It should never be forgotten!
A reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

Memorial Day means a lot to me. It is not just another Federal Holiday, but a day to remember the thousands who have given their life in pursuit of peace and love. I was born in the Netherlands at the beginning of World War II. My parents were German (mother) and Dutch (father), and mother although converted to Catholicism, came from a Jewish family. She suffered during the war at the hands of the Nazis, events that hounded her life-long.   

1938 - Nearly 200 synagogues were set afire on November 9, 1938, an evening of widespread violence and vandalism of Jewish property. This heinous event is called "The Night of Broken Glass", Kristallnacht. It should never be forgotten! Many innocent people were hurt that night.

I don't know if it is appropriate to write personal history, and history of my family, on a Secular Franciscan website, but these events in history should never be forgotten. When they are forgotten, it would be a grave insult to the millions who lost their lives during the time from 1938 through 1945. I wasn't born yet in 1938, but it was the year my parents were married in Dresden, Germany. My father, Anton, was born and raised in the Netherlands, as was I when I was born in 1940 in Nijmegen very close to the German border. Family on father's side (and I) were raised in the Catholic Faith. My mother was born in Ostrowo (Ostròv), a town in the neighborhood of Breslau (now "Wroclaw"), then Germany and later this area became Polish. I believe it was in the early 1930's that my mother's Mom and Dad moved to Dresden, where their son (Mom's brother), Eric had a men's quality clothing store and factory. That is where Dad, who was a tailor, met Mom. Mom converted to Catholicism in Dresden at the destroyed, now rebuilt, Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church), no longer a Catholic church but a Baroque Masterpiece of Art and of Choral and other musical performances. Unfortunately, except in pictures, I have never set eyes on it, since I have never visited Dresden. After WWII the city was annexed into the East (Communist) Zone of Germany, and I was in USA when the wall came down and Dresden was reunited in the German Republic.

We lost most of my mothers family members to various Nazi concentration camps, where their deaths are, in some cases known, and in other cases not specifically known, but they all suffered and we cannot imagine that their deaths would have been painless. Each time, these anniversaries of death, of hate, and of sacrifice by the victims, come around, I suffer too. I've experienced life in a Concentration camp (Amersfoort, in Holland), although mother and I were released. This is in many ways a miraculous story as we came very close to losing our lives. I was 4 years old but I remember things no 4-year old should remember. So people who try to tell us that the Holocaust never happened, are wrong. Unfortunately, the Holocaust is not talked about at garden parties. I think it should be, particularly by the intellectuals in this world - so that similar injustices can be avoided in the future.

When we look back on history, we can find a great many examples of suffering caused by injustice. It started, after Jesus was born, in the deaths of the Innocents, at the behest of King Herod, and it really never stopped. There was one war after another before the birth of Christ as well as afterwards. There were about 75 wars between 1 AD and the year 1000! And just about every year since! Let's face it, the people of the world are just never happy with their neighbors, which is why it is so very important that we learn to love our neighbors at all costs - as it is the only way to Eternal Life!

The fact that there were so many wars and conflicts doesn't in any way mitigate the evil of war. All wars are evil and most have been deadly! WWII was no exception. Between 10 and 17 Million people lost their lives during those horrible times. At the end of the war, at the armistice: (for the Netherlands, this was on May 8, 1945) that day, I was three months shy of my 5th birthday, and I recall that day more or less. I was in a house south of the city and we were able to go home, to find a house pretty well shot up, but it was fixed up again, a little at a time.

I lived in angst most of the war, even though I was young. I still recall times during the war and if I dwell on these memories too long, I will get nightmares again, so I avoid thinking about the particulars, but I will never forget! Let us pray that such wars will never again occur. If there is a major war again, with all the newfangled weaponry, particularly the nuclear kind, most of us will not come out alive, so pray it will never happen again. I fear for our troops in the Middle East. They are brave men and women, and they should be supported all the way. They are fighting essentially so that we may be free from tyranny. We owe them great amounts of gratitude. That is also true for those who fought valiantly in all the other wars, Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan and the small conflicts in between. Just because some of these wars may not have had its desired end, we still owe gratitude to those who fought. And to those who died. To all the relatives and families who lost loved ones. Husbands, Wives, Brothers and Sisters, Sons, and Daughters. And let us not ever forget those who died and suffered because of 9/11!

May they all rest in peace, and let us now strive for peace!

There is an insidious "war" going on every day in our cities and towns. Crime, some petty, some bigger and more awful, the newspapers are full of reports of things that would make anyone cry. We sometimes say "If God could cry, His tears would fill the streets" - that's what would happen if this crimewave continues unabatedly. It is being felt even in the smaller towns. Poverty has a lot to do with it, but that is not the only cause. The cause is partly the increase in dysfunctional marriages, where the kids are left unsupervised, who then turn to drugs, theft to support their habits, and ultimately worse crimes. Those conditions collectively are akin to a war. The war between good and evil. Thank God there are many, a great many kids, teens, young men and women who turn out OK!

Just as what was begun at Kristallnacht, so many years ago, let us reverse the trend of violence toward our neighbors and begin to love our neighbors as we love God and ourselves. Peace to all people of Good Will!

I served in the Army (USA) for three years when I was in my early 20's, mostly in Germany. Although I did not serve in wartime, I feel a close kinship to all who did. Memorial Day brings it all back for me. It is the price I need to pay for them. 

Fred S. Schaeffer, OFS
2009, 2021

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