The Holocaust, Theodicy and the Minds of Men

On November 11th 1918 the Armistice was signed which brought an end to the Great War, and Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. In the following year the Allies, led by Great Britain, the United States, and France met at Versailles to determine the fate of post war Germany.

The treaty of Versailles was established. This led to the establishment of the greatest evil that the world has ever seen before or since: Adolph Hitler, Nazis, and the Holocaust. In a world that God watches over, how could 'He' allow this happen?

Under Versailles, Germany and the people of Germany were put under strict economic and military sanctions. The German government was to pay Reparations to the French in order to pay for the costs of the war; the state was to not have a military.

The price of a single loaf of bread in Germany rose from one mark in 1921 to 60,000 marks before the end of 1923. In that same period of time the value of 42,000 marks fell from $600 USD to only one American cent.

Times were tough on the German people. The now humiliated nation needed a change, someone who could lead their dearly loved state back to prosperity. They mistakenly put their stock in the National Socialist Party, a newly formed party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

The National Socialist Party would later be known to the world and all who would later come to inhabit it as the Nazi Party.

In 1933 when Hitler and his Nazi's finally came to power, they immediately implemented a program of racial, cultural, and political purges within the state of Germany.

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 World War II officially began. Before long, Nazi Germany was in control of most of continental Europe, and continental Europe was under the control of Adolf Hitler.

Hitler, an anti-Semite, lashed out at the Jewish people for Germany's economic depression. First Hitler made the distinction that Jewish people are not a religion, but a race only; "Due to his own original special nature, the Jew cannot possess a religious institution, if for no other reason because he lacks idealism in any form, and hence belief in a hereafter is absolutely foreign to him.

And a religion in the Aryan sense cannot be imagined which lacks the conviction of survival after death in some form. Indeed, the Talmud is not a book to prepare a man for the hereafter, but only for a practical and profitable life in this world."

Hitler convinced many of the people of his nation that the Jewish race were only interested in money, and, like Henry Ford, believed that there was an international conspiracy of Jewish bankers to control the world's capitol. Hitler stated publicly and proclaimed that the Jew intended to breed out the white Aryan race.

He wrote, "With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people."

With one final act of public dehumanization, Adolf Hitler claimed that his actions against European Jews were in accordance of the wishes of the Christian god, "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: 'by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord," he said.

Shortly after Germany began its war on Europe, it began a separate, more seeded war on the Jewish people. Millions of European Jews from over fourteen nations, (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, USSR, Romania, and Yugoslavia), throughout the duration of the war were gathered to concentrations camps were they were forced to live in inhumane conditions, were un-human experiments were performed on them, where they were used as slaves for labor, and where they were systematically executed.

It is unknown how many Jews were killed during WWII, but low estimates have the number at 4,778,677 whereas high estimate are at 6,017,760. Regardless of the actual statistic, nearly two thirds of European Jews were murdered in places like Auschwitz, where 1.25 million Jews and POWs were executed.

After the war came to an end it was not long before Allied soldiers uncovered the horrors of what the Nazi's had done to the Jews, to human beings, and liberated the concentration camps, restoring liberty to what was left of the survivors. The news of what came to be known as the Holocaust spread to the citizens of the world literally overnight.

"How could this be?" "How could men do this to men?" "How could God let this happen?" "How could this atrocity have been committed in the name of God?" These are the questions that resonated in the minds and on the lips of people throughout the world, and were likely questions which were on the minds of the men, women, and children who lived through the ordeal. To these questions, many answers would come forth.

Some Orthodox Jewish Rabbi's would say that the Holocaust is God's punishment against the Jewish people for sinning against the Almighty. It was a test from God, and the Holocaust has prepared the Jewish people to endure future hardships such as the relentless terrorist attacks that they face in the state of Israel today; all a part of His plan.

Christian theologists who have studied the Holocaust have two popular theories. The first of which the "free will" theory; God gave all men the freedom to do as they please. If God were to interfere with the actions of men then that would negate their free will.

The second theory put forth by many Christian scholars is one that many Jews share as well; we have no right to question the Lord, and as mere mortals we cannot understand Him or his actions. "The things hidden

But perhaps the answer is as simple as there is not God, that some men are inherently evil and will do evil things, and it is up to man to ensure that evil does not take hold of the world.

Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher born more than 300 years before the Common Era puts it best."Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

Why, indeed.