Actually, he belonged to the Arche (until 2011 Evangelical Lutheran
Meeting place in Wolfsburg). It had hung there since the mid-1960s:
the Auschwitz Christ. Pastor Rudolf Dohrmann had seen him on a trip
to Poland. Dohrmann had been there several times since 1962 with a
Delegation from the Ark.
He met people who were imprisoned in Auschwitz and other concentration camps
had suffered under the German National Socialist tyranny,
spoke to the then directors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
There were visits to Poland and return visits to Wolfsburg. All this at a
Time in which the government is far from thinking about official talks
was.
Thus, friendly, respectful relationships first grew on a small scale.
Since then, the Auschwitz Christ in Wolfsburg has been a symbol of reconciliation,
Friendship and respect. It owes its name to the material from which
it was formed: barbed wire from the concentration camp in Auschwitz.
Today the Christ adorns the side altar in the Christ Church in
Wolfsburg.
