Experiences from the Life of Johannes Altwein (Part 1)

INTRODUCTION

“Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.” Psalm 66.16

With this booklet I want to express some of my personal experiences with my God, whom I have learnt to respect and to love dearly through many circumstances and experiences, who was near to me throughout my life, no matter where I was, and no matter how old I was.  I want to share with you, my dear reader, how my prayers were answered by Him.

I was born in Schwerin on the 4th of June 1931 and grew up in a Christian household. My parents were Seventh Day-Adventists of the Reform Movement.

My two brothers, two sisters and I became familiar with the biblical stories at a very early age, and I can say that my faith was strengthened by our daily worship. To this present day I am so thankful for the worship time my parents invested in us. Having experienced this myself, I wholeheartedly wish to recommend, to all parents, to never miss worship with their children.

Since the Church was prohibited when I was only a small boy, life was hard under the National Socialist Government. We were constantly living with the knowledge, that at any moment we could be taken away to Concentration Camps. Since my early childhood, I had to learn to fully trust in God and to put my life into His safe keeping.

My personal experiences with my God and the way He answered my prayers, often cannot be explained with human understanding. They are true miracles.

I very much wish for the reader to find true enjoyment while reading the following lines. May the sharing of my experiences also help each reader to strengthen his or her faith in our heavenly Father.

Johannes Altwein

(The complete booklet is available from IMS Publishing, upon request. In the Reformation Messenger we will print the book in several issues)

PERSECUTION BY THE NAZIS

As I remember, the Reform Movement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was prohibited by the Nazi regime already in 1936. Difficulties and persecutions followed.  As Seventh-day Adventists, we keep Saturday as a divine day of rest, we stop our daily work, and the children do not go to school on that day. That was the reason why we were persecuted by the Nazis. Since we children did not go to school on Saturdays, and we called Saturdays “Sabbaths”, our father was arrested and put into prison. After his arrest, my older brothers and sisters were regularly picked up by the police, every Sabbath, and taken to school by force. I was lucky. Since I was only five years old, I was allowed to stay home. I remember it well. Each time the policeman appeared to pick up my brothers and sisters, I used our kitchen table as a hiding place, and from under the tablecloth, I could only see the policeman’s huge black boots.

The policeman had also been commissioned to investigate our family’s conduct. Upon inquiring about us in our neighborhood, he learnt for example, from the baker and the grocery store, that we did not owe any debts, but always paid for our supplies immediately and in full. This was very unusual in those days, since there was not a lot of money around. The police investigation did not find any bad reports about us.

Only many years later we learnt that the police officer favored our family. After the war was over, he told us, that due to his good conduct towards us, he was treated leniently by the Russians and was not beaten to death as many of his colleagues were.

We assume that this particular policeman must have stood up for my father, because my father did not have to stay in prison for long. This was very unusual, since the normal path led from normal prison to penitentiary (which was for people who committed serious crimes), and from there into the concentration camp, which was the end station for most people.

Many of our fellow believers, most of them men, were taken either into prison, the penitentiary or to concentration camps. Those who could flee tried to find shelter somewhere.  My parents were hiding some fellow believers. It was not easy for us children, knowing the seriousness of it all, because nobody was allowed to find out about their stay. It would surely have meant death for all of us.

This is how brother Hanselmann came to hide at our place. After approximately two months, he thought it was safe for him to leave again, but my father said to him: “It is too dangerous, they are determined to catch you.” But he could not see the seriousness of the situation and left, nevertheless. A short time later the Gestapo caught him and took him to a concentration camp. Unfortunately, he did not survive it.

Sometime later another fellow brother sought shelter in our home. My parents took in Alfred Münch for a while. He was a father of two daughters. Shortly after he had voluntarily left his safe hiding-place in our house, he too was picked up and taken away by the Gestapo. Unfortunately, he met the same fate as brother Hanselmann.

In order not to become too suspicious to the Nazis, my parents frequently changed their place of residence in the area surrounding Schwerin.  In our new home they took in brother Herbert Wendt to protect him from the Nazi regime. Our living conditions were very constricted. For him there was no other possibility than to live and to sleep in my parent’s bedroom. He, too, stayed with us for some time until he decided to continue his journey.  Some weeks later we got the news that he also had been arrested by the Nazis. During a prisoner’s transportation in a rail wagon both his eyes were injured during a bomb attack. He lost most of his eyesight in both eyes. Consequently, he was taken to a hospital in Hamburg. After some time, he was taken to Bielefeld in Lipperland to be interrogated by the Gestapo, to get some names of other believers out of him. But God gave him the strength not to speak. He did not betray any other believer. He was released after the interrogation on the grounds that through his blindness he had suffered sufficiently. He was set free.

I am convinced our family had come through the Nazi regime so well, because my parents were generously risking their own lives to help their fellow-believers in persecution. Therefore, God held His protective hands over my parental home. I am sure I would not have been able to write all my experiences on paper if my parents had not acted so unselfishly.

CHILD MURDERER SEEFELD

When I was still a small boy, we lived in Mueß on the edge of a forest, near Schwerin. The well-known child murderer Adolf Seefeld was preying on children in that area. He had killed numerous children, most of them boys. When visiting our grandparents, it was rather frightening for us kids to go through the forest alone, even by bike.

Every time I went into the forest, I got off my bike, laid it on the ground, knelt by the wayside and fervently asked my God and my Saviour to be with me on this dangerous way. I learned quickly that my only safety was in Him. After each prayer I felt totally free of fear because I was sure that my guardian angel would protect me. None of my brothers and sisters were caught by that child murderer. My confidence in our heavenly Father was strengthened through this experience and is maintained until the present day.

The murderer himself was caught and handed over to be dealt with by the courts in Schwerin in 1936.  He was sentenced to death 12 times. My eldest brother was present at his execution.

DJ (GERMAN YOUTH), WHICH LATER

BECAME HJ (HITLER YOUTH)

When I was ten years old, one afternoon some boys from the Hitler youth appeared at our home in their uniforms to pick me up for “duty”. They asked my mother if I could come with them. My mother was accustomed to answering very cautiously. Had she said: “No, I don’t want him to go”, she could have been arrested. Thus, she said: “Why don’t you ask Johannes directly?” To me, it was the greatest honor to be allowed to decide for myself, and I very firmly refused to accompany them.  So, the boys left.

From then on, I had to be very cautious when I went into the village. Had any of the Hitler Youth seen me, they would have beaten me up, since it was compulsory to join the Hitler Youth. I remember one time when I had to quickly sneak into my brother’s boat to hide from them. Fortunately, the boat was among some reeds at the edge of a lake, so no one was able to see me.

After my parents had changed their place of residence again, one evening two Hitler youth came to inform us about a “scouts’ game” which was to take place the next day. As it was “just a game”, my father generously agreed.

Since there were fewer players on my team, we consequently lost the game. Two hours of military exercises were supposed to be the punishment for the losers. We all had to lie down … get up again … run … lie down again etc. etc, and this at a very fast pace. A Hitler youth leader supervised and commanded our team with constant yelling. Then I realized, this is not a game, this is more like a military drill. I didn’t want any part of it. After a couple of minutes, I decided to make my way off the field. The problem was it was an open field. I had no place to hide behind a tree or anything else, but nevertheless, with the help of God I could disappear without being seen by anybody.  If the Hitler Youth leader had noticed my disappearance, this would have had severe consequences for me, because even the Hitler youth was known to be merciless.

Next morning at school, the boys, especially my best friend who had stood directly next to me on the training ground, asked me how I could disappear without being seen.  They were baffled.  Of course, it was God who took care of me, again.

LOST: BREAD RATIONING COUPONS

The day after the war had started, everyone in Germany received coupons that rationed the food, such as: bread, butter, milk, etc. Those coupons were intended to last for a whole month. Every time we bought something, one part of a coupon was torn off. Those coupons became more important than cash, for without them, we were not able to buy anything, even if we had the money.

It was about three kilometers from Schwerin to our baker in Neumühle, where we always bought our bread, and after we moved away, we intended to still buy it from there in the future. As an eleven-year-old boy I was entrusted with the task of buying bread for our whole family.

I remember riding my bike on a very stormy and rainy day from Schwerin to Neumühle, to buy the bread from the baker. My mother had given me bread rationing coupons for six people. When I returned home and gave all the bread to my mother, the first thing she did was to hold out her hand and ask: “Where are the remaining bread coupons?” And then she asked for the remaining money.

I was startled, because at that moment I realized that I had LOST the bread coupons! While cycling back home, the wind must have blown the coupons out of my pocket. That was the only time in my life my mother gave me a good spanking.  Then my mother immediately sent me to go and search for the bread coupons. But how could I find them in the stormy, rainy weather, on the whole stretch of three kilometers? But I knew, if I would not find them again, six people would be without bread for a whole month. So, I locked myself in the toilet to be able to talk to my God and reliable Helper, undisturbed. After that I went on my way, peacefully trusting that He would somehow help me to find the bread coupons.

It was raining cats and dogs with a gale-force wind blowing, but I was on a mission, cycling through the open countryside to find what I had lost. Shortly before I arrived in Neumühle, I came across a boy. He asked me: “What are you looking for?” When I told him that I had lost all the bread coupons he said to me: “Ahh, go to the second house, that’s where I live, and ask my mother for them, because I found bread coupons a little while ago the field and took them to her.”

I hurried to his house and was happy to realize that the bread coupons were still there, all of them, complete, and they had not even been damaged by the bad weather. After having expressed my thanks to the boy’s mother, I hurried home as fast as I could and assured my parents that this would not happen again.

Before I did anything else, I went straight back into the toilet, went down on my knees again, where I thanked my God from the bottom of my heart that He had heard my prayer and miraculously kept the bread coupons safe. That experience as a young boy, strengthened my faith again, to the extent that trusting in God became a part of my life.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
He forgiveth all thine iniquities.
Who healeth all my diseases.
He redeems my life from the pit.
And crowns me with love and compassion.

Psalms 103:2–4