A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more.
Matthew 2,18
An unusual text from the Christmas story stands over this scene. It
directs our thoughts from Herod's killing of the children to the happenings
of our day and age; it brings to the centre of our attention the monument
of the German Rail's goods-wagon standing in the Holocaust Memorial
Park "Yad Vashem"...
The crib is a cave made from Frankonian field stones. In the living
rooms of Frankonia the "Frankonian Christmas" is being celebrated.
The birthday of the Jewish child of the tribe of Judah, of the family
of David, the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Son of God: JESUS.
Parallel to this, "on the other track", the goods-wagon
with Jewish children, women and men rolls towards annihilation in
the concentration camp.
Will later visitors from the east be able to find Jesus, the King
of the Jews, here in the west, or even a few Saints, Mary and Joseph?
Perhaps HE too has been deported. With only a young shepherd girl
to accompany him, to worship him, to follow him...
Nuremberg, Summer 2001 |