churches which have numerous and close bonds of union with
the German church. We recognise our indebtedness to the great German preachers
and teachers of Christianity, who have done so much to enrich our common
heritage from the days of Luther to the present day. After the last war
we protested strongly against the limitations to which Germany was subjected
by the Treaty of Versailles and made constant efforts for their suppression.
For this very reason we consider it our duty to speak equally freely now that
Germany is pursuing a policy, which threatens her with moral isolation.
We protest against this policy because the treatment of the Jews is unworthy
of a great nation. To treat a considerable part of the population as being
essentially inferior for racial reasons only, and to impose restrictions on the
normal life of persons whose families have lived in Germany for generations,
and who have rendered eminent services in the realms of education, art,
and government, is to violate the codes of honour and good faith which are the
common property of civilized nations.
But our reason for protesting goes far deeper. We protest against this policy
because the philosophy on which it is based is a heathen philosophy. Founded
on a religious interpretation of race, the actual treatment inflicted on
the Jews raises far greater problems than any former persecutions of Jews and
other minorities, which were founded on political and incidental considerations.
It is an attempt of a tribal heathen movement, based on race, blood, and soil,
to separate Christianity from its historical origin and a Christian nation
from its religious past.
All the different branches of the Christian Church are, therefore, in duty bound
to protest, not only in the name of the human brotherhood, but also in the name
of our Christian faith. [208] <84>

The meeting of protest mentioned at the beginning of this statement was held
on November 20, 1935. [209] The response of the Federal Council came very
promptly indeed. International contacts between Churches were a factor the
importance of which can hardly be overestimated.

Dr. Charles S. Macfarland, the then General Secretary of the Federal Council,
had had a personal interview with Hitler in the autumn of 1933. Before accepting
Hitler's invitation to call, he was warned that no one was even permitted
to mention the Jewish issue to him. Dr. Macfarland, however, had made it clear
that he was not going there to discuss Tennyson or Browning and that he would
have to be permitted to choose his own subjects. Word came that "His Excellency
desired me to talk freely with him". Dr. Macfarland relates:

"I told Herr Hitler that, in my judgment, the German Evangelical Church could
not and would not yield itself to his polito-social theory, including his
so-called Aryan laws, and that if it did, it would not only cut itself off
from the Christian churches of the world, but would cease to be Christian..."
[209]

Dr. Macfarland followed up this conversation by correspondence. In one letter
he wrote that the near complete hostility of the American people was deeply
ethical in nature and could be modified only by two processes:

1. "A constructive measure of justice in dealing with the Jews in Germany,
stopping all continuation of the boycott, conferring with leading Jews of
high character, and, while still recognizing the social problem involved,
endeavouring to secure needed readjustments by friendly measures and,
above all, restoring neighbourly good feeling between Jewish rabbis and
Christian pastors and among Jews and non-Jews who live side by side...
I also hope that, by a final settlement of the Jewish problem which will do
full justice, this barrier between the German people and the peoples of the
world may be removed." [210] <85>

Apparently Hitler did not underestimate the influence of the American
Churches: he replied to Dr. Macfarland's letters, stating that he wished
"to promote the unity of the Church", that he accepted one of these letters
"in the same spirit in which it was written" and that he thanked Dr.
Macfarland for his "candid and sympathetic appeal". [211]
On June 2, 1937, however, Dr. Macfarland published an open letter to Hitler,
from which we quote the following:

"You especially demarcated the church's "confession" as a sacred ground on
which the State could not and would not intrude, and I handed you a
memorandum calling attention to the fact that by that confession the church
was supernatural, supernational and superracial and that the so-called 'Aryan
paragraph' cut right across the confession; that if the church accepted it,
it would make a breach between the church in Germany and the 'positive
Christianity' for which you declared you stood.
As previously mentioned, you replied to later correspondence that you
accepted my appeal 'in the spirit in which it was given'. That appeal was
for a constructive measure of justice in dealing with the Jews in Germany,
stopping all continuation of the boycott, conferring with leading Jews of
high character and, while still recognizing the social problem involved,
endeavouring to secure needed readjustments by friendly measures and, above
all, restoring neighbourly good feeling between Jewish rabbis and Christian
pastors and among Jews and non-Jews who live side by side'. And I added:
'I hope that this barrier between the German people and the peoples of the
world may be removed'... What now are the results of my continued study and
how do they appear in the light of your earnest assurances?...
Instead of doing justice to the Jews, you have permitted them to be harassed
and despoiled. Your treatment of them has been ruthless, without the slightest
appearance of mercy, even reminding one of the infamous edict of Herod in
stretching the hand of violence to the littlest child.
Your attitude toward the little handful of Jews in Germany and your so-called
Aryan and Nordic ideas have had no little effect in confusing members of the
Evangelical Church, so that, in this way, you divided instead of fulfilling
'the desire you expressed to me of uniting the church. You undermined the most
basic ideal of Christianity, on which unity alone could be secured...
I have been reading a paper called Der Stuermer. Not only does it explicitly
teach and urge hate-hate-hate, but does it in forms whose viciousness never
would be believed by one who had not seen it. The language in this paper is
too vile for repetition, and its falsehoods are obvious to any ordinarily
informed person who knows Germany. The best that one can say of the
illustrations is to hope that they emanate from a disordered, rather than
a depraved mind..." [212] <86>

I think that, if Dr. Macfarland had been a citizen of my country (the
Netherlands), legal proceedings might have been instituted against him in
those days, for "public offence to the Head of a friendly State".

The Home Missions Council, early in December 1937, issued a special Christmas
message concerning Jewish and Christian relations which it addressed to all
Christians of North America. We quote the following from this message:

"As Christians of the United States and Canada we desire to express to those
Jews who are the victims of injustice and abuse our sincere sympathy, and we
emphatically declare that such conduct is utterly alien to the teaching and
spirit of the faith we profess and an affront to all our ideals of civil
liberty and justice." [213]

* * *

The Executive Committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America
proposed to set aside November 20, 1938, as "the occasion when prayer will be
sought in the United States for refugees, both Christian and Jewish". [214]
The officials of both the Roman Catholic Church and Jewish Organizations,
following the example set by the Federal Council, designated the same date for
a period of prayer and intercession. The Governors of about a score of States
issued statements or proclamations urging citizens to repair to their places
of worship on that day for united prayer for the suffering. The day of prayer
was widely observed in all parts of the country and in all the churches. [215]
The Executive of the Federal Council had issued "an appeal to all church people
to respond generously to the efforts for the relief of refugees as carried on
by the American Committee for Christian German Refugees and also by the Catholic
and Jewish organizations". [216]

When the first reports of the new measures of oppression and persecution
of the Jews in Germany appeared in the press, the Federal Council's office
invited outstanding Christians, both ministers and laymen, to express their
views and give wide publicity to them. <87>

Among the lay voices, which were most widely heard across the nation was that
of Honourable Herbert Hoover, who, in a message telegraphed to the Federal
Council, gave expression to the sympathy of all thoughtful Christian people.
A statement of Dr. Edgar De Witt Jones of Detroit, President of the Federal
Council, was also quoted in all parts of the country. [217]

On the evening of November 13, 1938, the Federal Council of Churches sponsored
a national broadcast over the Columbia Broadcasting System in which Christian
sympathy was again expressed and carried to every part of the nation.
There also was a national broadcast under the auspices of the National
Conference of Jews and Christians, on November 20, 1938. [218]

On January 9, 1939, a petition on behalf of German refugee children was left
for President Roosevelt at the White House by a deputation of clergymen. The
petition was signed by leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Churches.
It read as follows:

"The American people has made clear its reaction to the oppression of all
minority groups, religious and racial, throughout Germany. It has been
especially moved by the plight of the children.
Every heart has been touched, and the nation has spoken out its sorrow and
dismay through the voices of its statesmen, teachers and religious leaders.
Americans have felt that protest, however vigorous and sympathy, however deep,
are not enough, and that these must translate themselves into such action
as shall justify faith.
We have been stirred by the knowledge that Holland and England have opened
their doors and their homes to many of these children. We conceive it to be
our duty, in the name of the American tradition and the religious spirit
common to our nation to urge the people, by its Congress and Executive, to
express sympathy through special treatment of the young, robbed of country,
homes and parents.
A heartening token of the mood of America is to be found in the fact that
thousands of Americans of all faiths have made known their eagerness to take
these young children into their homes, without burden or obligation to the
State.
Working within and under the laws of Congress, through special enactment if
necessary, the nation can offer sanctuary to a part of these children by
united expression of its will to help. <88>
To us it seems that the duty of Americans in dealing with the youthful
victims of a regime which punishes innocent and tender children as if they
were offenders, is to remember the admonition of Him who said, 'Suffer little
children to come unto me'. And in that spirit we call on all Americans to
join together without regard to race, religion or creed in offering refuge
to children as a token of our sympathy and as a symbol of our faith in the
ideals of human brotherhood." [220]

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