But I will say a few anyway.
Like many young men at the time struggling to find employment, August Landmesser joined the Nazi Party in 1931 in hopes for a better future. However, by 1935, he became engaged to a jewish woman named Irma Eckler. The relationship was illegal and as a result he was expelled from the party.
This is a photo of August Landmesser taken in 1936. Seeing what is going on he defies the feeling in the moment. Pushing back agains the current. By 1937, Landmesser was arrested for “dishonoring the race.” He was eventually arrested again, and was sent to a concentration camp.
During that time, Eckler was then arrested. She had their second baby while detained. She was then sent from one concentration camp to the next until 1942 where she was murdered.
This is a tragic story. How could human beings do this to one another?
That kind of bravery of Landmesser, standing up for what is right, is the kind of bravery we are missing in our culture today. We need you to stand up and to push back against a system of injustice. An invisible caste system that keeps others down because of the color of their skin. To push back towards people around around us that fall into the trap of fake news.
Here’s the thing, the world can feel like it is in a spiral, and yet, good things are done every day. People are not inherently good or bad, they are just people. People that make choices, tell stories to justify those decisions, until they wake up one day defined by those decisions.
Yet, a moment of love, compassion, and courage, can spark a person. To help them see that they are more than what they were raised to believe. They can push back against the status quo.
No one knows the path that leads us back to God.
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