Alexander Dietze (41 years old) lived most of his life in Dresden (a city from East Germany - a communist state from 1949 to 1990).
As a physiotherapist he always worked with the youth and elderly but also performed in bars and coffee shops as a rapper.
When you are just starting out on your spiritual awakening journey, it is not uncommon to find yourself in a lost and confused place, Alexander tried Yoga, Tai Chi Chuan and even Buddhism, but he always had a burning heart for God.
After many struggles and challenges in life, at 28 he met an old lady named Charlotte Frei who organized meetings with young people in Dresden.
Alex had a profound experience with God at a time of great revival in the city's bohemian neighborhood.
He literally burned all his New Age books and decided to live in a simple room that had only a bed, a desk and a Bible.
Very quickly he was part of the leadership of a christian prayer movement that started to organize prayer meetings and bible studies with other young people.
They rented a room in an old Coffee shop, where some heavy metal bands used to perform in the basement and where he took his first steps as a rapper.
Alex happily recalls that time - “I love the beat of RAP, but now for me it means Rhythm and Prayer, a powerful spontaneous prayer tool.”
By reading the Bible, he grew closer to God, so he realized that there was something very wrong in Germany in relation to the Holocaust - “How can people read words like Israel, Jerusalem all the time and not feel like a burden?” - Alex understands that all Germans, specially the Christians, need to be confronted by the genocide of millions of Jews that occurred during Nazism.
At that time, he met Cecilia (who became his wife) a German social worker who studied theology and whose undergraduate thesis was about a movement called the Deutsche Christen, or “German Christians.” The “German Christians” embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology.
When asked: “How could such an atrocity like the holocaust happen in a Christian country where 90% of the population was baptized?” Alex replied: “much more than indifference, it was an awful sin, the roots of Antisemitism came from Christianity, the Church was an accomplice to the genocide against the Jewish people and every priest who preach about love and does not repent for the holocaust is a hypocrite.”
Alex together with his friends and leaders from Dresden area, organized a prophetic act of repentance in the city of Pirna (near Dresden) at a memorial place in front of the Sonnenstein asylum, where 13,720 patients were murdered by the eugenicist director Hermann Nietsche.
The first Auschwitz prisoners to be murdered with Zyklon B (the poisonous gas used at the Gas chambers) were 575 people brought to Sonnenstein on 28 July - 1941 for experimental tests.
It is amazing how God makes connections and brings people together, Alex met Luke Gasiorowski the director of HELPING HAND COALITION (HHC) at the event that happened at the memorial place in front of the Sonnestein Asylum in Pirna. HHC provides continuous aid to the victims of the Holocaust distributing food, clothing and financial grants; and coordinates social events to Israel’s Holocaust survivors in partnership with SHALOM ISRAEL ASIA PACIFIC & L.I.F.T.
But Alex did not yet imagine what would happen next. One day his grandfather, Werner Dietze, for whom he had a special affection, tried to give him medals and a Honor Goblet that he had received as a Luftwaffe pilot (German Air Force) during the Second World War.
Alex declined the gift instantly. He was surprised, because the subject of World War II was never discussed in his home, and he also did not know that his grandfather took part in the greatest genocide in the world. Suddenly, the holocaust came into his life again, but now in a personal way that hurt him a lot.
Alex and Cecilia developed an extraordinary love for Israel. They decided to have their honeymoon in Israel and joined a German humanitarian aid relief and development organization.
During 3 years while members of this German organization, they had a wonderful surprise, their first daughter was born in Israel. They lived in the city of Zichron Yaakov (35 Km from Haifa) and started volunteering with many Holocaust Survivors on “Shabbats” and the Jewish holidays.
They had to return to Germany and in 2016 they founded an humanitarian aid organization called Zurück nach Zion (Back to Zion) http://zuruecknachzion.de , that works as a bridge between Christians in Germany and Israel.
Since then, they fight to reduce the level of Antisemitism that is very present in Germany among the older generations, by sharing their experiences and personal testimonies.
In Israel their goal is to take care of the survivors. Alex quoted a biblical passage that guides his life:
Isaiah 40:1 - “Comfort, comfort my people,” - says your God.
“I believe that this is connected with the second coming of the Messiah.” said Alex - “I have strong reasons to believe that Yeshua (Jesus) has a family, and if I take care of his family (the Jewish people) , God will take care of my family.”
When asked how he communicate with Holocaust survivors, he said - “just shut up and shine!” and added - “the majority of the survivors, came to Israel during the 80's from countries that were part of the former USSR. As most of them speak Russian, all I do in those encounters is to have a coffee , eat cake , hug and kiss them, so I can be the family that they never had!”
In fact the survivors came from countries that are located on the north of Israel: Russia, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Belarus , Ukraine and Poland. It is easy to identify in them the fulfillment of the following biblical prophecy:
Jeremiah 16:14-15 - “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the NORTH and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.”