Jesus "so grand"

There is an Amazon Prime drama called Hunters (which I have not seen), that was created by David Weil.  He has taken some flak for his decision to use fictionalized characters and scenes in his drama about the Holocaust and the people who died, as well as those who survived.

His thinking in fictionalizing this drama was that he wanted to honor those who died by not using their actual story or the events they suffered. He even went so far as to have every number tattoo on his characters be a number higher than the last one recorded at Auschwitz (202,499).

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum has been critical of his approach, saying that if he truly wanted to give honor to victims of the Holocaust, he would give a truthful representation of the real horror.  In not doing so, they say “It also welcomes future deniers. We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy."

*At the center of the controversy was his decision to create a scene using a chessboard made up of humans.  Since this was a scene he made up, it blurs the line between reality and fiction. 

So one side, Weil, says he did it to honor the victims and the other side, the museum says it is dangerous to their objective of preserving true history.

Weil’s grandmother was a survivor of the prison at Auschwitz, so the Holocaust is very close to him personally.

In an interview with David Greene of National Public Radio, Weil said that when he was young, his grandmother would tell him and his brothers stories about the war and starvation—as they sat at the dinner table—emphasizing the importance of finishing a meal.

Her stories of the war stuck with him, causing his grandmother to look like his beloved comic book heroes, in his young eyes, he came to see her as a superhero.

What struck me in the NPR interview was Weil’s description of his grandmother:

“So I thought my grandmother was this superhero. I always thought if I opened her closet, is there a cape in there? You know, if I open her drawer, does she have her secret weapon? I mean, she - the stories of her heroism felt so grand. And they were so grand. You know, even just surviving was heroic. You know, she was probably 5'2'' or 5'3'', but she always seemed so tall to me. You know, I just always remember looking up at her. And she just felt so big, so grand.”

I don’t know who is right about the best way to honor survivors and victims of the Holocaust, but I sure hope that children today can imagine their grandparents as superheroes with a cape in their closet.

And I especially hope that they are taught about Jesus, who is “so grand” in his divinity that there is no greater person to look up to.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com
janetcassidy.blubrry.net

* Chess Scene