Friday, August 04, 2006

Aug. 4, 1944

Acting on a tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captured 15 year old Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had been in hiding there for 2 years because they feared being deported to a Nazi concentration camp. See link:
www.historychannel.com/today/

There are a lot of parallels between the story of Anne Frank and the events of the 21st Century. Anne and her family were in hiding because of an unspeakable evil that was trying to destroy them. World opinion was against the Jews in the years leading up to WWII. Most of the world thought that this unspeakable evil led by Adolph Hitler could be bargained with, negotiated with, and appeased. The Franks received invaluable help from concerned Christians. The Jews had factions within their own communities--kapos (Jewish Nazi police), their Judenrat (Council of Elders administrating Nazi policy), and other assorted collaborators and informants--who believed that it was possible to "make nice" with the Nazis to ensure their survival. They were fatally wrong. Let's not forget the lessons of the past as we deal with the complexities of the present and the future.

In a second world war, we learned there is no isolation from evil. We affirmed that some crimes are so terrible they offend humanity itself. And we resolved that the aggressions and the ambitions of the wicked must be opposed early, decisively, and collectively, before they threaten us all. That evil has returned, and that cause is renewed.----Pres. George W. Bush on 11/10/01

Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray that they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."---Pres. George W. Bush on 9/11/01

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