This subject cannot be settled with refuting declarations from the Vatican or declarations from the opposing side. Whoever wants to understand the background of what happened to the Jews during the “Third Reich” must go back in history farther than the Spanish Inquisition, during which thousands of Jews were burnt at the stake along with their Torahs and Talmud and the remaining Jews were banished from Portugal and Spain, until the countries were declared to be free from Jews in 1492. We have to go back even farther than the seven crusades (1096 to 1292 AD), when 22 million heathens, Muslims, and Jews were slaughtered. Indeed, we must go back to the proclamations of the early Catholic church fathers at the end of the second century and in the third century. Their slanderous campaigns against the Jews became the basis for the continuous hatred of the Jews and their persecution until our time.

In this connection the following names are mentioned: Justin, Ireneus, Cyprian, Athanasius, Eusebius, Ephrem, Chrysostomus, Hieronymus, Hilarius, Ambrosius, and Augustin. The state church in the Roman empire, which came into existence from that time, is not in the least identical with the Church of Jesus Christ, as commonly believed. Right up to the final persecution of the Christians under Diocletian, which lasted until 312, there was still no uniform church, only the different fractions of various beliefs. In the year 313 Constantine proclaimed the recognition of the Christian religion. Soon after, in the year 321, he forbade the Jews to keep the Sabbath, made it mandatory for them to accept the Sunday, and turned their synagogues into cattle stables.

The blinded church fathers, who never experienced a conversion to Christ but accepted Christianity as their religion, were responsible for the anti-Jewish attitude. They rejected the Jews together with the Old Testament and mockingly replaced the one God of Israel with the “triune God.” Every criminal act was blessed in their newly invented triune formula “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Ever since then, the church has been using this entirely unscriptural formula, which never came from the lips of the apostles. The seed that was sown by these early church fathers has come up again and again in the church of Rome throughout the centuries. The German magazine “Der Spiegel” put it very eloquently in its February 2009 issue: “Like a red thread the anti-Semitism winds its way through the history of the church — often it is blood red.”

After the first crusade, it came to pogroms against the Jewish population in the German cities of Trier, Speyer, Worms, and Cologne in 1096, causing the deaths of thousands of Jews. In the Lateran Council of 1215 it was decreed that the Jews must wear a mark. Throughout the centuries, pogroms happened in the predominantly Catholic Europe on a regular basis. We find records of ghettos and the marking, exclusion, and discrimination of the Jews. Even the Good Friday liturgy included denouncing passages against the Jews. Every good Catholic had to consider the Jews as outcasts and murderers of Christ and of God, as they were called by the church fathers. This seed also came up in the latter part of Martin Luther’s life, who in the year 1543 wrote a pamphlet with the title “About the Jews and their lies.” Even the Orthodox churches were no exception. Towards the end of the 19^th century, there was a wave of pogroms against the Jews in Russia.

Without any further expositions, it can be said that during the entire time of Protestant governments in Germany there has not been a single persecution of the Jews. In the contrary, the Jews were considered to be citizens with equal rights and had access to any occupation. They were judges, lawyers, physicians, merchants, etc., just as all the other Germans.

In recent history, the year 1929 brought a change when Mr. Benito Mussolini by way of the “Lateran Treaty” on February 11 helped the church gain new power by paying off her debts with 1.75 billion Lira and gifting the Vatican 44 hectares land as sovereign territory. Then came the concordat between the Kingdom of Italy and Pope Pius XI of the Roman Catholic church. This year, 2009, the Vatican can celebrate its eightieth year in existence in the present form.

In July 1933 the concordat between the Vatican and Hitler’s Germany was signed; thus, the church of Rome secured all the pivotal positions of power for her representatives. With the dominant Catholic reign came a new epoch in the Third Reich under Hitler, who boasted to have learned a lot from the Jesuits. Anti-Semitism became socially acceptable. One can read about the slanderous campaign against the Jews by Dr. Karl Lueger, who was the mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1920. From him Hitler collected the first propaganda of persecution against the Jews. There are also records of the terrible things said on this subject by Heinrich Himmler in Bavaria, Julius Streicher, von Papen, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, and many others. From their point of view, the Jews had to be persecuted, banished, or killed, for they were supposedly rejected by God. Therefore, it does not surprise us that the six worst death camps, including Auschwitz/Oswiecim, were built in the arch-Catholic country of Poland.

The early Catholic convictions of the church fathers, who were declared to be saints, became the dominant viewpoint within the Roman Catholic church. Anyone can go back to the respective literature to find out what was proclaimed, even things like, “Whoever kills a Jew reconciles the death of Christ.” That was why millions of Jews were slaughtered with a good conscience. Whoever takes it upon himself to read some of the over forty thousand publications dealing with World War II and the Holocaust, the Shoa, will come to know where the hatred against the Jews has its actual roots and why the persecution and the mass murder was possible.

Of course, the church must officially contradict Mr. Hochhut, who in 1963 published the drama “The vicar,” whereby he exposed the role Pope Pius XII played during that time. The question should be asked: Why does the Vatican so vehemently refuse to open the secret archives from 1939 to 1945? Pope Pius XII was given his rightful place in the “Hall of Shame” of the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The assertion that by his silence he wanted to prevent worse things from happening sounds like sheer mockery in view of the events that transpired. Pope Benedict XVI insists that the portrait must be removed from there before his visit to Jerusalem in May 2009.

We have to leave this most tragic part of the history of mankind to the White Throne judgement. The world capital of Rome is clearly described in Rev. 17+18. In the last verse we read, “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

In reference to Israel and Jerusalem, all the promises that God gave them are now being fulfilled: “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” (Eze. 11:17; Lk. 21:24). “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” (Amos 9:9-15). God bless His covenant people Israel! Amen.

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3).

The truth is marching on; the truth will be victorious. Be comforted, the Lord will make all things well with His Own.

By His commission

This subject cannot be settled with refuting declarations from the Vatican or declarations from the opposing side. Whoever wants to understand the background of what happened to the Jews during the “Third Reich” must go back in history farther than the Spanish Inquisition, during which thousands of Jews were burnt at the stake along with their Torahs and Talmud and the remaining Jews were banished from Portugal and Spain, until the countries were declared to be free from Jews in 1492. We have to go back even farther than the seven crusades (1096 to 1292 AD), when 22 million heathens, Muslims, and Jews were slaughtered. Indeed, we must go back to the proclamations of the early Catholic church fathers at the end of the second century and in the third century. Their slanderous campaigns against the Jews became the basis for the continuous hatred of the Jews and their persecution until our time.

In this connection the following names are mentioned: Justin, Ireneus, Cyprian, Athanasius, Eusebius, Ephrem, Chrysostomus, Hieronymus, Hilarius, Ambrosius, and Augustin. The state church in the Roman empire, which came into existence from that time, is not in the least identical with the Church of Jesus Christ, as commonly believed. Right up to the final persecution of the Christians under Diocletian, which lasted until 312, there was still no uniform church, only the different fractions of various beliefs. In the year 313 Constantine proclaimed the recognition of the Christian religion. Soon after, in the year 321, he forbade the Jews to keep the Sabbath, made it mandatory for them to accept the Sunday, and turned their synagogues into cattle stables. 

 The blinded church fathers, who never experienced a conversion to Christ but accepted Christianity as their religion, were responsible for the anti-Jewish attitude. They rejected the Jews together with the Old Testament and mockingly replaced the one God of Israel with the “triune God.” Every criminal act was blessed in their newly invented triune formula “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Ever since then, the church has been using this entirely unscriptural formula, which never came from the lips of the apostles. The seed that was sown by these early church fathers has come up again and again in the church of Rome throughout the centuries. The German magazine “Der Spiegel” put it very eloquently in its February 2009 issue: “Like a red thread the anti-Semitism winds its way through the history of the church — often it is blood red.” 

After the first crusade, it came to pogroms against the Jewish population in the German cities of Trier, Speyer, Worms, and Cologne in 1096, causing the deaths of thousands of Jews. In the Lateran Council of 1215 it was decreed that the Jews must wear a mark. Throughout the centuries, pogroms happened in the predominantly Catholic Europe on a regular basis. We find records of ghettos and the marking, exclusion, and discrimination of the Jews. Even the Good Friday liturgy included denouncing passages against the Jews. Every good Catholic had to consider the Jews as outcasts and murderers of Christ and of God, as they were called by the church fathers. This seed also came up in the latter part of Martin Luther’s life, who in the year 1543 wrote a pamphlet with the title “About the Jews and their lies.” Even the Orthodox churches were no exception. Towards the end of the 19th century, there was a wave of pogroms against the Jews in Russia. 

Without any further expositions, it can be said that during the entire time of Protestant governments in Germany there has not been a single persecution of the Jews. In the contrary, the Jews were considered to be citizens with equal rights and had access to any occupation. They were judges, lawyers, physicians, merchants, etc., just as all the other Germans.

In recent history, the year 1929 brought a change when Mr. Benito Mussolini by way of the “Lateran Treaty” on February 11 helped the church gain new power by paying off her debts with 1.75 billion Lira and gifting the Vatican 44 hectares land as sovereign territory. Then came the concordat between the Kingdom of Italy and Pope Pius XI of the Roman Catholic church. This year, 2009, the Vatican can celebrate its eightieth year in existence in the present form.

In July 1933 the concordat between the Vatican and Hitler’s Germany was signed; thus, the church of Rome secured all the pivotal positions of power for her representatives. With the dominant Catholic reign came a new epoch in the Third Reich under Hitler, who boasted to have learned a lot from the Jesuits. Anti-Semitism became socially acceptable. One can read about the slanderous campaign against the Jews by Dr. Karl Lueger, who was the mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1920. From him Hitler collected the first propaganda of persecution against the Jews. There are also records of the terrible things said on this subject by Heinrich Himmler in Bavaria, Julius Streicher, von Papen, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, and many others. From their point of view, the Jews had to be persecuted, banished, or killed, for they were supposedly rejected by God. Therefore, it does not surprise us that the six worst death camps, including Auschwitz/Oswiecim, were built in the arch-Catholic country of Poland. 

The early Catholic convictions of the church fathers, who were declared to be saints, became the dominant viewpoint within the Roman Catholic church. Anyone can go back to the respective literature to find out what was proclaimed, even things like, “Whoever kills a Jew reconciles the death of Christ.” That was why millions of Jews were slaughtered with a good conscience. Whoever takes it upon himself to read some of the over forty thousand publications dealing with World War II and the Holocaust, the Shoa, will come to know where the hatred against the Jews has its actual roots and why the persecution and the mass murder was possible.

Of course, the church must officially contradict Mr. Hochhut, who in 1963 published the drama “The vicar,” whereby he exposed the role Pope Pius XII played during that time. The question should be asked: Why does the Vatican so vehemently refuse to open the secret archives from 1939 to 1945? Pope Pius XII was given his rightful place in the “Hall of Shame” of the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The assertion that by his silence he wanted to prevent worse things from happening sounds like sheer mockery in view of the events that transpired. Pope Benedict XVI insists that the portrait must be removed from there before his visit to Jerusalem in May 2009.

We have to leave this most tragic part of the history of mankind to the White Throne judgement. The world capital of Rome is clearly described in Rev. 17+18. In the last verse we read, “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

In reference to Israel and Jerusalem, all the promises that God gave them are now being fulfilled: “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” (Eze. 11:17; Lk. 21:24). “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” (Amos 9:9-15). God bless His covenant people Israel! Amen.

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3).

The truth is marching on; the truth will be victorious. Be comforted, the Lord will make all things well with His Own. 

By His commission