The Holocaust

Fifty years ago the Jewish people were suffering a persecution of such magnitude that it has no parallel in history. So destructive was the oppression of European Jewry in World War II that it has come to be called The Holo­caust. Earlier this year a National Holocaust Center was dedicated in Washington D.C., reviving the tragedy in the consciousness of many.

The Jews in God’s purpose

Christians accept the Bible teaching that the Jews were God’s chosen people. Christadelphians believe that He continues to have a purpose with them. The apostle Paul teaches that “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” and that He will restore them to favor (Rom. 11:2,23).

Nothing in the history of our time has bolstered our faith so much as the obvious working of God’s purpose with the Jews. We had expected their return to the Land; we did not understand that it would be accomplished at so great a cost.

Before World War II

The Jews have had a long history in Europe — since the time of the Roman Empire. Following the persecutions of the Middle Ages, the Jews of Europe had at last found some security. There continued to be occasional pogroms, and certainly anti-Semitism never entirely disappeared, but they had become for the most part accepted. In Germany itself, during the last century, the Jews had become part of a free society. They used the term “emancipation” to describe their new status. Many of them gained positions in business and finance, the professions, the arts and sciences, and even in politics. There was a danger that they would become so assimilated they would disappear as a distinct people. All this changed with the rise of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) party.

The latter-day Haman

The near extermination of the Jews of Europe began as a perverted fantasy in the mind of Adolf Hitler. He and his vision (in which “world Jewry” was the enemy of mankind) would probably never have found a forum but for the peculiar circumstances of his time.

Hitler got into party politics during the 1920’s. During this period he wrote his book Mein Kampfwhich revealed his political aspirations, including his plans for the Jews. He and his Nazi party, by devious means, worked their way into power early in 1933.

The Nazi racial doctrine

As early as 1922 Hitler said in an interview, “Once I am in power, my first and foremost task will be the annihilation of the Jews.” The racial laws of Nazi Germany were based on the concept of human inequality. The Aryan (Germanic) peoples were the privileged group; all others were considered inferior, existing only to serve the “master race.” In a separate category were the Jews, a despised “anti-race.” Step by step, beginning with the Nuremberg Laws, non-Aryans (the Jews in particular) were deprived of their civil rights, their citizenship and, ultimately, their right to live.

The persecution of Jews

The reason for the persecution of the Jews and the forms it took are still often misunderstood. Apart from the armed conflict of WW II, the Holocaust was Hitler’s special war, and it was waged against a people who had no means of defense. “The Fuhrer intended to brand the Jews enemies of the state, which would then enable him to represent his policy of annihilation as a measure of ‘self-defense” (Gerald Fleming: Hitler and the Final Solution).

In addition to Hitler’s personal hatred of the Jews, there was another reason for his treatment of them. In an early interview, he admitted the political expediency for having a scapegoat, and Hitler saw the Jews as the most logical choice for that role. He declared, “Once the hatred and battle against the Jews have been really stirred up, their resistance will necessarily crumble in the shortest possible time. They are totally defenseless, and no one will stand up to protect them.”

The Fuhrer’s plans for the future went beyond annihilating the Jews of Europe. In 1941 he received the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and Hitler pledged his support in eliminating the Jews from the Middle East. In return, the Grand Mufti promised Arab support for the Nazi cause.

Prelude to suffering

Although the anti-Semitic objectives of the Nazis were plainly stated, the world generally passed off their diatribes as rhetoric. A few years of Nazi rule would dispel any illusions. Jewish businesses were boycotted, then Jewish shops and synagogues were looted and burned. A number of Jews were placed in “protective custody” in concentration camps.

Jews were segregated and made to wear a yellow patch (Star of David) on their clothing. Jewish children had to go to separate schools, and other restrictions were enforced. These early actions against the Jews were explained to the German people as “a defensive measure that has been forced upon us.”

A program of genocide

The Nazi program of genocide was undertaken in stages, and many of the details were carefully concealed even from the German people. Early on, the program was assigned to Heinrich Himmler and the SS (Hitler’s elite corps). They carried out’ the Fuhrer’s wishes” with fanatic diligence.

The destruction of the Jews was generally accomplished through methods involving: (1) the ghettos where they were worked and starved to death, (2) the extermination camps and (3) mass murder by shooting, gassing or other means.

The ghettos

During the Middle Ages the Jews of Europe were often segregated from the Catholic population and required to live in a certain part of the city known as a ghetto. This concept was reestablished by the Nazis, especially in the cities of eastern Europe. The ghettos were intended to be holding places in which Jews would be employed at forced labor. Many died of starvation, disease or random execution.

Special operations

“Special operations” squads (Ein­satzgruppen) followed the conquering army into the nations of eastern Europe. They had a singular task to perform which could not be undertaken by ordinary soldiers. It was a killing mission. There were more Jews than the ghettos and labor camps could hold. To hasten Hitler’s plan of extermination, a procedure of mass murder was invoked.

One such “special action” occurred in November, 1941 outside the city of Riga. The victims were Jews from the city’s ghetto with an additional group transported from Germany. Men, women and children were stripped of their clothing and marched into large pits. They had to lie flat, side by side and face down. They were killed by a single bullet to the neck, the marksmen standing at close range. The victims next in line had to lie down on top of those who had just been shot. Some 30,000 Jews were dispatched at this one site. When the mass graves had been covered, the earth literally wept with Jewish blood. (Leni Yahil, The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry.)

The kingdom of death

The concentration camps were ostensibly built to house political prisoners. They proliferated in the occupied territories to accommodate the large numbers of “enemies of the state.” They were designed to be work camps, but in fact their main purpose was the extermination of Jews. Some effort went into finding the most efficient means of carrying out that purpose. The camps in the east, particularly Auschwitz-Birkenau, were equipped with gas chambers and crematoria.

The fanaticism of the Nazis is most evident in the system of death camps. Often their efforts seem self-defeating. Trains, which could have been used in the war effort, were tied up getting as many Jews as possible to their places of death. Even when the war was obviously lost these human transports continued. The Fuhrer’s order was that “the Jewish question takes priority over all other matters.”

The “final solution”

From his earliest years Hitler spoke of the “total solution” of the Jewish question, and it was clear that his intention was to eliminate all Jewry under his control.

The Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, attended by such notables as Heydrich and Eichmann, determined the course of “The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” Hitler’s war against Jewry would remain a top priority until he lost the power to wage it.

As long as the Fuhrer’s agents were able to operate, the pursuit of the Jews continued. In Hungary, which was occupied by the Germans in 1944, Adolf Eichmann was delegated to ferret out the Jews. He became the embodiment of Nazi efficiency and brutality. Eichmann escaped to South America after the war but was later captured and prosecuted by the Jews, appropriately in Israel. His superiors, Hitler and Himmler, had committed suicide to escape retribution.

He, watching over Israel

When the Holocaust ended, all the large Jewish centers of Europe had disappeared. Most of the Jews who survived now looked for refuge in their natural homeland. Few of them wanted to go back to their homes in Europe, and those who did were often made unwelcome. In Poland some returning Jews were even killed. It was time for a new exodus as thousands of Jews made their way to the Holy Land.

Without the Holocaust, the new Is­rael, proclaimed a state in 1948, would probably not have been possible. Over the perversity of mankind, through the tribulation of many, the will of God was done.

The final chapter has not yet been written. We will soon see the return of the King of the Jews, and he will turn the hearts of the children of Jacob. Then all the world will see the glory of the Lord in Zion.