Awake!, May 22, 1966
Download: PDF — Awake!, May 22, 1966
Can the Dead Be Restored to Life?
PAGE 5
The Auschwitz Trial
PAGE 9
The Burden-bearing Burro
The Machine with the Answers
PAGE 16
MAY 22,1966
THE REASON FOR THIS MAGAZINE
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interest. "Awakel!" has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ties; it is unhampered by traditional creeds. This magazine keeps itself free, that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
The viewpoint of "Awake!" is not narrow, but is international. "Awake!" has its own correspondents in scores of nations. Its articles are read in many lands, in many languages, by millions of persons.
In every issue "Awakel" presents vital topics on which you should be informed. It features penetrating articles on social conditions and offers sound counsel for meeting the problems of everyday life. Current news from every continent passes in quick review. Attention is focused on activities in the fields of government and commerce about which you should know. Straightforward discussions of religious issues alert you to matters of vital concern. Customs and people in many lands, the marvels of creation, practical sciences and points of human interest are all embraced in its coverage. "Awakel" provides wholesome, instructive reading for every member of the family.
"Awakel" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of God's righteous new order in this generation.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
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CONTENTS
Florida's Killer Tornadoes 3
Can the Dead Be Restored to Life? 5
The Auschwitz Trial 9
The Burden-bearing Burro 13
Names for the Days of the Week 15
The Machine with the Answers 16
Liechtenstein—A Jewel in the Alps 20
Animated Toothbrushes 23
Courage to Make a Change 24
A Queen's Visit 25
"Your Word Is Truth"
Baptism—By Immersion
or Sprinkling? 27
Watching the World 29
Volume XLVII
FLORIDA'S KILLER TORNADOES
MINISTER of Jehovah's witnesses and his wife were enjoying a second cup of coffee before beginning the day's activities. The sky was black and rain pelted the windows of their home. It was impossible to see across the lawn as heavy precipitation reduced visibility to zero. Wave after wave of rain lashed against the house in wind gusts up to fifty miles an hour.
"Ive never seen it rain this hard before," he said, looking out of the window.
"It frightens me," his wife replied.
"We'd better turn on the radio and see if it's serious," he said.
Storm Without Warning
At Tampa International Airport meteorologists watched the radar unit as a giant line of thundershowers approached the Gulf coast. "We watched the line with interest," said Chief Meteorologist Lawrence M. Dye; "the area appeared to be an ordinary line of squalls without any hint of a tornado."
In the north section of the city a housewife had just completed the task of getting the children off to school. It was 8:35 a.m., April 4, 1966. "Then I heard it," she said. "It was terribly loud and the sky was peculiar—a yellow color. I leaped into the bedroom closet. It was the best thing I could think of." She sustained a
long cut in her right leg but was grateful it was no more, because the room had been destroyed and blown away.
Another man leaned forward over the steering wheel of his truck to try to see the road ahead. The windshield wipers were working at full force yet they were unable to clear the glass. "Suddenly I saw this big yellow thing hurtling across the road," he said. "I thought it was a big yellow billboard sign. I slammed on the brakes and skidded off the shoulder of the road. After jumping out of the truck I could see it wasn't a sign—it was a school bus loaded with children, and it smashed in a field." The driver helped others remove the children from the wrecked bus. Only one of them was hurt.
Impact of Destruction
There were two lines of destruction. The first started at Pinellas Point and moved across the south sections of Tampa. It struck at Central Florida, touching down again near Lakeland. The northern path was the most destructive one. It started at Clearwater, lifted across Tampa Bay and touched down in North Tampa. It cut a path of destruction ten miles long and from a thousand yards to two miles wide at various intervals.
The devastation was unbelievable. In Hillsborough County, where the city of Tampa is located, three persons were killed.
Hospitals treated 80 persons for injuries, many of them serious. The total area involved was fifteen square miles, and 4,240 people were affected. Figures revealed 150 homes completely destroyed, 201 with major damage, 15 mobile homes destroyed and hundreds with damage. Officials with the utility companies said 10,000 phones were out of service and 33,000 houses were without power.
The tornado hit again at North Lakeland. A school was on target. All the windows were blown out. The roof was blown away. It dipped into another residential section and more houses exploded at its impact. A total of eight persons died in that area.
When insurance figures were finally tabulated by the State Insurance Commissioner, they revealed $10,000,000 in damage and destruction. In the 4,758 claims were 3,437 homes; 116 commercial buildings; 889 automobiles; 289 mobile homes; 13 boats and six aircraft.
Thousands of boxes of grapefruit and Valencia oranges covered the ground in the area swept by the tornado in Folk County. It was the area's worst natural disaster—exceeding any hurricane.
The Power of a Tornado
The power of a tornado could best be described by those who witnessed it. "It sounded like a big jet going over at a low altitude," said one housewife. "It was so dark . . . you couldn't see. I noticed the car moving. Glass started breaking all around us. It happened in a second."
A man testified that he saw his boat, still coupled to the trailer, flying over his neighbor's house. It dropped a hundred yards away.
Another woman said the first sound of the tornado paralyzed her with fear. She fell to the floor and pressed against the
wall. The explosion that roomed completely destroyed the house in one burst of power. The house shook with terrifying vibrations. The roof was blown several blocks away in one sweep of powerful wind. The walls collapsed. Flying glass crashed to the floor. The deafening roar of the wind caused the woman to close her eyes and bite her fist in fear. "It was only a few seconds," she said, "but it seemed like a lifetime." On that street of sixteen houses only four were left standing.
A helicopter tour of the area following the storm reminded the viewers of an aerial tour of a bombed-out city during wartime. The path of the tornadoes could be traced by a line of destruction extending across the state. A space shot was delayed at Cape Kennedy due to the same squall line.
A survey was taken of Kingdom Halls used by Jehovah's witnesses in central Florida. They all came through without serious damage. Although houses were lost by some families, insurance covered the losses and the homes will be rebuilt. None of Jehovah's witnesses in the area were injured seriously.
The rebuilding of exclusive neighborhoods hit by the tornado has started. The Federal government declared three counties disaster areas; and financial assistance will be made available for small businesses, churches and schools.
There are many families that lost all their possessions. Homes, furniture, cars and appliances were destroyed. Several private agencies are helping them got started again.
It was sad to see them sifting through the ruins of their homes, searching in vain for some small possession. It reminded one of the scripture at Proverbs 27:1, which states, "Do not make your boast about the next day, for you do not know what a day will give birth to."
THE family did not have much materially; nevertheless, they had a great deal for which to be thankful. Their land was productive, the climate was pleasantly warm most of the year, and they had an ideal location. The city of Nain was beautifully situated in the fertile plain of Esdraelon, a mile from the Hill of Moreh. From their home they could look out across a green valley to the gracefully wooded hills of Galilee about
four miles away. And towering in the distance beyond they could see the snow-capped summit of Mount Hermon and the Lebanon mountains. How pleasant it was at the day's end to sit out on the housetop and view the scenery—just the three of them together—the man, his wife and their young son!
Perhaps you are familiar with the empty feeling that comes with losing a loved one. How depressed and utterly helpless you can feel! Death is indeed a bitter enemy. But imagine if someone could come along and take the hand of your dear one and deliver him back to you alive and healthy once again. What joy you would have! How wonderful it would be! But do not conclude that this is impossible. It has happened before. Yes, women have
Then one day tragedy struck—the man died. What a bitter experience! Now there would no longer be those peaceful evenings together. However, the woman took consolation in the fact that she still had her son. Her hopes, desires and ambitions became wrapped up in his future. In this way she again found meaning and purpose in life. But then tragedy struck once more. The boy died. Now there was no one in whom to find consolation. The widow's grief was great as the boy's remains were prepared for burial.
had the unspeakable joy of receiving back their dead by resurrection.
The Miracle-Worker in Galilee
In the first century of our Common Era there was a person who performed miracles such as this in the district of Galilee. This region lay in the northern part of what is the present-day Republic of Israel. Concerning this district the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote: The "soll is universally rich and frutiful, and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts . . . Moreover, the cities lie here very thick." In fact, he claimed, "there are two hundred and forty cities and villages in Galilee."*
It was among these many cities and villages that the young man Jesus preached and performed astounding miracles. Although the Bible record mentions only a few of these cities by name, Jesus apparently got around to many of them, for the inspired account says of his preaching in that area: "Jesus set out on a tour of all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity."
(Matt. 9:35) Many of the Galileans to whom he preached knew Jesus, for he had been raised right in their midst—in the little village of Nazareth, which lay in the hills some fifteen miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus' Visit to Nain
It was in 31 C.E., during the second year of Jesus' ministry, that the widow's son died in the city of Nain. This city was only about five or six miles southeast of Jesus' native village of Nazareth. At the time of the young man's death Jesus was preaching around the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, where he had just given his famous Sermon on the Mount. On finishing this sermon "he entered into Capernaum," and while in that seacoast city healed the slave of an army officer. "Closely following this," or as some ancient manuscripts say, "On the following day, he traveled to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd were traveling with him."—Luke 7:1-11, NW footnote, 1950 edition.
This trip southwest from Capernaum to Nain was more than twenty miles, a good day's journey even for people used to traveling on foot. Jesus and his band crossed the valley and approached the entrance of this city. Then, the account tells us, "as he got near the gate of the city, why, look! there was a dead man being carried out, the only-begotten son of his mother. Besides, she was a widow. A considerable crowd from the city was also with her. And when the Lord caught sight of her, he was moved with pity for her."—Luke 7:11-13.
Regarding this encounter, Arthur P. Stanley, who visited this location during
the last century, wrote in his book Sinai and Palestine, page 267: "On the northern slope . . . is the ruined village of Nain. . . One entrance alone it could have had, that which opens on the rough hill side in its downward slope to the plain. It must have been in this steep descent, as, according to Eastern custom, they 'carried out the dead man,' that 'nigh to the gate' of the village the bier was stopped. . . It is a spot which has no peculiarity of feature to fix it on the memory; but, in the authenticity of its claims, and the narrow compass within which we have to look for the touching incident, it may rank amongst the most interesting points of the scenery of the Gospel narrative."
Another nineteenth-century visitor to this place, J. W. Garvey, wrote in his book Lands of the Bible, page 303: "Nain is perched on a bench, with a steep slope of about 60 feet descending to the plain just north of it. The road from the north approaches it by a narrow valley at its western end, and beyond this are some rock-cut sepulchres . . . As Jesus approached the gate of the town, coming from the direction of Capernaum, where he was the previous day, the procession bearing the son of the widow was going out toward this burying-place, and thus they happened to meet."
An Act of Love
When meeting the mourning crowd and the grief-stricken woman, Jesus was moved with pity for her. His heart was touched by her extreme sadness. So with tenderness, and yet with a firmness that imparted confidence, he said to her: "Stop weeping." His manner and action arrested the crowd's attention, so that when 'he approached and touched the bier, the bearers stood still.' All must have wondered what Jesus was going to do.
in the village of Cana, some ten miles to the north, Jesus had turned water into wine at a wedding feast. And it is also true, as some of the mourners might have heard reported, that Jesus had miraculously healed persons of diseases in other cities and villages not far away. But, as far as the inspired Bible record indicates, never had Jesus raised anyone from the dead. Could he do such a thing? What was he doing over there looking at the dead body?
Addressing the corpse, Jesus commanded: "Young man, I say to you, Get up! And the dead man sat up and started to speak, and he gave him to his mother." What a remarkable thing! Imagine how that woman must have felt! How would you feel? What does a person say under such circumstances? "Thank you for resurrecting my son?" Words seem so inadequate to express gratitude for such an act. It is a miracle! "Now fear seized them all, and they began to glorify God, saying: A great prophet has been raised up among us," and, "God has turned his attention to his people." And this news concerning him spread out into all Judea and all the surrounding country." Obviously Jesus was a great prophet of God.—Luke 7:13-17.
The Promised Miracle-Worker?
Fifteen centuries before, the prophet Moses had performed amazing miracles by God's power, even parting the Red Sea to allow the entire Israelite nation to pass through dry shod. But a greater miracle-working prophet was prophesied to come. Said Moses under inspiration of God: "A prophet from your own midst, from your brothers, like me, is what Jehovah your God will raise up for you—to him you people should listen." (Deut. 18:15) The question in the first century therefore was: 'Is this Jesus of Nazareth the prophet of God that was foretold to come?'
John the Baptist believed that Jesus was this One. He had seen God's spirit descend upon him after he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River nearly two years before. (John 1:32-34) Now John was in jail, having been imprisoned by Herod Antipas about a year before for exposing that one's adulterous relationship with his brother's wue. So it was there in prison that "John's disciples reported to him about all these things," especially about the raising of the widow's son. On hearing this report, "John summoned a certain two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to say: 'Are you the Coming One or are we to expect a different one?'" —Luke 7:18, 19; Matt. 11:2, 3.
It is not that John doubted that Jesus was the promised prophet. But after hearing this remarkable report about the widow's son being restored to life, he apparently wanted verification regarding these matters from Jesus himself. It is possible, too, that John wondered if there was to be another one coming, a successor, as it were, who would complete the fulfillment of all the things that were foretold to be accomplished by God's prophet.
So when the disciples of John reached Jesus and made John's request of him, the account says: "In that hour [Jesus] cured many of sicknesses and grievous diseases and wicked spirits, and granted many blind persons the favor of seeing. Hence, in answer he said to the two: 'Go your way, report to John what you saw and heard: the blind are receiving sight, the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed and the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised up, the poor are being told the good news. And happy is he who has not stumbled over me.'" —Luke 7:21-23.
Certainly this was an encouraging report to John. It was confirmative proof that Jesus was indeed performing the remarkable works that would usungusn God's promised prophet.
Never before had there been such a demonstration of miraculous powers by a man! Throughout Galilee the sick were being healed, and now even the dead were being raised! John could be confident that the report spreading "out into all Judea and all the surrounding country" about the restoring to life of the widow's son was indeed true.
Confidence Today
Although there is no miracle-working prophet of God on earth today who can resurrect the dead, yet we can be absolutely confident that soon our dead loved ones will be restored to life again. A short time before visiting Nain, while he was in Jerusalem attending the Jewish passover in the early spring of 31 C.E., Jesus made a remarkable promise regarding this resurrection of the dead. Up until that time he apparently had not raised anyone; nevertheless, he said:
"For just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes those alive whom he wants to. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to do judging, because Son of man he is. Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment." —John 5:21, 26-29.
Those religious opposers to whom Jesus was speaking did not believe him. Even when authoritative reports began spreading throughout Judea that Jesus had raised the widow's son to life up in Galilee, they refused to believe. In fact, two years later, when right in their own midst Jesus resurrected his friend Lazarus, they were so angered that they plotted his death, and even "took counsel to kill Lazarus also, because on account of him many of the Jews were . . . putting faith in Jesus." —John 12:10, 11.
But just because some in the first century refused to accept the overwhelming evidence that Jesus was the foretold prophet of God is no reason for us today to be skeptical and fail to put faith in Jesus' promise of a resurrection. Jesus' words are reliable! He can do what he promises! His resurrection of the widow's son was proof that he can make "those alive whom he wants to." And as further proof of his power to raise the dead, Jesus performed other resurrections during his earthly ministry that are attested to equally well.
Therefore, we have every reason today to have confidence in Jesus' promise that "all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out." The evidence is that the time for this to occur is now near at hand. We have seen in our generation since 1914 the fulfillment of all the things Jesus Christ and his apostles said would mark the last days of this system of things. World war, food shortages, pestilences, earthquakes, lawlessness, youthful delinquency, skepticism—all are the order of the day. The end of this wicked system is unquestionably near—Matt. 24:3-14; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 3:3, 4.
After it occurs, the resurrection here on earth will take place. If you exercise faith, you may live to see it. What a grand time that will be! How happy will be the reunion of the resurrected with their loved ones! Then the long-looked-forward-to promise will be fulfilled: "He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces."—Isa. 25:8.
AUSCHWITZ
TRIAL
BY "AWAKE" CORRESPONDENT IN WEST GERMANY
ABOUT the end of August 1965 the city of Frankfort on the Main, West Germany, was the scene of another grim chapter in the horror story of Auschwitz concentration camp. Verdicts were now to be handed down in connection with charges against twenty SS men out of some 6,000 who had done duty at Auschwitz. This would wind up a lengthy investigation begun four years earlier, during which some thirteen hundred witnesses had been interrogated in preliminary inquiry, and 359 actually appeared in court to testify to the shocking activities of an extermination camp.
Of vital interest to all onlookers during the proceedings, and to multitudes of thinking persons around the world, were the answers to a number of questions suggested by this trial: Could it happen to me? Is it possible that I would, if under the same circumstances, carry out every command of my superiors, however immoral or sadistic they might be? To what depths of degradation would I descend, to what beastliness, simply because a human government and its officers demanded it? Or would I be prepared to refuse absolutely to stain my hands with unspeakable crimes, and defy the authority of a sadistic commander? It seems easy under present conditions to say "Yes, I would refuse," but some of the prisoners at Frankfort felt they were under a system to which they could not say "No."
Record of the evidence submitted by trial witnesses filled 200 files and tapes. The defendants had eighteen lawyers, while on the other side there were four prosecutors and three coplaintiffs. Day after day the courtroom was the scene of angry recriminations, defendants' and plaintiffs' counsel yelling at one another and at times wandering far from the issues before the court.
The Sentences
But now the day had arrived for the sentences of the court to be announced. The prosecution was demanding penal servitude for life for sixteen out of the twenty prisoners, those charged with complicity in mass murder and numerous single murders.
The curtains of the session hall softened the daylight as the justices filed into court at 8:30 a.m. The auditorium was crowded, and the press gallery packed with reporters, including a good number of foreign press representatives. Already the prisoners had been marched into court under a strong guard. As they stood to attention the sentences were read out: life sentences for six of the accused, from three to fourteen years for eleven others, and three discharged for lack of evidence. Giving reasons for the sentences, the court stressed the fact that, though the accused might well have been guilty of other criminal offenses, definite proof of the charges could not be produced.
What Happened at Auschwitz
Who had ever heard of the sleepy little town of Oswiecim in south Poland before June 14, 1940? On that date, under its Germanized name of Auschwitz, it received its first consignment of prisoners and became a place of terror to people of more than twenty nations.
Not until January 27, 1945, was the camp liberated by the westward-pushing Russian forces. What happened there during the intervening four and a half years is too horrible for the mind fully to comprehend. How could such things happen in Central Europe in the middle of the twentieth century?
At first Auschwitz was a comparatively small camp, for up to the close of March 1942, its records showed that only 27,000 prisoner numbers had been issued. Not included in this total were the Russian prisoners, almost 11,000 of them, who were brought in from July 1941 onward without receiving numbers, and who, by March 1942, had dwindled to only 365.
But then the time came when the Nazis pushed their so-called "final solution of the Jewish question." The camp's population swelled as the mass deportations of Hitler's National Safety Main Office, headed by Adolf Eichmann, began to take effect. In July 1942 the SS men began their infamous "selections" of arriving prisoners. Those newcomers who at first glance seemed unfit for any physical work were led directly from the railcars to the gas chambers. Camp officials did not even bother to take particulars or issue numbers. These "selected" ones were doomed.
To this camp also came some 250 faithful Christian women, whose sole crime was that they put their trust in Jehovah their God and refused to become contaminated with the idolatry and bestiality of the Nazi regime. Only 97 of their number outlived the filth and the horrors of Auschwitz. Starvation, spirit-breaking work, disease and vermin wore them down physically, but loyally they refused to sign the anti-God pledge that would have
brought them release. The records tell that some of these Christian witnesses of Jehovah were, while still conscious but too weak to defend themselves, actually gnawed to death by rats.
On May 16, 1944, with the arrival of the first shipment of Jews from Hungary, the greatest extermination program of the camp's history commenced. With hardly a pause, wagonload after wagonload of prisoners was routed directly to the big gas chambers and the crematories. Each day 25,000 men, women and children, enough to populate a small town, were gassed and cremated. The forty-six big kilns installed in the four crematories were insufficient to handle the masses of dead and half-dead bodies disgorged from the gas chambers. Big holes were dug in the courtyard where thousands of the bodies were burned. It is reported that 10,000 to 12,000 were thus disposed of daily. The total tally of murders at Auschwitz camp is placed at four million.
To avoid panic among the incoming prisoners, they were told that they were in an evacuation camp and must first go to the bathhouse. With fears somewhat allayed, they watched the Red Cross trucks drive back and forth, little realizing that from these the deadly gas was pumped into underground chambers. The gas chambers looked just like huge shower rooms. The prisoners were instructed to put their clothes carefully in a certain place where they could claim them after the "bath." But none of them came back.
All was well organized for the fiendish job. One eyewitness, Jehuda Bacon, for instance, told the court: "I was assigned to do slave work in a division with nineteen other children. We were put in front of a wagon and had to fetch the ashes of the cremated prisoners from the crematory to spread them in the camp."
Hundreds of thousands were thus barbarously murdered in cold blood.
The huge numbers give no real concept of the sufferings sustained by the individual. One outstanding example, Anne Frank, engages our sympathy, simply because her diary survived to tell the pathetic story. The heartbreaks, the nightmarish experiences and the cruelties undergone by the multitude of victims are cloaked in anonymity.
A prosecution witness, fifty-year-old Ota Fabian, a Czech locksmith, told of being forced to carry the dead to the crematory almost every day for two whole years. Said he in court: "Once as I carried the stretcher I suddenly heard a voice behind me, 'Oberscharführer, you did not shoot properly.' The SS man said: 'Shut up! I'll give you another one then.' We had to put the stretcher down while the SS officer shot the victim once more through the head."
When SS leader Kaduk's counsel, Dr. Reiners of Frankfort, was confronted with the individual fates of the prisoners during a visit to the Auschwitz Museum, he broke down and sobbed, saying: "I have been a soldier for five years. I have gone through terrible things, but I did not think this to be possible. This is too much for me!" Many survivors from this death camp were shaken by fits of weeping right in court as they offered their testimony, overwhelmed anew by the atrocities they had witnessed.
They Kept the Deathtrap Going
All seventeen of those sentenced at Frankfort were cogs in the machinery of mass murder. What kind of men were they who sealed the fate of thousands by a careless signature or wave of the hand, or who participated in beating, kicking, torturing and other brutal actions? The American dramatist, Arthur Miller, made the laconic statement: "They
could be everybody's German uncle."
Indeed, as they sat there in the dock, cleanshaven and smartly dressed, they looked quite innocent; the exporter, the bank cashier, the teacher, the clerk, the farmer, the gynecologist. One would think they were hearing about the Auschwitz horrors for the first time. Yet one was a camp commandant, another a camp pharmacist. This sudden lapse of memory is a distinguishing characteristic of almost all SS men. Throughout this trial only three offered any confession.
Hans Stark, forty-four years of age, for example, told how in 1937 at the age of sixteen his father had made him join the SS. "We lived under a requirement of hard discipline and absolute obedience," said he. But for what did this "education" equip him? The court decided he was guilty of joint murder in at least forty-four cases. Stark had prisoners at his disposal who had to have water ready in a basin so he could clean his hands when he returned from the notorious "black wall" where he would shoot prisoners in the neck. Prisoners used to talk about him "washing his hands in innocence" and of his having the "Pilate-complex." When war ended, Stark took up agriculture and became a teacher in an agricultural school.
Not far from him in the prisoner's dock sat the crafty-looking fifty-nine-year-old Wilhelm Boger. What is hidden behind his broad forehead? He well knows that he tortured countless victims with his own hands. His invention came to be known as the "Boger-swing." Prosecution witness Josef Piwko described his procedure: "There were children in the camp, gypsy children. One day they were murdered too. Boger had them come. He kicked them. Then he took hold of them by the legs and swung their heads against the wall until they were dead." No wonder there was a steely sound in the voice of the presiding judge as he announced a life sentence for this sadist!
"I am Capesius from Transylvania. In me you will come to know the devil!" screamed the former SS pharmacist Dr. Viktor Capesius, according to the testimony of the now forty-five-year-old Romanian teacher, Martha Szabo. As a girl in her twenties she had been horsehipped by Capesius and forced to lift heavy stones and jump with them. A Warsaw druggist told how Capesius had hoarded fifteen suitcases of broken gold teeth in an attic. Education and intelligence had not prevented this university man from stooping to cowardly brutalities.
No Refusal to Obey Orders
Just before the case concluded, the former SS leader Kaduk complained: "I admit that a terrible crime was committed at Auschwitz, but it was not us. One must get hold of the roots of the evil, and not us. The action that has been carried out is not so important as the men who brought this calamity upon us." But prosecution witness Jakubovits from Antwerp said, when offering testimony against Kaduk: "I don't want to look at the accused one, Kaduk, for it was his hobby to kill people."
The presiding judge agreed that Hitler, Himmler and Heydrich are in all these cases to be viewed as the principal perpetrators who planned and organized the extermination camps. "But," said he, "like the big ones the small ones were necessary too in the plan of annihilation at Auschwitz." The attorney, Kurt Hinrichsen of Ludwigsburg, stressed the point that there had been no evidence of a single case even where there had been a "refusal to obey orders." "I could not ascertain a single case where a member of the SS suffered body or life injury because of disobeying a criminal order."
Public Reaction
The first Auschwitz trial is over. A second is already in session, Meantine, on the strength of a West German arrest warrant, the East Germans have imprisoned, tried and condemned to the guillotine a former SS doctor, Horst Fischer, on the charge of being responsible for selecting at least 70,000 victims for liquidation in the Auschwitz gas chambers. All of this has not gone unnoticed by the German public. Many teen-agers, sometimes whole classes, attended the trial in Frankfort, and it was they who time and again asked with puzzled look, "How could this happen?" The show, "Auschwitz—Pictures and Documents," exhibited in Frankfort during the trial, was attended by 80,000 in the space of five weeks. Of course, there are those who would prefer that this disgraceful chapter of German history be forgotten.
Almost all German newspapers have a different idea. They reported the trial frankly and objectively. In its issue of August 20, 1965, Die Welt (The World) stated, among other things: "The lesson that Auschwitz taught is this: There must be no reasons of state in Germany any more that conflict with the postulates of right and humanity, and would even claim priority to them. The state has . . . lost the aureole of a pretended morality."
But will people of all nations in this age of violence learn aright the lesson written with so much blood? Will they understand that, whenever there is conflict between state law and God's law, God's law must come first? (Acts 5:29) The Auschwitz trial surely shows how easy it is for those who fail to study and apply the righteous principles of the Bible to become mere tools in the hands of sadistic murderers.
THE BURDEN-BEARING
Burro
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By "Awake!" correspondent in Venezuela
THE glee of a Venezuelan farmer over the fact that he possessed winning lottery tickets in 1964 changed to consternation when he discovered that his hardworking burro nonchalantly ate them. This incident, which was so frustrating for the farmer, well illustrates how very exasperating a burro can be at times. But when the annoying things it does are weighed against the good services it performs, its master is usually willing to forgive and forget.
The burro, also known as donkey and ass, is found on all the continents and on many islands. Spanish explorers brought it to the Americas, where it has, become a popular beast of burden as it is elsewhere in the world. In Venezuela, for example, it holds a very important place in rural life.
Excellent Burden Bearer
The burro is stronger for its weight and size than any other pack animal. A prime burro can carry a load of 200 pounds on level ground or 150 pounds on a steep trail. Its having strong, heavy bones is an important factor in its strength.
Men that must travel in mountainous terrain with merchandise and baggage often rely on the strong, surefooted burro. This useful animal can climb almost as well as a goat and can move along
narrow mountain trails at dizzy heights where no horse could venture.
The surefootedness of the burro is one reason why it was the preferred animal for royalty to ride in ancient times. In the seventeenth century Before Our Common Era it was considered improper for royalty to ride a horse rather than a burro. The ancients used the horse for war but an ass for peaceful traveling. Riding such an animal was an indication of a peaceful journey. Jesus Christ followed the custom of early men of rank by riding an ass or burro when he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before his death.—Matt. 21:1-9.
Sheep and other animals were the principal wealth of rich people in ancient times. A large part of that wealth consisted of asses. Regarding the Hebrew patriarch Abraham's wealth the Bible says that "he came to have sheep and cattle and asses and menservants and maid-servants and she-asses and camels." (Gen. 12: 16) Thus more than 1,900 years Before Our Common Era asses were popular domestic animals.
The burro or ass can work in a wide range of temperatures. It can carry loads across the hot sands of the Sahara desert in temperatures of 135 degrees Fahrenheit, and it can endure the cold of 18,000-foot elevations in high mountains. Another favorable feature is its willingness to eat practically anything. Even cactus is not unappetizing to it. But for a burro to do hard work it should be fed a nourishing grain.
Besides its obvious advantages as a pack animal, the burro also provides meat and leather. Zoos are a steady market for its flesh. Its hide is used to make shagreen leather, drumheads and shoes. Even its milk is useful, being regarded by some persons as beneficial for people who suffer from consumption and dyspepsia.
These little animals are becoming popular in some places as pets for children. People are ordering them by catalog from a firm in Mexico. With appealing faces, velvety-soft noses, eyes that are rimmed with long lashes, a long-suffering look and the ability to learn tricks, they make charming pets. A circus in South America had one that was a star performer for eighteen years. It could dance, perform leaps and understand commands in three languages.
Characteristics
The burro is noted for being stubborn. Although its sit-down protests may make it appear stupid, it really is not. It just has a mind of its own. When it decides that a load is too heavy or that the time has come to rest, it may unexpectedly lie down on the trail or wherever it may be. Instead of cruelly twisting its tail or its ears or prodding it with a sharp stick to make it get up, its master would do better by first unloading the animal.
Attachment to its master is one of the characteristics of a burrow. It is able to distinguish him from all other men, being able to catch his scent from a distance and recognize him by sight and by the sound of his voice. Some burros will even bray an answer when their masters call them by name. Their raucous bray is one of their distinguishing features.
The burro's mental ability becomes manifest when it is put in a pack train.
In a couple of weeks it memorizes the route. On a short haul it can memorize the route well enough to make the trip unattended by its master. This was made evident to me one day when I saw what appeared to be three green haystacks moving along the shoulder of a Venezuelan highway. Upon taking a closer look, I found that the haystacks were actually three burros that were completely covered with freshly cut fodder. All by themselves they were plodding along a route that they knew so well that their master did not have to accompany them. But the burro's good memory can be a drawback at times. Once it learns a certain way of doing things, it is very difficult to force it to change its habits. This is one of the reasons it is regarded as being obstinate.
Not being temperamental or flighty, a burro ordinarily is meek, mild-tempered and patient. But when something is done to infuriate it, it can kill a man. This happened to a farm worker in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. He was kicked to death by a burro.
When a male burro, a jackass, is bred with a female horse, the hybrid offspring is a mule. Mules usually are sterile, but they make good work animals. Unlike a burro, a mule has a feeble bray. A cross between a male horse and a female ass is known as a hinny.
Basis for Pithy Sayings
There is a Spanish saying that makes reference to this hardworking animal. In Spanish the saying is: Es un burro en su trabajo. This means, "He drudges like a burro in his work." Another saying refers to the burro's alertness and willingness to be active when danger is present. It says: Donde el tigre ronca, no hay burro con reumatismo; which means, "Where the tiger roars, there is no burro with rheumatism." But this is not the way a burro reacts to an approaching automobile.
These interesting animals are curiously unconcerned about cars and trucks on the highways here in Venezuela. Thousands of them roam about the interior of the country, giving little heed to the danger of fast-moving vehicles. Being unwilling to give them the right of way, many burros are struck and killed. Some human deaths also have occurred. There is the case of four persons in a car that were killed when the car driver swerved to avoid hitting a burro that unexpectedly crossed the highway in front of them, causing the car to roll over.
Training
When a burro is one or two years old it can be trained, and if it has been kept tied by its master the process will be easier, as it will tend to be more meek. First a good, agile rider mounts the burro and allows it to buck until tired. Then the animal is loaded with a light pack that is evenly balanced. Later, progressively heavier loads are put on it. By the time the training period is completed the animal is resigned to serve its master, and this it does with loyalty.
when it is being loaded with a pack, but this usually happens because of its being uncomfortable. Perhaps the blanket under the load is wrinkled or has dirt on it that is pressing into its skin. The person doing the loading must be careful to smooth out the blanket and inspect it for burrs or dirt.
A disease known as burro fever sometimes reaches epidemic proportions in some places of the world. It is dangerous for humans as well as burros. In 1964 Venezuela experienced an outbreak of it that resulted in a number of deaths. The disease is characterized by fever, weak pulse, difficulty in breathing, diarrhea, spasms of the whole body and a terrible headache. The agents that transmit the disease from an infected burro to humans are mosquitoes, ticks and bats. The primary agent is the mosquito.
In highly developed lands the burro has been replaced by tractors, trucks and automobiles, but in underdeveloped countries this little burden-bearing animal still holds a very important place in the life and economy of the people. This little animal with the big ears and raucous bray continues to serve man faithfully, as it has for thousands of years.
NAMES FOR THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
In ancient Babylon the days of the week were designated by the names of Babylonian gods. The first day was named for the sun-god Shamash, the second for Sin the moon-god, the third for Nergal, the fourth for Nabu, the fifth for Marduk (Bel), the sixth for Ishtar (Beltis), and the seventh for Ninib. In the Roman week the same gods were honored under the corresponding names of Sun (Sol), Moon (Luna), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Many Latin-based languages today, such as Spanish and French, continue to use these names (in their equivalent forms) for the days of the week. In the English calendar the first, second and seventh days of the week follow this pattern (Sunday, Monday or Moon-day, and Saturday or Day of Saturn). The remaining days do also, but have substituted other names for the Latin ones. Tuesday is named for the Old English god of war, Tw; Wednesday, for Wöden, chief god of the Germanic peoples; Thursday for the Old Scandinavian god of sky and thunder, Thor; and Friday for From, the Germanic goddess of love.
THE MACHINE WITH THE ANSWERS
ARE you planning a plane trip and would like to know if space is available on a certain flight? There is a machine that can quickly give the answer. Are you a merchant with a large inventory of merchandise and would like to know in seconds, at any moment, what items are in the warehouse? A machine can tell you. Are you a businessman who ships goods by railroad and would like to know where the boxcar containing your shipment is? A machine can give you a speedy reply. In business, industry, government, education and science this machine with the answers has come to be viewed as virtually indispensable.
The applications to which electronic computers can be put seem to be endless. Their ability to solve mathematical problems at great speed, to do routine tasks accurately and tirelessly, to locate stored information swiftly and to digest and compare great amounts of data in a short time put them in great demand. They are proving to be so useful in handling the intricacies of this machine age and the flood of data resulting from increased research and expanding industries that
Dr. Louis Rader, a vice-president of General Electric, was moved to remark: "The electronic computer may have a more beneficial potential for the human race than any other invention in history."
Without electronic computers the rapid progress made thus far in
the development of space technology would not have been possible. They are vital to the successful firing of rockets for weather satellites, communication satellites, space probes such as, those sent to the moon, Mars and Venus and for orbiting of astronauts. Whenever a rocket is fired, computers digest huge amounts of information coming from instruments on board and feed corrections into equipment controlling the rocket. They constantly monitor instruments in orbiting space capsules and indicate the precise moment when retrorockets must be fired to bring the capsule down. They do complex computations in fractions of a second, giving space scientists almost instantaneous answers to difficult rocket problems.
These remarkable machines may seem remote to you, but actually they touch your life nearly every day. Your bank account is very likely processed by a computer. Checks you may receive from business corporations or from the government probably have small holes punched in them indicating that they were written by a computer and will be processed by one. Advertisements you receive in the mail may include cards designed to be put through a computer.
Your gas bill probably was written by one, as well as the address labels on the magazines you receive by subscription.
Twenty-two years ago these machines did not touch your life as they do today, because that was when Professor Howard Aiken invented the first true computer. Today there are approximately 22,500 of them in the United States alone. Twenty manufacturers have about a hundred different models on the market, with more on the way. Computers began to have a rapid growth when their vacuum tubes were replaced with solid-state components such as transistors. This change made them smaller, faster, more reliable and less difficult to keep cool.
An Electronic Tool
Amazing as an electronic computer is, it is nothing more than a useful tool. It is not equal to the human brain, a comparison some overenthusiastic writers are inclined to make. It cannot reason or determine its own course of action. All its work must be carefully programmed in advance by a human who tells it what to do and how to do it. Once it has received these instructions, it can operate automatically without the further human supervision that other automatic machines such as elevators require. Being the product of human hands, it cannot be absolutely free from error or superior to its makers. There is nothing it can do that man cannot do if given sufficient time.
Computers are ideal for doing routine tasks that involve the same procedure over and over again with different data. For example, it is unsurpassed in making out a weekly payroll. For a large firm with thousands of employees, it can complete the payroll in a few hours, whereas
a staff of clerks might have to devote all their time to the task, and it will do the job with greater accuracy. It is estimated that a good clerk will make at least five mistakes in every hundred manual calculations. A computer, on the other hand, is accurate 99.999 percent of the time. When errors do occur, they usually are due to the human operators who prepare the data for it.
As useful tools, computers help men not only to perform arithmetic operations at great speed but also to sort and compare information in a logical manner. A farmer, for example, can turn to a computer for help in deciding whether it would pay him to expand his farm. It also can aid him in reorganizing his farm so it will operate more efficiently.
Different Types
Of the two basic types of computers the most widely used is the digital computer, which uses numbers to represent the parts of a problem. Its name comes from the word "digit," which means a single number-symbol. In this computer all arithmetic computations are done by counting. Numbers are used by it for calculations as well as for expressing variable quantities.
The analogue computer, on the other hand, does not count but measures. It transforms such things as temperature and pressure into electrical quantities in order to solve problems involving them. But they are not regarded as being as accurate as digital computers.
Computer speeds vary with types and models. A computer using the real-time system, such as many of those employed in the space program, are practically instantaneous in solving a problem. Other computers are much slower. The average speed ranges from 100 operations per second to about 500,000 a second. Ultrafast types operate in the range of a billionth of a second.
How It Operates
Most computers operate on the binary system of arithmetic. In this system only two numbers are used for solving problems and coding information—0 and 1. These digits are used to represent different values according to their position from right to left. If there is a 1 in the first position it designates the value of 1. When a 0 is there no value is indicated. The value of 2 is assigned to the second position to the left whenever the number 1 is there because one times the position of the number, the second position, equals 2.
Now if a 1 were in the second position and another 1 in the first position, the number stored in the computer would be 3. One times the second position is 2 and then adding 1 from the first position gives the total of 3. Each additional position to the left increases by a multiple of 2. Thus position 3 has the value of 4 (2 times the second position equals 4); position 4 has the value of 8; position 5 has the value of 16, and so forth. In each position a numerical value is represented by the number 1 and no value by 0.
Combinations of the first four positions can represent any number from 1 to 15. A fifth position increases the range to any number from 1 to 31. Each additional position extends the numerical range that can be represented in the binary system. Thus a number such as 25 would be represented in binary as 11001. Being in the fifth position, the first 1 on the left has the value of 16. Add this to the value of the fourth position, which is 8, the result is 24. Positions 2 and 3 have no value because zeros are in those places. That leaves the 1 in the last position on the right, which has the value of 1. Add this to 24 and the result is the number 25. In
this manner the two digits 1 and 0 can be used in a computer to represent a number of any size. Although this system of arithmetic would be slow for us, it is not for a computer, because a computer operates at tremendous speed.
Storage of Data
When information is put into a computer it has to be stored until the computer gets the entire problem or until it is queried for that information. A popular system of storage is the one using magnetic cores. These are doughnut-shaped rings that are about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. Two wires passing through the center of them are used for magnetizing or demagnetizing them. Since they are tiny, a great number of them can be put into a computer for a primary storage or memory system. They are strung on wires in many small frames. Another feature is that they require only a small amount of power to be magnetized or demagnetized.
A core that is magnetized in a clockwise direction is said to be "on" and represents a binary 1, called a one-bit. When magnetized in a counterclockwise direction, it represents a binary 0 and is called a zero-bit. It is then said to be "off."
Other types of computers use magnetic drums for primary storage of information. In this system a magnetic spot is put on the drum to represent a one-bit as it rotates at high speed. No magnetic spot represents a zero-bit. A series of readwrite heads are used for recording the magnetic spots and for reading them back.
Although a primary storage system can have a capacity of as much as 8 million characters of information, this may be insufficient for all the data a company may want to store. A secondary storage system is therefore necessary. This usually consists of magnetic tapes with the information arranged on them in a specific order so it can be easily found as the tape speeds from one reel to another.
A tape that is 2,400 feet long can store about 14 million binary characters, and a great many reels can be filed away in a relatively small storage area. Whenever a reel is needed it can be put on a machine, and the information taken from it is fed directly into the computer.
Another system of secondary storage that supplements the great amount of data stored in the primary-core storage of a computer is that of magnetic disks. These are metal disks that are stacked on a vertical shaft with a space between them. A file of a hundred disks will store 20 million characters. A selector arm moves in and out between the disks to take information from either side or to record more data. By spinning the disks at high speed the recording and retrieving of information can be done very quickly.
Expanding Uses for Computers
The improvements that are continually being made in the size, speed and information storage systems of electronic computers are contributing to the rapid expansion of their use. Dairymen are now using computers to analyze the production of their cows so as to increase it. One large automobile manufacturer is keeping a record in a computer of what happens to every car it produces. By the computer's keeping a history of each car for six years, a used-car dealer can learn in a matter of seconds what he wants to know about cars made by this manufacturer.
Even traffic is coming under computer control. New York City is spending $100 million to put the traffic lights on 2,700 intersections under the control of a computer. In the Canadian cities of Toronto and Calgary, computer-controlled traffic signals are already regulating the flow of traffic on major arteries. Sensing equipment counts the cars and checks their speed. Working with this information, the computer adjusts the traffic lights so the traffic will move as efficiently as possible.
Police in a number of cities are beginning to use computers in their fight against crime. A computer in the city of St. Louis produces crime analysis reports, helps identify criminals, keeps a record of arrests and does a number of other things important to police work. In New York City the license plate numbers of 30,000 stolen cars and 80,000 cars of persons that have ignored traffic tickets have been put into the memory of a computer. Random license numbers of passing cars radioed in by a patrol car are checked by the computer. When one corresponds with a number on file, the patrol car is notified within 5 to 7 seconds of the initial report. Another patrol car down the road is radioed by the observing policeman and the car is stopped. During a period of three months, a test of this system resulted in a hundred arrests.
There seems to be a limitless number of things that computers can do. They check income-tax returns, route long-distance telephone calls, help map flights for planes, control production processes in industries producing paper, petroleum, steel and glass, analyze electrocardiograms, monitor patients recovering from open-heart surgery, help diagnose diseases, and so on. A computer even has been used to make a concordance of the Bible.
This machine with the answers is indeed becoming a much-used tool in the modern technical age.
NESTLED between Austria and Switzerland in the valley of the upper Rhine River is the tiny German-speaking country of Liechtenstein. On many maps of Europe it is all but blotted out by the border lines of its neighbors. And little wonder, for Liechtenstein covers only sixty-one square miles, about one-fifth the area of New York City! It is some sixteen miles long, and averages less than four miles in width.
The winding Rhine River forms the sixteen-mile boundary between Switzerland and Liechtenstein on the west, and a series of mountain peaks that tower behind the Rhine valley plain mark the irregular boundary with Austria to the east. Austria also borders Liechtenstein
to the north, while Switzerland does so to the south. Cradled within these confines, the fourth-smallest country in the world is set as a jewel amid the magnificent Alps.
Country Life
Here you find no hustle and bustle of city life; in fact, there are no real cities. Most of the inhabitants live in eleven settlements, ranging in size from a village of little more than a hundred people to the capital, Vaduz, a town of less than 4,000. The country's entire population is only 18,400, yet its people boast of one of the world's highest living standards.
At the same time, Liechtenstein enjoys an unhurried tranquillity and quietude that many persons only dream about. It is a rural, pastoral way of life. Perhaps the most characteristic sounds are the gurgle of streams and the sound of cowbells. Raising dairy cows is a chief occupation, and even in the capital, Vaduz, herds of cows are driven down the main street early in the morning.
Just off the town's main street is the country's largest vineyard, owned by the ruling prince. The warm foenn winds ripen the grapes fast. When the luscious bunches of black grapes hang ready for the fall picking, a committee of vineyard growers appoint a harvest day. When it arrives, church bells are rung and whole families join in the picking. It is a joyous time.
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