November 9-10, 2018, is the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. “On the nights of November 9 and 10, rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned (and possibly as many as 2,000), almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and school were vandalized, and 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.” (Jewish Virtual Library. You can read more at YadVaShem and History.com)

What we rarely consider is that a considerable number of Jews affected by this pogrom and then the Holocaust were Jews who believed that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. We hope to rediscover their names and stories. Below, CMJ historian Kelvin Crombie explains a bit of the project.

It is now 6 months since I accepted the request from Rev. David Pileggi at Christ Church Jerusalem to research and discover the names and narratives of the Jewish followers of Jesus who died in the Holocaust. They were classified by the Nazis as “non-Aryan Christians.” We often hear the broad statement, “There were perhaps ten thousand Jewish believers in Jesus who died in the Holocaust.” Who were they? What are their stories and testimonies? This is the task at hand.

This is not an easy or comfortable project to work on, especially as it requires considerable background reading in order to be more aware of the context in which the Jewish followers of Jesus in Europe found themselves during the period 1933-45. Yet it might just be that events in former seasons in my life have prepared me for this project. As a young boy growing up in rural Western Australia I was already becoming aware of the Holocaust, and even purchased a book titled Treblinka (one of the five Nazi death camps). Why would that subject interest a non-Jewish, non-Christian 12-year-old boy? And why would a hedonistic young man then find himself in Israel only a few years later?

Soon after I came to faith in Jesus (1981) I helped to care for Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem and I was later involved with the formation of a Hebrew speaking congregation at Christ Church for Israeli followers of Jesus. I worked at CMJ’s Christ Church for 20 years and had the honour of writing the bicentenary book, Restoring Israel, about CMJ. This book included sections about their work in Europe during World War II when many of its staff and associates perished – just for the “crime” of being Jewish. Such preparations, however, do not make the task easier or pleasant. And other than uncovering a basically unknown historical subject, what is the main purpose for undertaking this project?

The Holocaust still remains the major trauma in the modern history of the Jewish people. I don’t think too many people today, Jewish or non-Jewish, actually consider the fact that thousands of genuine Jewish followers of Jesus died in the Holocaust. And though I don’t know for sure, I would guess that those Jews would somehow want their testimonies to speak from ‘beyond the grave’ to people today.

Part of the vision for this project is that the names of these individuals will be inscribed on a wall in the garden at Christ Church. This way they will be remembered and honoured.

They Also Died as Jews: the plight of non-Aryan Christians during the Holocaust.

Progress: Thus far I have had to become familiar again with the broader context of the subject matter, and then to track down source materials from where I can access the information required. As this subject probably has not been covered in its entirety before, it is a matter of collating information from many different sources. So far I have been able to do this from my office at home in Australia, information from the internet and from the purchase of relevant books.

The information is placed into a separate file for each individual, and when possible, a photo image. One important bit of information sought is the verification from two separate lists of victims, from the German Government and from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. All quite tedious and time consuming. Additionally any other relevant information is also being collected for a book which will be published in due time, provisionally titled, They Also Died as Jews: the plight of non-Aryan Christians during the Holocaust.

This past June I spent considerable time in the Christ Church Conrad Schick Library and Archive, where the material will ultimately be housed. I also had several key meetings with people who are interested in the subject, and spent time in the Yad Vashem Library and Archive.
In July I accompanied David Pileggi to Poland for a twelve-day research and study tour of the Holocaust, visiting the death camps and other locations where terrible acts of brutality occurred. No matter how much one reads about the Holocaust, it is very difficult to ‘grasp’. Of the insights gained, perhaps the most significant to me was at Belzec Death Camp. 600,000 Jewish people went in – and only two came out alive. That fact hit hard.

My next research trip will be to the UK, Canada and US for one month of research. This material will provide me with information to work on during the long hot Aussie summer. Meanwhile I will collect relevant information for a research trip to Europe early next year. Accessing these archives and records will also require guides and translators. All of this work is conducted under the umbrella of Heritage Resources Pty Ltd, an officially registered Australian company.

Already some of my own preconceptions have been shattered. One relates to Roman Catholic bishops in the Netherlands who defied the Nazi’s Jewish deportation policy resulting in the dispatch of many Jewish Catholics, even nuns and monks, to Auschwitz. When told, “You can thank your bishops for this!” some of these Jewish Catholics were heard to reply that they supported the stance of their bishops. Now that is a testimony.

I do wish to thank all of you who are supporting this project in one form or another. Without it sounding like a cliché, I really do need intercessory prayer. This project touches upon some of the deepest and saddest events in human history, and I am not immune to being affected. Another prayer concern is whether we as a family should relocate back to Jerusalem in order to complete this project – a project which I already see as my most significant yet.

Kelvin Crombie
Heritage Resources