Tárogató, 1946-1947 (9. évfolyam, 7-10. szám)
1947-04-01 / 10. szám
TÁROGATÓ 13 WE WENT TO DETROIT TO HEAR PASTOR NIEMOELLER SPEAK By Mervin A. Bury, Windsor, Ont. Many Windsor, Ont., clergy and laity availed themselves of the opportunity to hear Pastor Martin Niemoeller during his recent visit to Detroit, Michigan. In a special morning session for ministers held in the historic St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, Dr. Niemoeller described the struggle that occurred in Germany between Hitler and the small nucleus of the Church which refused to surrender its sacred principles. Niemoeller was one of the first to recognize the inherent dangers of National Socialism. He defined the issue as the Totalitarianism of Hitler versus the Totalitarianism of God. The German people had to decide between obedience to the Ten Commandments of God or the dictatorial demands of Hitler whose policy openly violated every one of the Divine Commandments. The Gospel of Christ maintained Niemoeller, is more than a matter of personal salvation with the promise of heavenly reward; it is a gospel which must be preached from the housetops, regardless of cost or consequences (cf. Matt. 10: 26, 27). The speaker stressed this point again and again and sincerely believes this is one constructive lesson taught by Hitler and Nazi Germany to the rest of the world. At the evening meeting sponsored by the Detroit Council of Churches, more than five thousand people crowded into Detroit’s largest hall, the Masonic Temple Auditorium, and a estimated two thousand disappointed persons were turned away. Among the notables on the platform, Mrs. Niemoeller nervously clasped and unclasped her hands and her countenance, bearing the marks of suffering, registered concern. Before taking his place at the lectern, Dr. Niemoeller affectionately patted her hands and whispered ' words of reassurance. From the beginning to the end his masterly address made a tremendous impression on his audience. After listening to him for a few minutes, no one could doubt his sincerity. We knew we were in the presence of a great soul who had been strengthened and deepened by the experiences of Sachsenhausen and Dachau. Pastor Niemoller intimated that he had come to America on a mission of good will to express, personally, gratitude for himself and that of his Church in Germany for everything the Christians of America and other lands had done for them. Especially did he mention the value of the prayers of Christians everywhere which proved to be a sustaining power undergirding them in their dreadful ordeals. He reiterated the point he emphasized in the morning that the Ten Commandments are basic for decent, orderly society. The clash in Germany was between Hitler and Christ. They were “enemies by nature” and äs long as there was a Christian Church in Germany, Hitler had to fight the Church. “It was the only organization and society of human beings in Germany which was able to resist Adolph Hitler and his works in Central Europe. Adolph Hitler tried to suppress it. As far back as 1933 he tried to silence the Church. The press, the universities, the unions were gone; there was nothing resisting Hitler except the Church.” So he persecuted the Church and the result was a revival, and the brotherly intercession of Prayer all over the world. Hitler got control of the leadership of certain Churches, scattered the preachers of other Churches until the unrest spread far and wide and he had to openly persecute the pastors. Niemoeller paid great tribute to the laymen, the young people and the women who took up the preachers’ task after they were imprisoned. For Niemoeller himself the “central experience” of the eight years of incarceration, and in fact of his whole life, occurred at Christmas, 1944, when he was permitted to conduct a service of worship—the first in al those gruesome years. There were fifteen prisoners in the cell block, eight Roman Catholics and seven Protestants. He took stock of his congregation of six, and was a bit dismayed at the variety of nationalities and denominations. There was a British OUR ENGLISH SECTION.
