Our colleague Kelvin Crombie is working on a very special research project. For the first time someone is systematically surveying the fate of Jewish believers in Jesus (Hebrew Christians/Messianic Jews) who suffered during World War II. Up until now it has not been widely known that many thousands of such Jews died at the hands of Nazi Germany and their allies.
Very little hard evidence, figures, and stories have ever been assembled about these victims, and their tragedy largely remains an untold chapter in the history of the Holocaust. Kelvin is in the process of
- collecting testimonies,
- compiling names of victims, and
- analysing how Jewish Christians were rounded up and murdered across Europe.
Part of the vision for this project is that the names of these individuals will be inscribed on a wall in the garden at Christ Church. This way they will be remembered and honoured.
This is a giant and difficult task at which Kelvin has been labouring for several years. Please remember to pray for him and his groundbreaking research. Pray especially that historic material on these believers (sometimes known as non-Aryan Christians) will come to light in order that Kelvin may complete the project.
“We often hear the broad statement, ‘There were perhaps ten thousand Jewish believers in Jesus who died in the Holocaust,'” says Kelvin Crombie. “Who were they? What are their stories and testimonies? This is the task at hand.”
Jewish Christians before World War II
The Conrad Schick Library at Christ Church Jerusalem has been digitizing glass slide photographs taken by the Jewish Christian community in Poland and Ukraine before and during the war. Here is a peek into Poland and Ukraine just before the war.
In the midst of World War II — the most deadly in history — the Nazis and their collaborators perpetrated the industrialized, mass murder of 6 million Jewish people. What we rarely consider is that a considerable number of Jews caught up in this genocide were Jews who believed that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel.
We want to rediscover the names and stories of our brothers and sisters in Messiah who were murdered by the Nazis. CMJ historian Kelvin Crombie has been researching what the Nazis classified as “non-Aryan Christians” for two years. “We often hear the broad statement, ‘There were perhaps ten thousand Jewish believers in Jesus who died in the Holocaust,'” says Kelvin. “Who were they? What are their stories and testimonies? This is the task at hand.”
Partner with us
Kelvin asks for your prayers. “Without it sounding like a cliché, I really do need intercessory prayer. This project touches upon some of the deepest and saddest events in human history, and I am not immune to being affected,” he says. “Another prayer concern is whether we as a family should relocate back to Jerusalem in order to complete this project – a project which I already see as my most significant yet.”
Prayerfully consider partnering financially with CMJ and Kelvin Crombie.
