A Short Thought on

Being Jewish In Germany During WWII

One can't help but notice in this picture below, a man of dignity. Here is well dressed man, a Jew, perhaps a entrepreneur, a white collar businessman, or that of a tradesman. This man can be seen hauled off in a ox cart, that used for cattle and swine, in front of many onlookers in a public setting, humiliated, carted off as a dog, a subhuman, to the concentration camp to face both torture and death.

"To the extent that the Buddha, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Krishna, Mohammed, Confucius, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Genoa, Hildengard of Bingen, Rosa Parks, Florence Nightingale, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Buber, Thich Nhat Hahn, Dag Hammarskjold, or any other holy person brings life, love, and being to another, then to that degree that person is to me the word of God incarnate. No fence can be placed around the Being of God. The suggestion that Jesus is of a different kind of substance and therefore different from every other human being in kind instead of in degree will ultimately have to be abandoned. Then the realization will surely begin to dawn that to perceive Jesus as different form others only in degree is to open all people to the divine potential found in the Christ figure. It is to invite all people to step into the power of living fully, loving wastefully, and having the courage to be all that any one of can be - a self whole, free, real, and expanding, a participant in a humanity without boundaries." - JOHN SHELBY SPONG

To the extent that each and every man or woman who dares uphold dignity and honor in spite of the painful horror, who remains able to perceive the beauty beyond the evil, who endows the ability to bring love, life and the power of being to oneself and to others, to Jews, Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Sikhs and alike, this person to me is the word of God incarnate.

"Strength does not comes from physical capacity. It come from an indomitable will." "Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant in spirit glory is in fighting alone." "Nonviolence in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. it does not mean meek submission to the will of the evildoer, but it means the pitting of one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant. Working under this law of our being, it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration." - GANDHI

What strikes me is the man himself. Neither is there a look for pity, as no expression is made for pleas of mercy and a begging and sobbing for life. Nor is there any expression of anger and hate, that of protest, restraining against the soldiers orders. There is a man, expressionless, publicly humiliated, yet dignified, in acceptance of his horrendous fate. There is a unseen, yet visible, strength of character, the same as can be read in the words of the gospel, that of a man who died with dignity and strength, accepting his fate in courageousness.

Perhaps it was the German disposition where even under the face of utter destruction, the mindset was that of orderly obedience, the thought of chaotic resistance not to enter the German minds. Yet the acceptance, while in a situation of utter despair, is seen the most remarkable character and strength of personal self.

What also is noticed is both the onlookers and soldiers, that of pleasure, the smirks on their faces, in the torture of others. Somehow the humiliation of other people, the Jews, Gypsies and others, brought much pleasure in their pain. The presence of their fears, traumas and interior insecurities, released in the degradation and destruction of other lives.

The overall scene in this photo speaks volumes, that can say much more than what these short words convey, giving yet a small glimpse into a dark era of human history, a history that can surely be repeated by those who fail to educate themselves and in turn comprehend the mindsets of such people (that of all sides) and those events that concur with such mentalities.