“You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Matthew 22:37-40
Did you know that during WWII
there were over 500 POW camps on American soil? All but 4 US states housed over
425,000 (mostly German) POWs.
One such camp, in the sleepy farming town of Aliceville,
Alabama, housed some of Hitler’s most notorious soldiers. The entire town
turned out when the prisoners first arrived, eager to see exactly what kind of
monstrous devils would disembark.
But when the train pulled up right along the highway and
hundreds of German soldiers started pouring out, the townspeople’s reaction was
anything but predictable. Far from the fiery horned devils they expected, they saw
instead a bunch of young, scared, defeated kids, often seriously injured and
disfigured from the war.
Something remarkable happened almost immediately at the POW
Camp in Aliceville. The officers running the camp and the local townsfolk began
treating the enemy combatants the same way they would want their own sons and
brothers to be treated were they captured in the war.
Within a year the prisoners organized 3 different orchestras
using instruments donated by local musicians. They opened a school where
soldiers could learn anything from pottery to mathematics and various foreign languages. They played soccer every day.
Life was good for POWs in Aliceville. Said one German
soldier: “We arrived there expecting hell but instead were greeted by
heaven.”
Remember, this was at a time when Americans were being asked
to ration and go without. So, when average Americans started hearing stories
about POWs getting food and extracurriculars that they themselves did not have
access to, public outcry began to swell.
As the war in Europe began to favor an Allied victory,
American troops started liberating our own soldiers from German POW camps. They
were horrified by the wretched, inhumane conditions that American POWs were
subjected to.
Americans were infuriated.
Major General Archer Lerch who ran Camp Aliceville was
called to testify before a very hostile Congress. He affirmed that they were
simply following the Geneva Conventions that entitled all POWs the same quality
rations, clothing, and housing as were afforded their host troops.
Then he went on to add: “We’re not going to let the enemy
decide who we are as a country. We’re going to continue to treat enemy POWs
well because Americans are decent people.”
“That’s the heart of Jesus’ teaching about loving our
enemies- not because there’s anything objectively likable or lovable about
them. Not because we expect reciprocity. But because of who we are: people
who’ve experienced the unearned, undeserved love of God.”
That brought the congressional investigations to a close and
silenced even his most vocal critics.
Loving God, we live in a fallen world, a
world full of self-gratification, a world full of hurting people. That change
can start with one person. Let that be me. Amen
