My experiences as a child
by Fred Schaeffer, SFO

On August 9th, we remember St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was born on October 12, 1891 in Breslau (Germany), now Wroclaw, Poland. She died on August 9, 1942 in Auschwitz, Poland. She was born into an Orthodox Jewish family but Edith Stein renounced her faith in 1904 and became an atheist. As a student at the University of Gttingen, she became acquainted with Edmund Husserl and became interested in his philosophy. When Husserl moved to the University of Freiburg, he asked Edith Stein to join him there as his assistant. She received her doctorate in philosophy.

At Gttingen she first came into contact with Roman Catholicism. Attracted to this faith, Edith Stein returned on a holiday in 1921 to Breslau, where her profound encounter with the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila caused her swift conversion. She was baptized on January 1, 1922, and gave up her assistantship with Husserl to teach at a Dominican girls' school in Speyer (1922 - 1932). While at Speyer she translated St Thomas Aquinas' De veritate (On Truth) and familiarized herself with Roman Catholic philosophy in general. In 1932 she became a lecturer at the Institute for Pedagogy at Munster but, because of anti-semitic legislation passed by the Nazi government, was forced to resign the post in 1933.

In 1934 she entered the Carmelite convent at Cologne, taking the religious name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. There she completed her metaphysical work 'Endliches und ewiges Sein', an attempt to synthesize the diverse philosophies of Aquinas and Husserl. In 1938, with the Nazi threat growing, she was transferred to the Carmelite convent at Echt in the Netherlands. There she wrote her important treatise 'Studie uber Joannes a Cruce: Kruezeswissen-schaft'. (Study about John of the Cross: Knowledge of the Cross). Removal from Germany, however, proved insufficient to ensure her safety. On July 26, 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the arrest of all non-Aryan Roman Catholics. With her sister Rosa, also a convert, Edith Stein was seized by the Gestapo on August 2, 1942 and shipped to the concentration camp at Auschwitz via a camp in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Survivors of the death camp testified that she helped all other sufferers with great compassion. On August 9, 1942 she was sent to the gas chamber, where she died with her sister.

I have a very personal interest in Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. My mother came from the town Ostrowo, then in Germany, (Ostrow Wielkopolski), now located in Poland. She also was considered (by the Nazi's) a "non-Aryan Roman Catholic." She had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism shortly before marrying my father in 1938. Dad was a Hollander, and after the marriage he and Mom returned to Nijmegen in The Netherlands, where I was born in an air-raid shelter in August 1940. When Edith Stein was seized by the Gestapo on August 2nd, 1942, she was transported to an intermediate camp in Amersfoort where transports originated for destinations such as Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and other concentration camps. My mother and I were both picked up, also on August 2nd, 1942, and we spent probably about a week to 8 days in Amersfoort. At that point we were let go. We were let go because some of the Roman Catholics whose spouses were also Roman Catholic apparently posed no threat to the Nazi's but, as I understand it now, we were one of the last to be released. Mom suffered terribly from beatings. I am not sure just what happened to me as I was only 18 months old but in the years that followed I went to an institute for psychological treatment. I had very bad nightmares as a child. They went away, praise God!

Another member of my family, on Dad's side, was awed by the example set by Sister Teresa Benedicta who, before she was arrested, lived at the Carmel at Echt (Holland). She was a Discalced Carmelite (O.C.D.). Dad's oldest sister, Alida, left Holland around 1953, and joined the Discalced Carmelites in South Africa. Shortly after profession, she and another nun founded the Carmel of St. Joseph, at Wijnberg. She had taken the religious name Sr. Benedicta of St. Joseph, after Sister, now Saint, Benedicta of the Cross. My aunt lived a very holy life of penance and prayer and was a tremendous help to me in my younger years by way of encouragement and love for Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Holy Trinity, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Theresa of Lisieux and St. Francis of Assisi. She passed on in 1989 and is still being talked about by the remaining (now quite elderly) sisters at the Wijnberg Carmel. I hear from them around Christmas time, although I had more regular correspondence going with them for many years. The entire foundation at Wijnberg moved, a few years ago, to a town called "Retreat" in South Africa*.

Please remember all the millions who were killed and injured at the camps. Please ask Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to intercede, to help you pray for those who didn't survive.

Peace!
Fred Schaeffer, SFO