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In the summer of 1932, Germany held a national election. After years of economic depression, the people wanted prosperity again. Suffering defeat in the first World War, they wanted to make their nation great again. Tired of political battles and government ineptitude, they desired strength and stability. Suspicious of those who worshiped God differently, and afraid of the rising ideology of godless Marxism, they went to the polls. In July of that fateful year, the German people, including many professing Christians, voted the Nazi party into parliamentary power. Ten years later their cities were in flames, their sons were dying all over Europe, and their neighbors were being murdered in death camps. The land of Luther and Bach became the domain of a demoniac, and the whole world paid a price in death and destruction.
In the recently published book, Because of Whose I Am: A Nazi’s Daughter ($18.99), we encounter a true story of what it was like to live in Hitler’s Germany. Helga Lades’ childhood was overshadowed by Nazi ideology and the war. Her father, an atheist, was a Nazi official who forced Helga’s mother to keep her faith a secret. When the war was over, her father was disgraced and imprisoned. Helga met an American soldier who fell in love with her on their first night together. She married him, moved to America, and started a family. Years later, Helga found the faith of her mother, became a follower of Jesus, and attended a church here in Birmingham. Her life is a testament of the redemptive and transformative grace of God.
Helga’s story is a powerful reminder of two important truths. First, God’s Spirit cannot be contained. He moves whenever and wherever He wishes. Second, no nation, regardless of how “Christian” it appears to be, is safe from falling into barbarity and wickedness. The ascent of Hitler and the horrors that followed occurred for numerous reasons, but the saddest reason may be that many German churches and clergymen were complicit in the rise of fascism. When a nation places an ungodly person into power, they should expect ungodly things to happen. God’s people should be ever vigilant in resisting ethnic hostility, bigotry, nationalism, and warmongering. Too many churches tried to baptize Nazi ideology, and God will hold them responsible. Their betrayal of the Gospel should serve as a warning. If it happened in Helga’s childhood Germany, it can happen anywhere.
–Darrel Holcombe, Owner
Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts
Colonial Promenade, Alabaster 205-663-2370
