Guided by hope” “

“The memory of the Germans of the crimes committed in the concentration camps is different and must remain different from the memory of other peoples and groups, especially that of the victims. Despite that, the fact that today, ever more often — and even in the place itself of the atrocities – it is possible for Poles and Germans, Jews and Christians to meet together in common memory is a sign of hope for the present and for the future”. So write the German bishops in their Declaration issued on 25 January, two days before the “Day of Memory” that commemorates the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp of Auschwitz (27 January 1945). IN MEMORY OF JEWS, GIPSIES, RUSSIANS, POLES… “As no other place, Auschwitz represents the symbol of the annihilation of German Jewry”, write the German bishops, who also recall the “hundreds of thousands of gipsies (Sinti and Rom)”, the victims of “experiments by pseudo-scientific doctors”, and the “many thousand soldiers of the Red Army”, killed at Auschwitz: “Our memory goes to all these victims, also to the witnesses of the Christian faith”. The Declaration affirms that the concentration camp of Auschwitz is particularly significant for the Polish people, since “the entire Jewish population and a large part of the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in occupied Poland”. The anniversary is also the occasion to commemorate “the countless allied soldiers who gave their life for the liberation of Europe from the criminal system of National Socialism”, and in particular the Red Army, which liberated those victims who were still alive in the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of the war. Nor do we ignore the terrible consequences for the local population of the occupation of a large part of Germany by the Red Army. Encouraged by their leaders to take revenge for the terrible crimes committed by the Germans against the Russian population, Soviet soldiers were not just dedicated to a just war against Hitler, but were also at the service of the criminal Stalin. The suffering inflicted on the German population in the form of vengeance for German crimes cannot, however, make us forget that without the terrible tribute of blood paid especially by Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian soldiers, the assassins of Auschwitz would not have been halted”. THE ABYSS OF AUSCHWITZ. “At Auschwitz our civilization was confronted in an appalling way with the abyss of its possibilities. The sheer scale of the evil committed at Auschwitz still leaves us speechless today. We still have not succeeded in finding an adequate word in German to describe what is called ‘Shoah’ in Hebrew. Our people – continue the bishops – have spent a lot of time trying to come to terms with the responsibility for the monstrous crime committed by the Germans and in the name of the Germans. Still today, people try to repress their memories of it. Of course, it is right to reject the idea of collective guilt. But it is equally true that the number of Germans personally guilty for what happened is higher than that of those willing to confess their co-responsibility. The guilt is not just that of the perpetrators themselves and political leaders. Sympathisers and all those who pretended not to see are also responsible at various levels. We know very well to what pressure the population was then subjected; we know the scale of state disinformation and the effectiveness of the methods of intimidation. We cannot therefore consider ourselves superior in judgement. Despite that, it is right to expect from our people the admission that Auschwitz became possible because too few had the courage to oppose it”. WE REMEMBER. Posing the “question about co-responsibility” as a question that also concerns the Church, due to the “long tradition of anti-Semitism among Christians and in our Church”, the German bishops recall the contents of the Vatican document “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah“, the recognition of the guilt of the Catholic Church on the part of John Paul II and the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land in 2000, with his significant act of atonement before the memorial of Yad Vashem. “This act of the Pope”, they write, “has become the source of renewal. The Pope is proceeding with determination in his efforts to improve relations with Judaism and encourages the whole Church to find common ground with out ‘elder brothers in the faith’. We therefore thank all those who, often with great commitment, are working for the dialogue between Judaism and Christianity”. In warning of the anti-semitic tendencies still present in Europe, the German Bishops conclude: “We still have a long process of purification and healing in front of us. We are grateful for the fact that in recent years many Jews have had the courage to come to Germany. But as Christians, we are also guided by the hope that the meeting in the faith enriches us all and brings us closer to the common God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.