Wannsee

Hi, I’m Pastor Lutzer. Many of us are traveling here in Germany, seeing very important historical sites. Today, on a beautiful day, we are in one of the most beautiful areas that you could possibly imagine. But don’t let beauty deceive you because behind me is a building in which one of the most evil decisions ever made in history was agreed upon. We’re actually here in Wannsee. Now I know that it’s spelled with a “W,” but in German, the “W” sounds like a “V” … Wannsee,

it is here where a conference was held not to discuss whether or not Jews should be exterminated, but rather how it should be done. After all, when you have the vision of killing millions of people, everything has to be coordinated. How are we going to get the trains to work together? How are we going to have mass killings? How is all that going to happen? You’re probably acquainted with the name Eichmann. Eichmann was here along with a lot of people who thought the same way he did; namely, that the Jews had to be exterminated. As a matter of fact, it was not only that the Jews of Germany should be killed, but actually the Jews throughout all of Europe. Some of the speeches talked about the killing of 11 million people.

Now, isn’t it interesting that this took place in such a beautiful area of the world? I mean, just see the beauty around us. It’s a reminder of the fact that there are those who do evil, who themselves may not participate in the evil directly, but they are the influencers. They’re the ones that make the rules. They’re the ones who later on discover that those beneath them have to obey. We all know that in Germany, Jews were exterminated by the millions. If you want to know how it was done, all the technicalities, well, this is the house to visit. It has a documentation center where all of the details are laid out, very sobering. And there’s a lesson here, and the lesson is this: when a country acts together, individualism is lost, and as a result of individualism being lost, everyone goes along with the tribe, overcoming their consciences, and willing to do great evils.

We’re here in Germany. Let’s learn the lessons of the past that we might not repeat them.

Thank you so much for joining us today. God bless you, and you have a good day.