Holocaust education and documenting the stories of survivors is essential for ensuring never again is a reality. For Passages Alumni, Ben Mast, this mission has lead him to interview Holocaust survivors, stand with survivors in Auschwitz and Birkenau, and bring Holocaust education to his own community.
Mast was a participant on one of Passages first ever trips to Israel in 2016. This trip was foundational to his Christian faith and understanding of Israel.
“My Passages experience was one of the highlights of my Christian walk, a time of experiencing the richness of Jesus’ presence and the joy of Christian community,” Mast said.
Today he serves as a pastor and high school Bible teacher where he often incorporates what he learned in Israel into his lessons. Through his Passages experience, Mast’s eyes were opened to the realities of Christian antisemitism. Ben has become involved in Jewish-Christian relations in his community in Canada and specifically Holocaust education.
“In part due to my Passages experience, I developed a recognition of the urgency of bearing witness to the living testimony of Holocaust survivors while we still have the chance,” Mast said.
This urgency launched Mast into a personal project of interviewing and documenting the stories of Holocaust survivors. Through this experience he became aware of a program called “March of the Living” in which participants from around the world march from Auschwitz I to Birkenau alongside Holocaust survivors.
Mast along with his father, had the unique opportunity to participate in this program. Both making up the only two Christian participants. As the Christian minority at the event, they were able to stand in solidarity with the Jewish People as they reflected on a painful moment in history.
“I was humbled by the welcome that we received, walking side-by-side through Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Majdanek with strangers who soon became friends, bearing their pain with them," Mast said. "I was so moved by the opportunity to, as a follower of Jesus, communicate through my presence and my words solidarity, compassion, and the love of Christ.”
Leading up to the trip, Ben studied the history of the Holocaust and researched the stories of Holocaust survivors. Through his study, he came across the story of Nate Leipciger, a 97-year-old man who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau among other camps and emigrated to Canada after the war. A Canadian himself, Mast felt a connection to Leipciger’s story but never expected to see him at the March for the Living.
“While our group was standing waiting to pass under the main gate of Auschwitz I, I looked over... and there (about thirty feet away) was sitting Mr. Leipciger! Hesitating, I went over to introduce myself, and even though I urged him to remain seated, he stood up to shake my hand and embrace me with a hug,” Mast said.
Mast shared with him that he was a Christian and that there were many Christians standing with the Jewish People.
Mast soon discovered that Leipciger used to work in the same small town in Canada where he lives. As their conversation continued, Mast discovered he worked as mechanical engineer at the exact same hospital where Mast was born and later his son
“And it took coming all the way to Poland, standing beneath the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate which represents so much horror and death, to discover the role that this man and his survival had played directly in my life,” Mast said.
Because of this interaction, Leipciger will be visiting Mast’s community to share his testimony along with several workshops on Holocaust remembrance and standing against antisemitism intended to combat a disturbing spike in antisemitism in Ontario schools.
Mast’s Passages experience continues to have a meaningful impact on his own community as he plays an active role in ensuring never again is a reality for all generations.
