Article: What Was So Wrong With the Holocaust?
The Holocaust is almost universally condemned as one of the greatest evils in the history of mankind. But, why was the Holocaust so wrong? Why is Adolf Hitler so vilified?
If you are sketchy on your history, let me give you a little history lesson.
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. It remains one of history's most horrifying examples of genocide.
The name most closely associated with the Holocaust is Adolf Hitler. In 1933–34, Hitler began to work his way into the upper echelons of power in Germany. He gained power by gaining the support of powerful organizations such as military leaders, industrial leaders, religious groups, academics, and even famous entertainers such as composer Richard Strauss. Through the Enabling Act, the German parliament granted Hitler and the Nazi party the power to enact laws without parliamentary approval.
Hitler then affected legislation and codified his evil worldview. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship, forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, and isolated Jews socially and economically. In 1938, in an event known as the "Night of Broken Glass," Nazi forces attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, signaling the escalation of violence against Jews. In 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, high-ranking Nazi officials formalized the Final Solution, a plan to annihilate the Jewish population. Nazis constructed extermination camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Sobibor, equipped with gas chambers to efficiently murder Jews.
The generally accepted number of Jews killed in the Holocaust is six million. It is estimated that through the Final Solution, the Nazi Party also killed almost a half-million Romani (Gypsies), a quarter of a million disabled individuals, two million Polish civilians, three million Soviet prisoners of war, two hundred thousand political dissidents, five thousand Jehovah's Witnesses, and fifteen thousand homosexuals.
As I said earlier, the Holocaust is universally condemned today. I certainly agree with that condemnation. But, again, why was it so wrong?
Hold your answer for a moment, and let me tell you more of the story.
Everything Hitler and the Nazi party did was technically legal. He broke no German law. Not only was it all legal, but Hitler and the Nazi party had broad support from the people. There are valid questions about how much the population of Germany really knew about the details of the Holocaust, but, no doubt, government and industrial leaders knew or should have known. Further, even if the German citizens did not know about the gory details of the Final Solution, they knew that Jews were being systematically rounded up and taken away. They knew about many of the brutal acts against Jews and others in their communities, and they knew about things such as the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring that resulted in many forced and brutal sterilizations. Adolf Hitler was a popular leader, and he had the apparent support of the vast majority of the German people.
So, if Hitler's actions were legal and popular to a degree, why were they so wrong? How can we say that they were evil?
They are wrong because they are wrong! They are evil because they are evil!
They are wrong because there is a morality and a law that is higher and greater than even properly adjudicated laws. There is a morality that has roots deeper than popular opinion or popular support.
In America today, we have passed many laws that say things that God calls wrong are right. We have passed laws in support of things that almost all people for almost all of history have known to be wrong.
Today, many wrongs have legal and popular support. People take comfort and encouragement that the Supreme Court or their local legislature has ruled or governed in their favor. People embrace court decisions. People celebrate winning elections and referendums.
But there is a truth that remains...
Wrong things are wrong because they are wrong, and no jurist or legislator can make a wrong thing right.
What is the lesson the Holocaust teaches us? What wisdom can we gain from Hitler?
Might does not make right...
The majority does not rule...
God has not relinquished his throne to any court or legislature.
Pastor Noel