Holocaust Education in Curriculum

Running head: RELIGION AND ETHICS
Religion and Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

RELIGION AND ETHICS1
Introduction
The Holocaust is one of the worst crimes to be committed during the Second World
War. It mainly occurred due to Hitler’s hatred of the Nazis whom he considered to be inferiot
to the Germans. The persecution of Jews were carried out in stages, where they were put into
gas chambers and exterminated. However, most shocking was the reactions of the Roman
Catholic Church. The Catholic Church were mainly bystanders in the Holocaust and although
few Popes tried their best to rescue as many Jews as possible, the Church as a whole did not
take any actions to condemn the actions of the Nazis or to protect the Jews.
Discussions
Reactions of the Roman Catholic Church
The position of the Roman Catholic Church during the Second World War is
shocking. This is because of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church did not take any move
to help the Jews during the time of the Holocaust. The main reason for this is the Concordat
(agreement) which they signed with the Nazis and Hitler.
It was in the year 1939 that Pope Eugenio Pacelli was elected as the Pope Pius XII. It
was during this time that he had signed the Concordat with the Nazis. According to this
agreement, the Nazis would not interfere with the actions of the Roman Catholic Church and
at the same time, the Vatican would recognize the Nazi Government (Spicer 2017). The
reason is that the church wanted to be safe from the attacks of the Nazis. It is because of this,
the Pope claimed that the Church’s responsibility was to protect all the Catholics.
It is worth noting in this case, that the Church did try to help the Jews. They baptised
and converted only those Jews who were ready to be baptised. However, the Church did not
associate themselves with the Jews who were bot ready to let go of their own religious
beliefs. It was said that the Pope had brought 3000 visas for the Jews who had been converted