I’ve recently watched the old HBO film Conspiracy. It’s a reenactment of the Wannsee Conference. Having personally experienced several bureaucratic meetings I would have thought this would be one of the most boring movies ever made, but it was riveting. This was the conference where the SS hammered out the “Final Solution to the Jewish Questions.” In other words, the planning of the Holocaust. It was a little unnerving to watch men plan out genocide with the calm attitude of Madison Avenue planning an ad campaign for a new toothpaste.

There were a few things that happened in this that really struck me. During it Reinhard Heydrich, Major General of the SS, kept talking about “evacuating” the Jews. He continued using the term even after admitting there was no place to deport the Jews. After a few more times of using the term evacuate, SS Major Rudolf Lange stated that his men had shot 30,000 Jews in Latvia. He asked, “By your definition, did we evacuate those Jews? I think it’s important to know the meaning of words.” Heydrich said it did meet his definition. In the next break Doctor of Law Fredrich Kritzinger was talking to Lange and was surprised to find out Lange had studied law. Kritzinger asked Lange, more or less, how could he harmonize his education with his actions. Lange replied, “My education has taught me to distrust words.” Later in the conference one of the SS Colonels got physically ill when the realization of their actions fully hit him. Most of the others at conference look down on the colonel for his weakness, but Lange was quite magnanimous and comforted the man. When the colonel asked for a cigarette to calm his nerves, Lange gave him one of his. When the colonel made the off handed comment that they would need more cigarettes to calm themselves for job at hand, Lange gave the melancholy reply, “There aren’t enough cigarettes in the world.”  Toward the end of the conference several of the participants claimed they would happily volunteer to go kill Jews. Lange was dismissive of them because he knew better. Having done it he knew the emotional and psychological toll of performing such atrocities. He understood this was the fake bravado of distance. He knew that given the chance to actually do what they claimed they wanted to do that most of these men would balk. He found such bluster disgusting.

I’m giving you all of this to explain and hope you understand why I came to respect and even like Rudolf Lange. I know it is a horrifying to admit feeling that way about a mass murdering SS major, but it’s true. Here was a man who refused to hide behind the comfort of euphemism and instead stated directly what was happening. He also hated the phoniness of ignorance claiming knowledge without experience. I see such things as admirable, and I was relieved to discover that he died in action rather than suffering the indignity of execution or suicide.

I expect many Christians are shaking their heads in disbelief and disagreement. But you must realize I am not excusing Lange. What he did was sinful, and some day he will deservedly face God’s terrible judgement. Despite all that he did win my respect and I grew to like him even though I oppose all he stood for. This is one thing we modern day Christians must learn, just because we find someone likable, we cannot excuse their sinfulness. Conversely, we cannot dismiss someone’s righteousness just because we personally find them repugnant. But too often we’re seeing just that in the modern church. Time and time again we hear of someone’s deconversion because they met someone, they found admirable that scripture calls sinful. They see this a repudiation of scripture and therefore God. We need to shake-off such stupidity and admit the sinner can be lovable and respected despite his sin, and the sin can still be condemned for its vileness.

#Holocaust, #Rudolf Lange, #love the sinner, #HBO Movie Conspiracy,