CHRISTIAN HISTORY Issue 121 Faith in the Foxholes Seeking hope amidst war’s despair Special expanded issue on the World Wars SHATTERED Private Paul Oglesby stands in front of the damaged altar of a Catholic church in Italy in 1943. PUT IT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT One surprising World War II Bible use was as cigarette papers for POWs. Gavan Daws, in Prisoners of the Japanese (1994), wrote: A Dutch Jesuit chaplain on Sumatra said the Word of God was sanctified, not the paper, so roll away. Sick men smoked their army-issue Bible after reading it. Or they smoked without reading, and about this the chaplains had nothing to say except that it was better for the men to get the Word in them by inhaling than not at all. For those who were willing to read before rolling, where should they start? An English chaplain said Revelation, which no one EFENSE Did you know? understood anyway. The Dutch Jesuit said the Old D Testament, then the Acts of the Apostles because they were only practicalities, then the Gospels; RTMENT OF CIGARETTES, CHAPLAINS, AND THE A leave the Sermon on the Mount for last, and learn EP D . S CONFESSING CHURCH it before smoking it. U THE VICAR IS A PACIFIST THEY CAME FOR MANY PEOPLE LY, 1943 / A T G. A. Studdert-Kennedy (1883–1929), an English Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) is I slum vicar who became a World War I chaplain, famous for the statement “First they came for the developed an unusual way to get the attention of Socialists. .” But when Niemöller first used the idea troops—distributing Bibles and Woodbine ciga- in a 1946 speech, he spoke at more length: HURCH, ACERNO, rettes, earning him the name “Woodbine Willie.” When the concentration camp was opened C Once he put up a post with the sign “The Vicar- [in 1933] . the people who were put in the age.” Soldiers walking by commented, “Look—the camps then were Communists. Who cared THOLIC CA bloody vicarage.” Studdert-Kennedy poked his head about them? We knew it, it was printed in the GED A out and said, “And here’s the bloody vicar.” When newspapers. Who raised their voice, maybe the M A D he died at 46, he was so famous that King George Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, A V sent condolences. Some ex-soldiers sent a wreath, those opponents of religion, those enemies of R IN A LT with a cigarette packet at the center, to the funeral. Christians. Then they got rid of the sick, the A N A GES Studdert-Kennedy won a medal for A M I helping injured soldiers out of the line of N A fire, but the war turned him into a social- ist, a pacifist, and a poet. He advocated RIDGEM B for workers and penned Rough Rhymes / UIG ONGRESS of a Padre (1918), More Rough Rhymes of a C Padre (1919), and The Unutterable Beauty NDING IN REVERENCE BEFORE RY OF A A (1927). Of his cigarette-dispensing days A IBR L / ISTORY ARCHIVE/ he wrote, “Their name! Let me hear it— A H NTRY, ST IKIMEDI L A A the symbol / Of unpaid, unpayable debt, W NF I A IKIMEDI / For the men to whom I owed God’s W NIVERS U rtoon— IKIMEDI Peace, / I put off with a cigarette.” A / W NSB GLESBY, 30TH ign— O R DOG C A A UL MP A PA N W African Americans in World A V FOR VICTORY osie the riveter— TE R A War II used the “Double V” campaign to L A EMBERS OF THE E -HOME C RIV AMERIC R V fight for rights at home and abroad. P M Christian History PRIVATE PAUL OGLESBY, 30TH INFANTRY, STANDING IN REVERENCE BEFORE AN ALTAR IN A DAMAGED CATHOLIC CHURCH, ACERNO, ITALY, 1943 / U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MEMBERS OF THE NSB / UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES AMERICAN WAR DOG CArtoon—WIKIMEDIA REAL Rosie the riveter—WIKIMEDIA /LIBRARY OF CONGRESS V-HOME CAMPAign—WIKIMEDIA operates ahanddrillat DOGS OFWAR CHANGES A America outofWorldWarI,buthedidnotsucceed. Issue 121 Issue or indifference.” than laziness no excuse other is absolutely There duties. Mass and“notattendingto hisreligious enlisted man’swifethatherhusband wasskipping toan diers keptfaith.OneCatholic chaplainwrote tinued devotionandfaithfulness.”Butnotallsol for hiscon Our prayersmingle withyours service. Communion in our by participating profession tohisChristian Class JackDorsett“hasbeentrue saying that PrivateFirst belongings apostcard Dorsettfoundinhisdeceaseduncle’s Lyle Writer MORE CHAPLAIN have costmemyheadifIhadspokenout. ourselves outofitwiththeexcusethatwould cantalk We . writteninthenewspapers. were Poland, inCzechoslovakiaorHolland,that in occupied countries,orthethingsinGreece, the persecution oftheJews,waywetreated The . tothemselvesandothers.“ a burden just theyare money, people just costthestate sick it’sright,theseincurably tian. Hesaid:“Perhaps I hadwithapersonwhoclaimedtobeChris aconversation so-called incurables.—Iremember T HOME Below: T ALES Right: Woodrow Wilsonhopedtokeep T ennessee factoryin1943. A real“ R osie the R iveter” - - - friendly organization R BRO lain him saw said. never Cobb again. asked.Cobb “That the Ineed is be to chap there,” why are All going, hell Father? is breaking loose there,” up “Wherehad just come. in the think devil you do you into the embattled Ardennes forest from which Cobb injured lieutenant Henry apriest saw Cobb racing Christian marines. And during the Battle the of Bulge, beganHe reciting the Psalm—soon 23rd joined 12 by trench in the Pacific amarine when asked prayer. for Niemöller’s quote was translated by Harold Marcuse. quotewastranslatedbyHarold Niemöller’s book Dorsett’s in Lyle found IIchaplainswere War Some ofthestoriesWorld esistance arrestDutchteenagers belongingtothe Jewish chaplain Milton Rosenbaum was in a T HER AGAINS T BRO NS B duringWorldWarII(seep.42). Serving God and Country. ServingGodandCountry. T HER Members oftheDutch C H N azi- - 1 WWIIWWII SSTORIESTORIES OFOF HHEROICEROIC FFAITHAITH && CCOUROURAGEAGE ✦ CATHOLICS CONFRONTING HITLER by Peter Bartley comprehensive account of the heroic response to the Nazi tyranny by Pope Pius XII, his envoys, and many members of the Church in everyA country where Nazism existed. Using primary sources—letters, diaries, memoirs, offi cial government reports—he also quotes the works of prominent Nazis, diplomats, churchmen, members of the Resistance, and ordinary Jews and gentiles who left eyewitness accounts of life under the Nazis. The book reveals how resistance to Hitler and rescue work engaged many churchmen and laypeople at all levels, and the high price paid by many for that courageous resistance. “Illustrates the Church’s strong response to the Nazi regime like no other book, and the enormous amount of heroism displayed.” — Tim Staples, Catholic Answers CHI-P . Sewn Softcover, $17.95 ✦ THE SHADOW OF ✦ THE SCARLET ✦ A NOBLE TREASON ✦ WHEN HITLER HIS WINGS AND THE BLACK Richard Hanser TOOK AUSTRIA Fr. Gereon Goldmann J. P. Gallagher The moving true story of Kurt von Schuschnigg The incredible true story of The heroic story of Msgr. Sophie Scholl and the White After the Nazi takeover of a young German seminarian Hugh O’Flaherty, dubbed Rose underground group his country, Chancellor von drafted into Hitler’s dreaded “The Scarlet Pimpernel of the that carried out the fi rst overt Schuschnigg was arrested SS during WWII. Against all Vatican.” When Rome came resistance to Hitler’s regime. and subsequently sent to a odds Goldmann was ordained under the command of the Hansen reveals the great cour- concentration camp. This and secretly ministered to dreaded SS, O’Flaherty, often age of Scholl and White Rose is the gripping story of von countless German soldiers and in disguise, organized danger- members, and the terrible Schuschnigg and his family civilian victims, often escaping ous underground eff orts to price they paid for their as told by his son, recounting sure death. Illustrated. save many Jews and POWs. dissidence. Illustrated. his many harrowing escapes, SHW-P . Sewn Softcover, $17.95 Illustrated. NOT-P . Sewn Softcover, $17.95 and the protection of Divine SB-P . Sewn Softcover, $14.95 Providence. Illustrated. WHTA-H . Hardcover, $24.95 www.ignatius.com P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522 1 (800) 651-1531 Letters to the editor Readers respond to Christian History TASTE AND SEE to handle their sources Thank you for your leadership of Christian History, discerningly. A scholar- which is truly a blessing to me and to many other advisor oversees the Christians! The most recent edition—The Wonder of whole process and pro- CHRISTIAN Creation—particularly touched my heart. Your Edi- vides an important cross- HISTORY Issue 120 tor’s Letter was insightful and beautiful. Please check of content. Calvin, Councils, prayerfully consider a future edition of Christian His- In our Recommended and Confessions How the Church tory about food. It would be wonderful to hear the Resources pages we list became the churches story of how Christians have found Him in food, sources used and com- through the generations.—Edward Joseph James, MD mended by our schol- ars, along with others We’ve been dreaming of this issue topic for years! The cen- we’ve become aware of Third in a four-part series on the Reformation tral Christian meal, the Lord’s Supper, is of course all about through our study. We Includes keepsake fold-out timeline food, and then there are soup kitchens, potlucks, Christian even include relevant video and web diets, and all sorts of other interesting things. Of course the resources. We feel that in the past 30 well of Christian History runs deep and wide, so there are years, our loyal readers have come to trust the CHI “brand” many topics we hope to do one day, but this one is quite as providing accurate history in everyday language. appealing . or perhaps “appetizing.” THIS MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT AND THE SUGGESTIONS KEEP COMING IN.