At least 25,000 Jews were deported from Belgium. Individual Protestants have rescued Jews [606] but these activities are outside the scope of our subject.
c. The Protectorate
Czechoslovakia was deprived of Sudetenland in the Munich pact of September 29, 1938. On March 14, 1939, Slovakia declared its independence. On March 15, 1939, German forces occupied Prague; Czechia as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia became part of the German Reich. <283> An estimated number of 71,000 Jews were deported, and perished. Apparently no Church in Bohemia-Moravia publicly protested. It is true, of course, that there hardly was any address to which they could send a protest, except the Government in Berlin which would probably have paid even less attention than it paid to the protests of the "Confessing Church", the members of which were Germans and not Czechs. However, a public protest, read out from the pulpits, could have stirred up the members of the Czech Churches and would have encouraged them to help the Jews. In a letter to me, dated November 12, 1965, it was stated by Dr. Viktor Hhjek, Chairman of the Synod of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren:
"Individual members of our Church have tried to help Jewish families in different ways and have indeed helped them. This has always been dangerous, and the persons involved suffered often from the German occupying force. But the pressure of this force was so heavy that it was out of the question to undertake anything publicly and officially." [607]
The Synod of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren recognized, in 1945, that "our Church did not have enough courage or power to withstand the fury of the enemies of Christ directed against the Jews." [608]
d. Poland <284> The atrocities committed against the Jews in Poland are beyond description. At the end of 1939, 3,300,000 Jews lived in Poland; of these 2,900,000 were murdered. [609] Moreover, most of the Jews arrested by the Germans, in other occupied countries and in the German Reich itself, were deported to Poland and perished there. Thus it was in Poland that the vast majority of the six million was murdered.
There is little to relate about the reactions of the non-Catholic Churches
in Poland; there hardly exist such Churches at all.
I received two replies to my circular letter; the first is from Dr. Andrzej
Wantula, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
I quote the following from his letter:
"During the war, our Church was liquidated by the Germans and the majority of the pastors imprisoned, the remainder working in a newly founded German Church. Our Church, therefore, could not carry out any activities. Individual pastors privately have helped the Jews. I myself, in my former parish, have tried to relieve the position of the Jews and partly succeeded in this. These, however, are individual cases, which are outside the scope of your interest."
The second reply came from the Executive of the small "Polish-Catholic
Church". [610] I quote the following:
"Our Polish-Catholic Church was exposed to many persecutions, under the National-Socialist domination during the second World War. However, we protested many times, against the persecution of the Jews, also publicly whenever this was possible. In addition to material help, we provided the persecuted Jews with baptismal certificates, enabling them to obtain ration cards and identity cards. In this way they were protected from further persecution. We cannot, unfortunately, send you any proofs, e.g. documents, letters or photostats concerning our activities, as all the material was destroyed during the war."