What can a Nazi tell us about God?
By paulmatzko on Feb 17, 2008 in Religion and tagged Martin Bormann, Nazi
What do you remember about your dad? I remember that when I was a little kid my Dad would get down on all fours and block the doorway to my room, daring me to try and get by him. I would attempt to climb over him and giggle wildly when he made grunting noises like a pig and snuffled his nose in my shirt.
A 77 year old German man remembers that “he loved his father as any child should.” His dad wanted “to make his own family because he had nothing as a child. He was strict, but he had a very big heart.” A postcard that he received as a teenager while at a boarding school was particularly special to him. His dad wrote, “To my dearest, darling child…I would like to come and see you next weekend, the 14th. Would you be able to see me then? With all my love, father.”
Here is a picture of that devoted father:
This loving family man was Martin Bormann, a Nazi leader and trusted confidant of Adolf Hitler.
Martin Bormann was involved in the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz. He was tried in absentia at the Nuremburg Trials and sentenced to death for his role in the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities. How can such a depraved person be a loving dad?
Here is a picture of his son who is now 77 years old.
Even the most despicable human being is capable of showing the natural affection of a father for his children. That a Nazi was capable of loving anyone is amazing, but it is part of the picture of the love God has for us described in Matthew 7:9-11:
“Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
When you were hungry as a kid and went to your dad and asked for something to eat did he give you a rock or some poison? Of course not. I would tell my dad I was hungry and he invariably answered, “Hello Hungry. My name is George.” [I betchya the Greek word for "stone" in verse 9 has the alternate meaning "pun"]. Ultimately my Dad would get me something to eat because he loved me.
The same is even more true of God. My father is a depraved person, as are we all [I included the extra clause to make you feel better Dad (-: ], and yet he is capable of love for his children. But a perfect heavenly Father is even more reliable and more capable of giving “every good and perfect gift.”
At the risk of being boorish, it is unfortunate that Martin Bormann lived out Matthew 7:9-11, but fell so far short of verse 12: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Here are the links to the pictures and the article quoting Martin Bormann Jr:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990201/ai_n14214264/pg_2
Thanks to Ian McConnell for mentioning this passage in his sermon this morning.
6 Comment(s)
That was a great entry. I love your memories of Dad!
Me too! It made me laugh because I could picture it in my mind’s eye!
Even I liked it. I’ve never been compared to a Nazi killer before.
He wasn’t just any Nazi killer…he was a Nazi killer who played with his children. (-;
This post’s timing creepily ties back into yesterday’s reading material (i.e., Lacan’s ideas of dismemberment, Shakespeare’s Othello, and the Gospel of John in which we find numerous and varying ghoulish metaphors). All recent “reads” seem to point up at least one theme which I would blissfully evade if it weren’t for the persistency of the Holy Spirit: while self-deceptively depraved, man has been given unfathomable capacity. As much as I am loathe to give Mr. Francis S. an inch in which to wiggle, I admit that this theme nears L’Abri’s emphasis on man as a “glorified ruin.”
P.S. After reading the posted comments, I felt like I had sat in on a Matzko Sunday dinner conversation. And I think I’ll leave it there…
I heard it through the grapevine that Uncle Jack was unimpressed by this post. To be more transparent I was looking for a different Nazi, that I vaguely remembered was the head of a concentration camp. If my memory serves me correct, there were some pictures showing him playing with his children and pets. I was unable to find him after an hour of searching and settled for Mr. Bormann instead. Reading the posted article does cast some doubt over the son’s remembrance of his father; was Martin really a good dad or is that how his son wished to remember him today through the veil of time and nostalgia?
I don’t know, but even if Bormann was actually a terrible father, the main point would transcend my inadequate illustration on Biblical merit alone. Bad people are capable of feeling compassion for their kids. How much more compassion must a “good person” have for us?
Sorry Uncle Jack for grieving the historiographer in you! (-;