DAYBREAK

[Music] say Tom what do you think of this guy I think we ought to pick him up yeah let him go the local police will take care of him he's just another one of these refugees just another one of these refugees another one of ten million refugees in Central Europe today people of German origin whose ancestors settled in countries outside of Germany a hundred and eighty years ago at the end of the war they were driven from their adopted countries back into Germany and Austria today they are people without land or possessions without even the status of displaced persons for there is no country to which they can be returned this is the story of a refugee who came to the city of Linz in Austria in the summer of 1948 named Roland Vetter age 24 former occupation divinity student former residence a Russian prison camp three years purpose and visiting Austria to find his only relative his mother present address a cellar in a bombed-out house church bells on Sunday speak a universal language here in Linz they say the same thing that they say from churches all over America all over the world [Music] jerilyn veter church-bells say nothing they speak in a language learned long ago but forgotten now drowned out perhaps by the brutal sounds of war forgotten during endless days behind barbed wire when just to stay alive was a man's all-consuming purpose he hears these bells but thinks only that he needs a shave he is more concerned with avoiding the police than listening to church bells he can't risk detention and cross questioning or anything that will delay him in his search for his mother but the church bells have given Roland an idea perhaps a church could give him clues perhaps someone in this congregation might know his mother she herself might even be among these people neighbors back home had told him that she had come to this city after the war [Music] [Music] and so he talks with the pasture to pasture Cleveland Rowland's story is a familiar one and he's sorry he doesn't recognize the name but he promises to make inquiries meanwhile he is concerned about Roland himself and he offers him temporary shelter and food at the mission before the war his church maintained a home for needy students but it was ruined by shellfire here as in hundreds of churches throughout Europe and Asia the needs are legion buildings must be repaired equipment for church schools and hospitals must be replaced money is needed - for youth camps to Train leaders and to supplement the meager salaries of ministers at times like these Pastor Cleveland thanks God for the help he receives from America through church world service it means that Roland can have a razor a cake of soap a clean towel just simple everyday necessities but - Roland they are luxuries and clothing secondhand perhaps but clean and decent looking and a pair of shoes to replace the worn-out pair he's been wearing those shoes have carried him almost a thousand miles in the last three months through forests and fields and along highways they have seen him through times when he was so tired and discouraged that only the thought of his mother kept him going and now it's not only old shoes and clothing that Roland is leaving behind it's almost as though he is discarding a former self a self that had lost faith in the kind leanness of his fellow man the atmosphere of the dining hall seemed strangely familiar to Roland he feels somehow at home because the surroundings remind him of his days as a divinity student he begins to talk to the head of the mission about this almost forgotten part of his youth pastor sharer asks him whether he's ever thought of taking up his studies again no he has doubts now and it would cost money the pastor tells him that a few refugees have been accepted at a theological School in Vienna would Rolland be interested maybe but first he must find his mother pastor sharer decides to talk to pastor Cleveland about the idea the pastor's understand Roland's feelings they have been through the war themselves lost friends and relatives they can understand doubt and confusion but they are impressed with Roland's honesty and intelligence and they decide to write to Vienna about the next day rollin begins his search he tracks down every clue no matter how insignificant and his quest carries him everywhere in the cities and villages near lips to wherever refugees have settled in their wanderings to abandon factories and shacks that were never meant for human habitation without heat sometimes without light and with only makeshift cooking facilities this is the way ten million people live several families in a single room under conditions that make it miraculous that they have survived at all [Music] as the days go on rollin begins to dread the nightmarish repetition of the puzzled faces the moments of waiting the shaking of the head saying no for the answer is always disappointment when the trains come in at night he is waiting at the railroad stairs the faces of the people began to haunt him but he never finds a face he knows and on other nights he goes into the bunk houses where the sick and dying are given what little help is available [Music] and the answer is still no [Music] finally he gives up the search for the time-being he feels he can no longer take help from the mission when so many others are in need and so he gets a job clearing rubble and moves in with the family he is met during his wanderings he's registered with the authorities now and even has a work permit and a ration card but more than that in this abandoned freight car where the family lives he has found a home and he makes a new friend pastor Anthony one of the two pastors who must serve forty thousand refugees near limps his church is a barracks and his congregation unbelievably poor some emergency help comes to him from the Austrian church through Church World Service he is able at least to manage a little milk for the children all of whom are in danger of TB [Music] but his most desperate struggle is to restore faith and hope to people who have become spiritually lost in the years of war Roland becomes interested in helping pastor Anthony in this work and on Sunday afternoons he accompanies him on his visits to the old and the sick to the tired and the discouraged he becomes so absorbed in helping these people in whatever little ways he can and he almost forgets his own troubles [Music] you [Music] and then the unexpected happens Roland meets an old lady who once lived in his hometown she recognizes his name and then she remembers that his mother came to Austria in the same group with her she remembers too that his mother got sick and was sent to the mountains to a hospital run by the church but she never knew exactly where it was pastor Anthony says that it could be in old people's home in the tiny mountain village of Gasol [Music] he tells Roland how to get there and Roland prepares to leave right away [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] on a Sunday morning a few weeks later as Roland is on his way to church pastor Anthony brings him news a letter confirming his acceptance at theological school in Vienna but Roland is curiously uninterested ever since that day in the cemetery his life has seemed without purpose or meaning he had built his whole future around the hope of reunion with his mother now he has no future and as he looks at the letter he can feel no excitement he keeps remembering his search he hears again the voice of the old lady who knew his mother and he begins to remember the other faces that he has seen in his wanderings he thinks of the words of Isaiah the wind carries him away and a whirlwind scattereth him they flee from the swords and from the grievousness of war and he that flee it from the noise of the fear fallen into the pit and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit is taken in a snare we grope for the wall like the blind we stumble at noonday as in the night we wait for light but behold darkness a grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever has thou not known has found out heard that the everlasting God Saint is not neither is weary they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a cupboard from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place and the shadow of great rock in a weary land before he fast is it a day for a man to have flicked his soul bow down his head and a spread sackcloth and ashes on the him is not this the fast I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that he break every yoke is it not to deal live bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked but I'll cover him then shall thy light break forth as the morning [Music] you