Paul Schneider: The Pastor of Buchenwald

On a January morning in 1939 in the concentration camp of Buchenwald, two beleaguered prisoners who had attempted to escape were brought into the parade grounds of the camp.  There they were mercilessly executed.  As the bodies of the two prisoners went limp, a voice rang out across the camp from the window of the punishment cell.
 

“In the name of Jesus Christ, I witness against the murder of these prisoners!”

The person who condemned these executions was the German Pastor, Paul Schneider.  No other prisoner had ever dared to speak out against the Nazi atrocities like Pastor Schneider.

Paul Schneider served Germany for three years during World War I, went to seminary, married, had six children, and became the Pastor of a German Reformed church in Dickenschied.  He was disturbed by the political movements of the 1930’s and was sickened especially by the Hitler Youth movement.  Sunday School classes were turned into nationalistic meetings where prayers were made not to God but to the Fatherland.  He refused to get swept along in this tide of nationalism.  He recognized National Socialism and Nazism for what they really were – Satan’s attempt for domination.  Pastor Schneider refused to salute the Swastika, he re-introduced church discipline to his little church to those who preached the Nazi gospel, and he spoke out against the Nazi regime.  It should be no surprise then that Pastor Schneider was arrested on May 31, 1937, and eventually sent to the infamous Buchenwald.

Inset in the front gate of Buchenwald were the words “Jedem das Seine” which idiomatically mean “everyone gets what he deserves”.  Though not technically an extermination camp, Buchenwald was a brutal camp comprising of starvation, medical experimentation, hard labour and cruel punishments.  The camp commandant and guards were brutal sadists who became completely desensitized and devoid of any notion of mercy.  In essence, Buchenwald was human depravity brazenly unmasked and on display.

Though Pastor Schneider’s heavily censored letters assured his wife, family and congregation that he was in good health and doing fine, in reality, Pastor Schneider was in a lot of trouble early on in his imprisonment at Buchenwald.  His trouble began when he refused to take off his hat and salute the Swastika.  He told the German guards that to salute to the Swastika would be akin to idolatry.  It was from that point that he was taken to the punishment cells and kept in solitary confinement.  

His cell did have a window, from where he proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone in earshot.  He also used the window as a platform of protest and condemnation.  He denounced his captors and torturers as followers and captives of Satan.  He preached Christ and proclaimed scripture even when his guards came in to make him stop.

Every form of torture was thrown against Pastor Schneider.  The Nazi guards tried to break him down physically, and conversely tried to show kindness with hope that he would follow Buchenwald rules.  They said he could go free – go back to his family and church – if he signed a paper that said he would never speak out against the government again.  He refused, and held fast.  By 1939, his body was permanently bent from the torture, which caused constant pain.   On Easter morning, thousands of prisoners were assembled on the parade ground for roll call.  He managed to stand up by the window, despite his crippling pain.  He called out the window in a strong voice "Comrades, hear me. Here speaks Pastor Schneider. Here is tortured and murdered. So speaks the Lord: I am the resurrection and the life!"  The guards rushed in his cell to silence Pastor Schneider.  The prisoner’s heard the message, and knew that it was spoken from the Pastor of Buchenwald.

 

Though the punishment cells were only meant for short periods, Pastor Schneider never left his cell.  The guards were afraid of Pastor Schneider – afraid of the influence he wielded, afraid of his moral courage, and afraid of his leader, the Lion of Judah.  Just as Mary Queen of Scots feared John Knox above all the armies of England, so too was the fear towards Pastor Schneider.  They knew that there was something different about this prisoner.  They could see that he was not afraid of them and their means of torture.  The Nazis’ were infuriated with his boldness and condemnation, but were powerless to stop it.  Pastor Schneider would simply not bend his knee before them.

Shortly after the Easter of 1939, Pastor Paul Schneider was put to death by lethal injection.  His faith and courage emboldened many fellow believers to stand against the Nazi tyranny.  His suffering and death pointed their eyes heavenward.

“If we lose our life here from him, he will keep it unto everlasting life.  He will let us see his glory here and there.  Then through suffering we shall find our way to glory, through the cross to the throne.  We shall believe that, according to his word, we shall trust his promise and, therefore, we shall give thanks to him with joy.”  Paul Schneider

 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Psalm 20:7

Rev. Donald Caskie

    The prisoner was thrown into the musty cell.  He landed hard on the stone floor.  As he rolled onto his back, the guard threw a plate and a rag of a blanket at his feet.  “Don’t cause any problems Vallet,” the guard warned before slamming the cell door.  Captain Vallet was depressed, lonely, hungry and tired of interrogation and prison.  He was tired of this French prison.  He was tired of life.  There was no way out of here except death.  He knew why he was brought to the Villa Lynwood – this was the prison of interrogation and torture.  He was about to cut his wrist open, when he saw something etched into the wall.
 

“Thus saith the Lord... Fear not for I have redeemed thee... I have called them by name.  Thou are mine.  When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.  When thou walketh through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee...”

Vallet read the words and gained comfort, consolation, and strength.  Thoughts of suicide left him, and he was filled with peace.  Months passed, and Vallet was transferred to the prison at St. Remo.  Again, he was thrown into a cell.  This time he was helped off of the floor by a Scotsman.

Vallet wiped the dust off his hands on his pants extended his right hand.  

“Captain Vallet’s my name.”

“My name is Donald Caskie.  Rev. Caskie to be exact.”

The two men sat down and Vallet told Rev. Caskie about his ordeal in the torturous prison of Villa Lynwood.  Caskie remained silent as he listened to Vallet’s account, but hardly dared to breathe as Vallet finished.

“As I was thrown in that cell,” Vallet said, “I couldn’t endure anymore.  I didn’t want to sit through any more interrogations, or listen to the screams from the cells next to mine.  I almost killed myself that day.  Just as I was about to cut my wrist, I looked up and the words from Isaiah were inscribed on the wall.  I knew then that God would help me through.  I’ll never forget those words.”

Rev. Caskie was silent for a moment, but looked intently at Vallet.  With his voice thick with emotion, Caskie said:

“I wrote those words.”

Tears streaked down Vallet’s cheeks.  Rev. Caskie leaned closer to Vallet and began to tell him how he had ended up in the prison of St. Remo.

“I was the Scottish minister of the Scots Kirk in Paris up until the Germans invaded France in 1940.  When the Nazi’s entered the city, I closed up the church, gave the keys to a neighbour, and decided to flee to Scotland.  A couple of opportunities came and went and I decided to stay in France.  There was work for me to do.  I began helping Allied soldiers and airmen trapped in Nazi territory.  Some of those men were so clueless when they found themselves in occupied territory.  They seemed unaware of the danger surrounding them and went about Paris as if they were tourists.  Other men were much more cunning and were able to blend in, adapt, and escape much easier.  As time went by, the need became greater and greater.  I became one of the leaders of the Allied escape routes.  Eventually our mission in Marseilles was betrayed, and I was arrested and brought to the Villa Lynwood.  As you can imagine, Captain, it was very difficult for me to go from helping men escape, to being a prisoner – completely helpless.  Those were dark days, as they were for you.  It wasn’t until I inscribed those words on the walls, that I knew Christ had gone before me and was with me.  Time passed slowly at Villa Lynwood, but eventually I was transferred and brought here.”

Several weeks later, Rev. Caskie was transferred from the Italian prison of St. Remo back to France, where he was transferred to yet another prison just outside of Paris.  It was in Paris that Rev. Caskie was tried for his crimes against the Third Reich.

“You are a spy, agitator, agent for escaping soldiers, prisoners-of-war, and friendly disposed towards that hated race the Jews.” ranted one of the judges. 

“I have aided Jews because they are human beings and because of your country’s policy they are in need of help.  But I never have aided them against anyone!” replied Rev. Caskie.

After the judges on the panel repeatedly accused Rev. Caskie of lying, they brought in a witness.  Rev. Caskie recognized him as Pierre, one of the guides that took Allied escapees from checkpoint to checkpoint.  Rev. Caskie was repulsed to see that the man was a double agent, and even more disgusted that Pierre refused to make eye contact.

Pierre identified Rev. Caskie and reported to the panel the activities that Rev. Caskie had been involved in.

One of the judges asked Rev. Caskie if he knew Pierre.

“I should think I do know him.  Even before I suspected him of being what he has now proved himself to be – a double agent – I regret to say I associated him in my mind with Judas Iscariot.  His purse was his god.  His every word and action sought to magnify it alone.  He had no other aim in life... You may agree that he a is most interesting witness.  Someday he may give evidence against you.  He is a professional.”

As the trial progressed, Rev. Caskie knew that the outcome was decided before the start of the trial.  He was resigned to being declared guilty, and was also ready to be taken home to glory.  Guilty was the sentence, and death was the sentence. 

The sentence, however, was never carried out.  Due to the intervention of a German pastor, and some political intrigue surrounding the judges on the panel, the sentence was lifted on January 7^th, 1944.

Rev. Caskie continued to serve at the Scottish Kirk on the Rue Bayard in Paris after the city was liberated.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

(Psa 23:5-6)