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Title
July 15, 2007
Note from Steve Shultz:
Anje van Tongeren, a Christian non-Jew, lived in Holland during World War II
and risked her life to help the Jewish people escape by forging documents for
them. Her home was raided twice, and her father turned her in. She was sent to a
Nazi prison camp.
After reading the article, There Comes a Time When Silence is Betrayal, in
the May issue of ElijahRain magazine, she felt prompted to share her story with
us. Anje is a member of the Righteous Among the Nations, a title of honor Israel
grants to non-Jews who fought to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
Steve Shultz
Founder, ElijahList and ElijahRain magazine
www.ElijahList.com
Prophetic TV
www.Prophetic.tv
WHY GOD? WHY ME?
by Anje van Tongeren
This year, April 15, 2007, marked the 62nd Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom
Hashoah). It's still the most difficult day of the year for me. It's not the
remembrance of the Holocaust that I struggle with the most, but rather, the
forgetting and forgiving of it. The official ceremony with the lonely trumpet
sound, followed by the two minutes of silence seems to bring back all the
terror, insanity, and the painful experiences I have witnessed.
By insanity, I mean the horrible treatment people went through. It was much
lower than anyone could have imagined—worse than the treatment of any animal.
But so much worse than the gas chambers, the ovens, or the animal-like
experiments people endured, was the torture—the terrible screams—the ripping
apart of a baby right before its mother's eyes.
People had to dig their own graves, and then they were shot. Even if they
weren't dead yet, that didn't matter, because a tractor would come and bulldoze
over them, covering the graves. Oftentimes they made soap out of the bodies.
Human hair was used for stuffing pillows and lamp shades were made out of human
skin—especially skin with tattoos.
For me, there will never be a "Lest We Forget"
"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward
slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs
the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not
repay each person according to what he has done?"
Proverbs 24:11-12
But the day also brings thanksgiving to mind. I have always believed in my
guardian angel. And whenever I was afraid, I prayed to the Father in Heaven,
"Help!"
I can remember shortly after the war, I was going to end it all, because it
was then that I found out my father was our betrayer. I found that after the
second raid on our home, my father turned us in—this was when I went to prison.
Many women were caught because of their resistance activities during this
time. They not only hid the Jews, but also transported weapons for the
underground, participated in armed raids on the Nazis, printed underground
leaflets, or helped the allied pilots who landed by parachute when their planes
were shot down over the Netherlands.
There were so many reasons to end it all. My mother died in Ravensbruch
Concentration Camp in January, 1945. My uncle was shot in Vught in 1944, at the
age of 42. Most of my friends had died either by being shot, or while they were
in the prison camps.
And there I was, one of the few that survived, and I was released from
prison. I asked, "Why God—why me?"
After my release, I had no money. I was hungry most of the time and had to
live with a father who made life unbearable for me. I was going to turn on the
gas and end it all—but then I heard a small voice say, "Don't do it." I obeyed
the voice, but went on to bed still praying, "Why?" Then suddenly, I heard a
voice saying, "I am the Judge." At that very moment, the hatred left my life. A
beautiful peace settled over me and I was free from worry about my future. I
knew my Heavenly Father would take care of me.
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."—Romans 5:5
As I grew in the Lord, I found the small voice that had spoken to me the day
I was going to end it all, was the voice of the Holy Spirit, and the guardian
angel, who was with me during the days in the prison camp, was Jesus. He was the
One who was with me at all times. He was with me in prison. He was the One who
gave me courage when I was hungry and lonely, when bullets were flying, and when
I was sitting in the cold. He saved me from so many dangers.
We must remember that God's grace is always at work, especially in the midst
of our greatest difficulties. His grace is sometimes hidden when all seems to be
going well, but it's always there.
Tragedy opens our eyes to His presence in ways that good times never can. It
was during these most difficult times I recognized He was always present and
powerful, and that even death couldn't keep us from Him.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation (war), or
distress (not knowing where to turn), or persecution (being watched and
followed), or famine (hunger, eating whatever you can find, even rotten potatoes
in prison), or nakedness (no human comforts whatsoever), or peril (constant
danger and complete hopelessness), or sword (bullets, bomb shells, and fire)? As
it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."—Romans 8:35-39 (paraphrased)
Not only did six million Jews die, but also, so many Gentiles. I know the
Holocaust was real, and it should never be forgotten!
My name is Anje van Tongeren, I am 78 years old. I reside in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada. I have two daughters, Freda and Joanne and one grandson,
Raymond. I was born on October 7, 1928 and raised in a city in northern Holland
called Groningen, I was an only child. I am an active member of Aglow (being
Prayer Chairman, tape guest speakers and telephone chairman) and First Nations
Community Church where I am also a Prayer Chairman. I have been asked to speak
for several church groups, the last one being a special service held in
remembrance of the Jewish Holocaust, and as a Gentile, I have a different take
on things.
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contact info, and author contact information intact.
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