Once We Were Brothers

Ben argues for the existence of God despite the grotesque atrocities and utter hopelessness of the Holocaust. But none of these arguments are more visceral than his invocation of the third and fourth days of Creation. According to the creation narrative found in Genesis, on the third and fourth days God created the land, the oceans, vegetation, and the sun and moon. This resonates with Ben most strongly when he is at Uncle Joseph’s cabin, enjoying a brief bucolic respite from the insanity of the war raging around him. Ben recalls to Catherine:

“There we sat on that crisp, clear night, the moon illuminating the Tatra peaks, a thousand stars punching pinholes in the darkness, and the only sound was the wind rushing through the pines. And it struck me—the incongruity of it all—that in the most ungodly of times, I was bearing witness to indisputable evidence of God’s work on the third and fourth days, a world he created in perfect balance” (137).

Few of Ben’s theological justifications for God’s presence during the Holocaust are more evocative than when he tells Catherine moments later, “If you want proof of God, Catherine, go to the mountains” (138).