A memory from southeastern Austria

Last updated on: December 24, 2019 at 9:19 am by Dan Peterson

A memory from southeastern Austria 2019-12-24T09:19:32-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The memorial stone in front of Hitler’s birthplace in Braun-am-Inn, Austria
(Wikimedia Commons public domain). It says nothing about the Führer. It doesn’t so much as mention his name. Instead, the inscription reads: “For peace, freedom, and democracy. Never again fascism. Millions of dead admonish [us].”

Many years ago, I participated for two successive years in an international and interreligious “trialogue” that involved roughly ten scholars each from the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. It had already been going for at least a year when I was asked to join in it. The first year that I particpated was in Graz, Austria. The next year was in Jerusalem, including a day in BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. I’m not sure that the “trialogue” group ever met again after that.

During the time that we spent in Graz, I noticed a well-dressed man who attended all of our meetings but never said a word. It took me several days to figure out that he was a security officer, well armed, from either the Graz police or the Austrian national government. (I can’t remember which.)

One of the people in the group with whom I had hit it off well was a rabbi who was teaching Jewish studies at the time at Emory University in Atlanta. Since we both spoke German, we befriended the security guy and, at the end of the several-day conference, he offered to take us around for a couple of hours to some religiously significant sites in Graz — including, quite emotionally for my colleague, the place where the synagogue of Graz had been destroyed during Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”) in November 1938.

We learned that our security friend had been assigned for several years to unobtrusively guarding religious events and religious places in Graz. That’s why he had been with us for several days. So, although he himself was a fairly standard (that is, slightly observant) Austrian Catholic, he had become a sort of expert on bar mitzvahs, Yom Kippur observances, Ramadan iftars, Jewish and Muslim funerals, and the like. Graz is located in the southeast of Austria and, because of its location, was at that time seeing a large influx of refugees from the Balkans. Authorities were concerned about the concomitant rise of anti-Islamic bigotry, as well as about lingering anti-Jewish prejudice among neo-Nazis and their ilk, and about possible strife between intersecting Jews and Muslims.

Sadly, such concerns are still with us.

Previous Post

December 7, 2019

Will computers ever become conscious? (B)

Next Post

December 8, 2019 LDS Inc. (Part Nine)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

A righteous man loses everything—ten children, vast wealth, and his health—yet refuses to curse God. Who endured this test?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Job Solomon Joseph Jonah