Introduction
An imam, a Catholic priest, and a Protestant layperson walk into a Nazi concentration camp to negotiate the release of a Jewish convert to Islam—and succeed. Though this sounds entirely too good (or far-fetched) to be true, this was a real experience for Hugo Marcus, a Jewish convert to Islam detained in Barrack 18 at the Sachsenhausen/ Oranienburg concentration camp, as well for his advocates, Imam Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Father Georg of the Jesuit order, and Joachim Ungnad of the Confessing Church. Each of these individuals of different faith traditions and backgrounds became acquainted by attending various educational events and interfaith discussions at the Berlin Mosque2. In their coming together in such a moment, we see that interreligious dialogue was not—nor is it now—the end point of such cross-religious relationships but rather the beginning of what can be transformative forces and movements in causes of justice and service to humanity.
As part of the 2022 FASPE program, I was humbled to walk onto the very same grounds where so many languished and died. While walking along its many paths, I came across
a most inauspicious barrack marker at an inner corner of the camp: BARACKE 18. Here, Hugo Marcus was imprisoned. It was in this place where differences in faith led a group of individuals to coalesce, uniting in defense of the life of a fellow human being branded “other.”
This experience, seeing this place up close, led me to realize the value of Marcus’ story for interreligious work. In touching upon the singular life and faith journey of Hugo Marcus, as well as the responses by his community and fellow Muslims toward his situation, I hope, then, that we will discover lessons about strength in interfaith cooperation and faith-based activism relevant today. Additionally, we can see that despite the horror, an event like the negotiation at Sachsenhausen means—not only in that moment but also for persons of faith in the 21st century—finding ourselves unsure of the impact and power of our interconfessional alliances and coalitions. Furthermore, the events, reactions, and responses leading up to this moment—particularly those from various Muslim individuals and organizations—have implications for a world marred by sectarian and inter/intra-faith misconceptions and conflicts. By attending to the complicated nature of that time for all involved, the Sachsenhausen encounter offers hope not only for redemption but also for action in the face of what may seem like insurmountable fear.
“And hold firmly to the rope of God all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of God upon you—when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, siblings”3.
Dr. Hugo Marcus: A Life on the Margins
The story of Hugo Marcus is defined by more than just that one moment. As a highly educated, gay, Jewish-born German and convert to Islam through the Lahore Ahmadiyya mission, Marcus’ intersectional identity adds to more than just the complexity of his life and the lessons we can take from it. It would, therefore, be
a disservice not only to the memory of Marcus but also to the lasting and significant implications for interfaith coalition building not to provide a brief insight into who this man was, for whom three persons of faith risked their lives.
Hugo Marcus was born to a German Jewish industrialist in 1880, moving to Berlin in the early 20th century for higher education, where he also become involved in numerous gay rights initiatives.
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A picture of the site of Barrack 18 at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Oranienburg, where Hugo Marcus was held during his imprisonment in 1938. Marcus was incarcerated during the November Pogroms of that year, also known as Kristallnacht but was released shortly afterward in mid-November. Marcus’ imprisonment, as well as that of thousands of others, served as a warning from the Nazi regime of what would await Jews should they choose to remain in Germany. Photo credit: Usama Malik
1. Marc David Baer, “Muslim Encounters with Nazism and the Holocaust: The Ahmadi of Berlin and Jewish Convert to Islam Hugo Marcus,” The American Historical Review 120, no. 1 (January 2015): pp. 140-171, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/120.1.140.
2. The Berlin Mosque was built by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at-i-Islam Lahore) and completed in 1926, serving as the first mosque in Berlin. For more information about the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and the Berlin Mosque, see www.berlin.ahmadiyya.org
3. Qur’an 3:103. All translations from the Qur’an are personal translations with consistent reference to and incorporation of the following translators’ editions: Amatul Rahman Omar, Abdul Haleem, Sahih International, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, and Dr. Mustafa Khattab