The original German university town of Tübingen is thriving today, in stark contrast to its dark past.
The southwestern city of 90,000 was once home to Theodor Dannecker, a Nazi captain and one of Adolf Eichmann's closest aides, known as the "architect of the Holocaust" . In 1933, the University of Tübingen, where many notorious Nazi soldiers known as the SS were trained until 1945, proudly called themselves "Jewish Freedom". Today, Tübingen acknowledges its painful history in order to move beyond it.
"We can only live here as Christians in this congregation if we are responsible for the history of this city." Jobst Bittner, founder of Tübingen's Toth Church and the March for Life Initiative, was there , descendants of Nazis organized marches against Christians and anti-Semites and anti-Semitic Jews around the world told Israel's Channel 11.
Nazi descendant Frank Pfeiffer, left, embraces Holocaust survivor Yechiel Aleksander. (March of Life)
Reports from TV media showed a banner in the window of Tos Church saying "Bring them home now", a call for the release of nearly 100 Israeli and Hamas targets in 2023 American hostages held in Gaza since October 7. merchandise and books about Israel. Downstairs is the "Inner Gui Museum" which displays photos of Nazis from Tübingen, including photos of mass graves that were once hidden in cigar boxes as souvenirs of the Holocaust.
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Another section in the report shows young people in the church singing "Am Yisrael Chai" ("The People of Israel Live") even though they barely knew Hebrew. During the Sukkot holiday, they built Sukkahs (temporary huts) to celebrate the Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt.
Heinz Reuss, an elder at Tos Church and international director of the March of Life, described last year's Sukkot celebration in the market square in the center of the town. ) is "very beautiful". He said the rabbi from the next town came to Tübingen to recite the blessing, just as he did when lighting the menorah candles at Hanukkah.
The former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where the Nazis campaigned in occupied Poland is now a memorial and museum. (March of Life)
Set during Hanukkah and also based on the stories of Holocaust survivors and the Exodus, "History on the Ship" is based on the stories of Holocaust survivors and the Exodus. Michaela Buckel, program director for Marches and Playwrights for the Life Movement, described how it teaches children about the Holocaust in a non-harmful way and is inspired by the resilience of Jews after the Holocaust.
"I wanted to focus the play on this will to live and fight for a new life," she said.
Roos said Christians in the church celebrate some Jewish holidays as a gesture of friendship and acknowledged "that's where the blessing comes from, the roots of the Jewish people."
Speaking about the town's anti-Semitic history, Roos remembers the turning point in 2003, when many groups began to discover that their own family members were Nazis.
"This is a time of powerful repentance and healing in some way," he said.
Holocaust survivor Irene Shashar will speak at Tos Church in Tübingen, Germany, on the eve of the Holocaust Remembrance Day marked on January 27. (Daine le Lardic)
TOS cult leader Kim-Sophie Kasch, 24, told Fox News Digital that her family discovered her great-grandfather was a Nazi after his death when she was 7 years old. He was part of the Wehrmacht Armed Forces of Nazi Germany and in the European region "they committed crimes against the Polish-Lissenian population (and the Jews living there)."
Kasch described her father as "really shocked when he heard about his grandfather."
Roos said that when the group at Toth Church discovered eight concentration camps near Tubingen and the grim trails of death marches, "Everything becomes visible. Everyone saw it. "
He described how they organized a prayer march with descendants of Holocaust survivors and Nazi descendants, which became a three-day event.
"It makes a lot of sense for us," Roos said.
Since 2007, life events have been held in hundreds of cities in more than 20 countries, with Holocaust survivors and descendants of Nazis visiting concentration camps and mass graves across Europe.
In 2009, the movement expanded to the United States, where it is known as March of Remembrance, an annual commemoration of the Holocaust, Holocaust, and Heroism Day.
"The message is about remembrance, reconciliation, and taking a stand for Israel and anti-Semitism," Roos said. "It teaches the lessons of the Holocaust and we encourage people to really confront the history of anti-Semitism in their own families."
Roos said his great-grandfather from the Netherlands, an Orthodox Reform Christian, saved Jewish lives by refusing to sign the Declaration, saying he was not a Jew because he did not want to betray his Jewish friends. He was disappointed that his German grandfather on his father's side did not show the same courage and quit Jewish.
"It's so important to really speak up and not be silenced in your personal surroundings and work spaces because this is anti-Semitism. It's evil. This doesn't stop with the Jewish people," Roos said.
Reuss told Fox News Digital how this year's Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 was marked by the memory of survivor Irene Shashar, who was born on December 12, 1937, as Ruth. Ruth Lewkowicz's status was awarded at Tos Church. She will speak the day before and tell the crowd her story of survival in Warsaw.
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The Nazis invaded Shashar's home in his native Poland when he was 2, and his father was murdered when he was 5. Shashar praises her mother's creativity for helping her survive by hiding in her closets and drains with her beloved doll, Laleczka. In a 2020 speech to the United Nations, she declared, referring to her two children and seven grandchildren: "I survived...Hitler did not win, and I have proof."