September-October 1998
Deceived by Nazi Lies
| "The Nazis hid their atrocities. It was primitive. Now you can commit the same atrocities and define the evil away. The deceit comes from the words we use. Most people don't think the holocaust touches them at all. We must understand how clever we have become in hiding evil today." |
Hilmar von Campe grew up in Germany under the stiff rule of Adolph Hitler. Born on April 11, 1925, von Campe was caught between the ruthless expansionism of the Third Reich and his own moral upbringing.
Though raised in a Christian home, he received a steady and mandatory indoctrination in the Hitler Youth Organization. By the end of the war, von Campe was fighting for his homeland as a tank gunner with the German army.
As the war came to a close, he found himself in Yugoslavia -- far from his home. Placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, von Campe made a miraculous escape, crossing seven borders and barely surviving his long journey home.
Living in Nazi Germany, Hilmar von Camp discovered first hand the terrible consequences of self-deception and came face to face with his own need for repentance and forgiveness. His experience has given him great insight into today's policies and trends.
He compares developments in pre-war Germany with trends and developments of today. As a Christian, Hilmar von Campe feels compelled to point out the similarities and indicate Christian alternatives to current social and moral trends. In our interview, von Campe reflects on what he has learned and what these lessons teach us about truth today.
Don Otis: You were seven years old when Hitler came to power. What did Hitler offer the German people, and why did they follow him?
Hilmar von Campe: Hitler gave people a purpose in their life. The Nazi ideology demands everything from everybody. Young people want to give themselves to something great.
Were you brainwashed or indoctrinated as a youngster?
Of course. Just the way they would talk about history or life was a way of indoctrination. We didn't even realize it. We were forbidden to read foreign newspapers or listen to foreign broadcasts. Everything was controlled by the Nazis. My father risked his life to listen to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) or Swiss Radio. There were constant battles between our own convictions and the requirements of the Nazis.
Were you aware of the liquidation of millions of people in the concentration camps?
Not at all. It is a simple fact that most just didn't know. Jews were herded by night into trains which were sealed. Many people never asked. America is a completely different kind of society. We had no free press. It was not an open society.
But didn't you know about the treatment of the Jews?
Yes. We saw the stars which provided identification and knew that the Jews were discriminated against and treated terribly. There was no outcry.
The real culprits are not just those who commit the crimes. It is the good people who don't kill a fly but refuse to take a stand. We must stand up when discrimination begins. I saw Jews herded into trucks, but thought they were going to work. The terrible part of all this is that these Jews were Germans, too! This did not register in me or millions of other Germans. The line between right and wrong had been erased. I was brainwashed.
Do you think the church and clergy let the German people down?
In most cases, yes. They should have spoken out. Some did and paid with their lives. The tendency in human nature is to adjust to one's surroundings. We do not want to take risks that imperil us. So we adapt. That's why millions of non-Nazis didn't say a peep.
The way many people behave today is really no different. We all must take risks or face punishment in some way, in our jobs or relationships. "German Christians" subordinated Christian teachings to the politically correct Nazi requirements. In doing so, Christian teaching ceased being Christian. It only sounded like it.
How do we keep from being deceived by the same forces that were at work in Nazi Germany?
There is an ideological battle for power which boils down to the choice between absolute and relative morality -- truth and lies. If we want to change society, the best place to begin is with ourselves. Stop lying, and begin applying absolute moral standards. Most people don't want to talk about a standard anymore. The spirit of the age -- moral neutrality -- seeks the easiest path. God's absolute standards are the only valid yardsticks to measure values.
Are there similarities between the Church in the United States and the Church in Hitler's Germany?
We have millions of Christians who have the teachings of Christ and still don't follow him with their lives. We must wake up to the reality that our society is composed of people who say they believe in God but live as they please. Many people in the American clergy have created a teaching of Christ that robs Christianity of its teeth. America and Americans must change and set the pace for the rest of the world.
Though you were unaware of the extermination camps, did you feel any shame after the war?
Yes. I know Germany's sins are my sins. If I am not right, my nation won't be right either. There is no other way to cure a problem except by starting the cure with yourself and your individual selfish acts. Change must not begin with others. It must begin with each individual. Each of us can take up the battle and attack our own selfishness. I didn't personally kill any Jews, but I was indirectly responsible. Freedom is not an automatic right but the consequence of living according to the commandments of God.
What have you personally done to bring healing to those who were hurt?
I visited our neighboring countries and apologized for the suffering Germany had caused their people. Later, I was received by Rabbi Dr. David Weinstein, the director of the Holocaust Memorial Council in Washington, D.C. I apologized for the murder of six million Jews. I had not killed any Jew, but I had been indifferent to the persecution of Jews who were turned into second-class citizens. I needed forgiveness. I had given my life to God and promised to fight the lie in whatever form or in whatever country.
Do you see similarities between Nazi-led Germany and the United States today?
The Nazis practically destroyed the legal systems and made them relative. For example, it became legal to discriminate against the Jews. The law was ripped from its moral foundation. There was a contempt for certain human life that is evident in America today. Can you imagine Jesus Christ putting someone in an oven or doing an abortion?
So, are you saying you believe we have become more sophisticated in our evil?
Absolutely. The Nazis hid their atrocities. It was primitive. Now you can commit the same atrocities and define the evil away. The deceit comes from the words we use. Most people don't think the holocaust touches them at all. We must understand how clever we have become in hiding evil today.
What do you mean by a "battle for truth?"
Many of us have become a collection of individuals seeking our own goals without a common purpose beyond ourselves. This adds up to a society with no purpose.
Truth must be based on God's commandments. These are not merely recommendations. There is no alternative to standing up for moral principles on a personal, national and international level.
The same standard has to be applied to all people and all nations so that there is a universal system of justice based on moral absolutes. When we appease evil, it is just as destructive as the evil itself.
The totalitarian systems of the Nazis and the communists are merely organized lies. Vaclac Havel, president of Czechoslovakia once said, "To live a life of truth is a moral act which everybody can perform."
After the war, how did your life change?
In those early years just after the war we were battling for our very survival. The one thing that hit me the hardest was the reality of the holocaust. It hit me like a hammer.
My father had died in a camp. We had no money. Our country was in ruins. I had no profession -- no purpose. The military was my career, and I had no interest in anything else.
What eventually brought hope to your life?
Eventually, I realized God had a purpose for my life. He prepared me on the inside to face my own life from his perspective. I knew that if I could not be forgiven, I could not go on living. I was challenged to look at my life through the eyes of God and measure it against absolute truth. Only then did I realize what a moral wreck I was.
It was only when I faced my own moral mess that I asked Jesus to come in. I was reborn. I didn't just give my life to God for my own sake. I knew I needed a Savior. I was looking for a way out of humiliation, destruction and defeat.
It finally occurred to me that the Nazi defeat was the result of moral destruction. I wanted restoration, and God was there to give it to me.
Director of Sandpoint, Idaho based Creative Resources, media consultant Don Otis has written for New Man, Charisma, Religious Broadcasting, and other magazines, and is the author of Chosen Books' Trickle-Down Morality.