Tag Archives: WW2

Movie Review

Extreme Love

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“After my marriage, I only kissed two men; my husband and the man that murdered my family”

Christ, the embodiment of God, commanded that the redeemed are to love their enemies. Sabina and her husband Richard Wurmbrand, founders of ‘VOICE OF THE MARTYRS’, take this command to its extreme. As Romanian Jews during WW2, they are persecuted by the Fascist NAZI’s and when the Russians took over, they were persecuted for being Christians.

Romania was under NAZI rule for 4 years (1940-1944) and then under the Communists for 18 years (1947-1965). Under both administrations, Sabina and Richard were targeted for prosecution. They survived by loving their neighbour, and their enemies.

Richard converted to Christianity amid a mortal battle with TB. In his preparation for death, he hoped there was a God, and found HIM.

“GOD, I know you don’t exist, but if you do, it’s up to you to reveal yourself to me!”

‘Sabina’,the movie, covers the ‘NAZI years; when they met and married. They had been secular intellectuals with financial success, both reckless party people. The movie follows, their conversion and their commitment to a higher will. Richard changes his career from stock broker to pastor. From reckless to fearless they navigate the treacherous rule of the Iron Guard and the NAZI’s.

A follow up movie that documents the Communist era is ‘Tortured for Christ’ where Richard is tortured and imprisoned for 14 years. Both the Fascists and the Communists made a common enemy of God.

“I am not afraid for those Jews (the murdered), God will surely compensate them for what they suffered. I am anguished when I think, what will happen to their murderers when they stand before God.”

Snatching souls from the eternal torment of Hell is paramount in their minds and both are willing to suffer to save a soul. Sabina and Richard face their persecutors with two fundamental foundations of their faith.

‘If your enemy is hungry give him something to eat, if he is thirsty give him some water.’

and

‘Whoever will save his life shall lose it and whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it.’

Sabina was an unwilling convert initially, but as Richards commitment persisted, her resolve submits after a party where she is confronted by the immorality of her peers.

Whist a third of Romanian Jews were murdered, including 11,000 in one day, Sabina and Richard survive the NAZI years, by loving their neighbours. Her family does not, they are taken to the camps to meet their end, including her young 14 year old brother.

The path of Christianity is marred by demonic institutions, at every turn, but the Wurnbrand’s rise to the occasion, not only to confront their enemies but also to comfort them. Both knew that death was not a fearful transition for them; they had the golden ticket to Heaven, and no-one could snatch away their prize.

In ‘Tortured for Christ’, (the Communist era); a guard that had been torturing Richard see’s him praying, in frustration he yells..

“Your wife (Sabina) is in prison and your son is an orphan, who are you praying for?”

Richard answers..

“You”

A TRUE STORY

SABINA & RICHARD WURMBRAND founders of VOM
April Events, Australian Culture

LEST WE FORGET

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WW1 & WW2; We don’t need another WAR, We can’t be complacent.

The 4 horses


…as I watched, there was a white horse. Its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he went off winning victories, and to win more of them.


It began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. In those days most countries were ruled by royalty, in-fact many were related and the offspring of Queen Victoria.

The kingdoms were expecting a quick war, the soldiers went off cheerfully, hoping to be home by harvest, none could have imagined the blood-bath that awaited them. The world had never experienced this type of warfare, where few would barely survive. The royal armies would include the bow of the middle east.WW1 sets of the events that would carry through into WW2.


...And another horse went out, fiery red

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The Red Baron, Germany removes Russia out of the WW1 to prepare for an American retaliation. They put Lenin on a train and sent him to Russia to cause a civil war; de-throne the royals and introduce communism. Essentially by keeping the Russians busy killing each other, the Germans could concentrate on other fronts.

Communism took root in Russia and flew a red flag with a sickle. The red horse removed Peace.

Christian loyalty between nations was dissolved under the weight of communism.Russia would make a tragic alliance with Germany, a false treaty that would create major losses in WW2, before it sided with the opposition.

This was a ruthless and unholy war; soldiers envied the dead because ‘it was all over for them’. Vulnerable persons and Jews were round up, like sheep to the slaughter and there was no mercy.

ANZAC

DAY



Then came, the Black Horse; the banks and the oil of the Middle East.

Iraq was formed and the men never returned to their harvest. In WW1 & WW2 poverty abound, the oil was required to keep the war going and alcohol was sent to the troops to calm them.

The Earth was charcoaled black.


As I looked, there was a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. Hades followed along behind him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with death, and by means of earth’s wild animals.


In WW1;10 million military died, 7 million civilian deaths, 21 million wounded, and 7.7 million missing or imprisoned. The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) carried out genocide of 1 million Christian Armenians. In WW2 85 million died. Beyond the official numbers more died of the the diseases and povety that the war created.

Gangrene set in,and bodies were rotting and destroyed, people were homeless and the water was polluted with sunken ships as chemical warfare choked the air.

Death was everywhere and the corpses, attracted rats. One pair of rats could produce 880 offspring in a year, so the trenches were swarming with them.

In WW2 the German Nazis systematically murdered six million Jews, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population

The 6th Seal is opened and a great earthquake slices the Earth.

During the wars, trenches lined the nation’s borders, the enemy would burrow under them and blow them up causing massive craters along the borders.


The sun became as black as sackcloth

The smoke plumed as bombs released toxic chemical contents and flying shrapnel, that flew like swarms and darkened the sky.

The stars fell like figs shaken by a mighty wind

Rockets flew from one trench to the other.

People hid in caves

Most populations, rich or poor slept in underground railways.


144000 tribes of Israel are sealed

Despite the genocide, some Hebrews would survive the Holocaust.
The Ottman Empire was taken by the British led ANZACs and Russians in WW1; and in WW2, those that escaped the death camps would settle in Israel.

4 Trumpets sound

ON ANZAC MORNING 2024 AUSTRALIANS AWOKE TO THE NEWS OF BLOODY WAR HORSES GALLOPING WILDY THROUGH LONDON STREETS


THE WARNING IS PROFOUND.

Global Concerns

War?

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How do you prepare for War?

During the recess of WW1 and WW2, could the German Jewish war veterans that fought for the German Army, have imagined that a new war was coming, that would destroy them, if it could. In those day’s Europe folded, now they follow the piper. These are new days.

In the second war, some unlikely alliances rose to survive; England, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and the Old Commonwealth; then the Americans came to fight. As these quarters rested, new wars brewed and we often wonder, who lit the match. The Asian wars, the African wars and the Middle East. Nation against nation. Weapons, Hired Guns and Slaves are a thriving enterprise and someone is making a profit.

Refugees; homeless, all full of anxiety, rock in the ocean and await angry shores for a smile, a wave and a welcome new home. Could it be you, will it be you?

How do you prepare for war? Who are our friends, who is a spy? If the bully fails, are we safer or worse off? Do our blind guides know where they are going?

Will the garden idols save us? Who are the hired hands fighting for? Don’t lose your head, stay calm; why should we care?

How do you prepare for war? Will your house survive? Where will you hide? What will you wear? Can you make a fire, or plant a garden when the fuel and food are gone. Who will you pray too, when the bombs fall? Ask a refugee and ask how they survived a war.

 

Community, Melbourne People

Surviving Hitler

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Rosa’s story

IMG_1469

Young Australian men joined forces and fought for Peace at a time when evil deeds were tools of power. War Stories surface from the battles and are told by the tired ones that survived. Both World Wars brought many refugees who fled Europe to build a life for future generations in Australia.

Rosa was born in Poland, she was 13 years of age when World War 2, broke out on September 1939. Her young life would be thrown into a horror that she would have to endure. What is most remarkable about Rosa’s account of what happened to her and her family was her unrelenting bravery.

Her father had a shop that sold leather goods such as purses, shoes and bags; it was a successful business that provided a comfortable life for Rosa and her family. The war encroached upon them bit by bit, schools were closed and then the shops were off limits to them because they were Jewish. They had to leave their home, possessions and business and move into a ghetto.

Rosa’s 17-year-old sister decided to go to Russia where she could continue her studies in design, or find work. Many Jewish people thought they would be safer in Russia. Meanwhile Rosa’s remaining family that included an older brother and a baby were resettled on a cold and raining day. In the morning was a ‘Selection’.

“We were lucky as we were all selected to go on one side, I don’t know which one was the good one, right or left? But we were allowed to go home. That day I lost my grandparents, aunties and uncles.” Rosa explains.

Many of Rosa’s extended family were sent to the death camps in the town of Auschwitz, they were ignorant of their fate and thought that the re-location was into the township. Life was very dangerous. A near by Synagogue was burnt with men within it and Rosa remembered the dreadful smell.

Her older brother was sent to a work camp. One day he came home with a self- inflicted wound, a friend at the camp had advised him to cut himself so that he could get some leave. It worked but overnight the wound got infected. It was curfew but the mother risked going out and pleaded with a German soldier to send for a doctor. His life was saved as the doctor came and gave him the medication he needed to recover.

Food was scarce and Rosa stood in bread lines from 5am in the morning, but it made no difference as she was denied her share, due to her ethnic background. Her father resorted to the Black Market. Most things were available on the Black Market so her father decided to sell his leather goods on it, to generate an income.

A Jewish man in their neighbourhood was collaborating with the Germans and he found out about the side business. Every Thursday Germans would search Rosa’s home and even though they could not find any evidence they arrested her father. Rosa’s mother paid a ransom to the traitor every week to free her husband and keep him out of jail.

The family were sent orders that Rosa was to go to a work camp even though she was very young and weak. Originally, they hid her at an Aunties’ house but she was discovered and reissued orders. Despite her family’s protests, Rosa decided to go so as to protect them from repercussions. Her father thought that if she were wounded, as her brother had been, she would be able to stay with them. He was wrong. He burnt his daughters arm with acid and that action diverted her from being sent to the work farm but put her in line for Auschwitz

The ‘traitor’ that had been collecting money from Rosa’s family saw that she was on the list to the death camp. He decided to help her due to the payments he had received.

“He could say who was going to live and who was going to die”. Rosa explains.

“Your too young to die” The Traitor told her.

She was saved from the death camp and ended up at a work camp where she was told that she would be making parts for bicycles. She was then told to give up all of her meagre possessions such as watches, photos and jewellery. As her greatest possession were two photographs (that she still has) she hid them behind a brick in the wall. They no longer called her by name but rather by a number, which she resented.

When she was working at the factory she went into a back office looking for an officer. She went into the vacated room and read the German signage on the wall and realised that they weren’t making bicycles. They were making bombs.

“’My God! What are you doing Rosa? Helping to kill your family, your friends? ”

No! I wont do it. Rosa explained her thoughts.

When she was discovered in the forbidden office, she pretended that she couldn’t read German. Secretly she asked God to forgive her lie. When she was returned to the factory she informed her friend of her discovery.

“I’m going to sabotage the bombs” young Rosa declared

“ I made them not to measurement, I made them bigger, they were good for nothing. My boss, he noticed and asked me to concentrate more, he was German so I couldn’t tell him. I broke the needles, I made them bigger and everyday he said, what you are doing is wrong. One day more men came and stood behind my back and watched me working. I break more needles; I make them bigger. They told me to stand up and sent me to a German woman, she was not very nice and she told me that I was to go to Auschwitz.”   Rosa recalled.

That was three months before the war had ended. Everyday Rosa reported to her and everyday she was told that she would go the following day. They couldn’t send her because the Liberation had begun; it was 1945. Suddenly there was no work for the girls and the factory seized operations. Men with guns surrounded the camp and called for the girls to come out but they were too frightened to do so. They yelled out to them that they were free but Rosa and her friends didn’t believe them until from a window, she saw her cousin in the crowd.

“Its not a joke anymore, we are free’ Rosa declared to the girls.

“We laughed, we cried, we kissed. The first thing I did was go a get the pictures,” Rosa explained.

Rosa came to Australia in 1960 with her husband and two children. They settled and made a new home. She is happy here and thinks that it is a beautiful country.

“ I have seven great grandsons. Hitler didn’t survive long enough to kill me too.” Rosa states.

Her final message to the next generation is that ‘we are all the same’ and not to discriminate!’

* Rosa spoke at the Jewish Holocaust Museum, Elsternwick

(Rosa’s older brother and sister survived but her parents and baby sister did not).