The Final Solution

Hi, I’m Pastor Lutzer, and I’m standing in a very significant place. Behind me is a building which in 1942 was used to plan The Final Solution. The Final Solution was to get rid of all the Jews, and the questions the Nazis asked themselves were, “How do you coordinate that? How do you have trains transport them? How do you have various ministries all participating?” Remember this, the issue was not whether they should be exterminated. The issue was how are we going to do it? Eichmann was here along with other Nazi leaders.

Onr of the things that is very interesting is that it took Germany many years to accept its past. As a matter of fact, when the building behind me was actually opened as a documentary center, what was discovered is that some of the political leaders here in Germany did not attend because they did not want to be associated with having confronted the evils that were planned right here in this beautiful building.

Now, there’s a lesson here for all of us who are interested in history. It is very necessary for every country to confront its past. We don’t blame people who were not involved in the evils of the past, but at the same time, we have to recognize that our past does influence our future. That’s not only true of Germany; it’s true of all the countries of the world, including America. We try to explain our past sins away oftentimes, but we have to recognize that the evil which exists in every human heart can be exploited to do things that are absolutely reprehensible. So many lessons for us to learn! I’m Pastor Lutzer reporting right here in Wannsee, Germany, where a meeting was held to know how to exterminate the Jews as The Final Solution.

Thanks for joining us.