The Christian Response to the Holocaust

Abstract

The reaction of the Christian community to the Holocaust can generally be described as mild, vague, and belated. While there are notable exceptions to the general ineffectiveness of the Church to affect its concern over rising antisemitism, it failed in any significant way to provide political or moral leadership to combat the antisemitic designs of Hitler's Germany. The reappraisal of past teaching coupled with acknowledgement of past complicity with antisemitism has contributed to a heightened sense of ecumenical respon sibility. Since World War II, the Christian community's state ments condemning the Holocaust have increased Christian sensitivity to the horrors of the past and to the potential dangers of the future.