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The Paul Family |
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FORMER
HITLER YOUTH MEMBER SAVED IN AUSTRALIA! Erwin Beckmann was born in Flensburg, Germany in 1931 and raised
under the Third Reich. He
was taught to believe in Nazi principles and as a member of the
"Hitler Youth" believed that Adolph Hitler was the
"Savior of Germany". His
hopes were dashed to pieces at the age of 14 when the Allies defeated
Germany. Immediately after
the war, the Allies began air dropping pictures exposing what actually
occurred in the Nazi Concentration Camps, and young Erwin found some of
these pictures that had landed in his neighborhood. Each afternoon at
4:00, Erwin would meet with three of his friends on a certain street
corner to talk before they had to go indoors for curfew.
On that afternoon, they were all talking about the photos, and
Erwin said, "If one tenth of this is true, I am ashamed to be
called a German". His
three friends never spoke to him again. Erwin grew up and was trained as a plumber in a post-war,
economically depressed Germany. At
the age of 23, he moved his young family to Australia in 1954, looking
for a new opportunity. Erwin
found that opportunity when he started a structural engineering company
that built prisons, hospitals, shopping malls, and high rise buildings. Our paths crossed in early 2000 when his daughter-in-law, Jenny had
started attending our church and been saved.
Several others from the family had also started coming and had
been saved. They all
expressed their burden for "Opa"(German for
"Grandpa") and others in the family who are not yet saved. I told them that we needed to start with Opa and work from
there, and they all said that it would be nearly impossible to see him
saved. When I met Erwin in March of 2000, he was a lonely, 69 year-old
widower with very poor health, although he seemed to be financially
secure. We struck up a
friendship and began having lunch together each week.
Erwin told me that he liked me, wanted to be my friend, but had
no interest in church. I
told him that we would eventually get him into church, and he said that
I "had buckleys or none"(slim or no chance).
In early May of that year, Erwin said that he wanted to bake the
bread for our church anniversary lunch.
I told him how many loaves we would need and that he could send
them to church with Jenny. Erwin
told me that he wanted to bring the loaves to church on that Sunday.
I said to him, "Wait a minute, Erwin, you told me that you
weren't interested in church, and that I had 'buckleys or none' of
getting you into church". Erwin
gave me a little punch on the shoulder, and was there for church on
Sunday with his loaves of bread. He raised his hand that Sunday
indicating that he needed to be saved, and began attending every Sunday
morning without missing. On BethAnne's birthday, Sunday, June 18th, after having lunch with our family, Erwin told me that he would like me to come over to his house and explain to him how to be saved. That afternoon, after explaining God's wonderful plan of salvation, we knelt down on his office floor, and with many tears, Erwin prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. |
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Editor - Don Tarvin |