Why were the Holocaust victims made to suffer so much?

[Robert_Sock]

If Hitler’s goal was the extermination of Jews and some Christians, why not put them into the gas chambers instantly? Much easier than starvation and having to guard them. It seems to be so sadistic to torture them, and it had to reduce the morale of those in charge.

My answer is that God allowed them to do their Purgatory here in this world and tested their Love for God and perhaps even tested their love for their enemies and for God.

.“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
–Deuteronomy 6:5

I feel sorry for those that rejected God and became Atheists.

 

[Peccavi]

When men (and women) follow leaders who fire them up with patriotism and the promises of greatness to their people, feeding them a diet of racism and untruths, it ends in the destructions of others. Jesus told us " Put not your trust in princess (leaders) or in any son of man" but we still do. When we fail to LISTEN and FOLLOW the words of Jesus, putting his words first before our social prejudices, then the slippery slope to genocide is made that much steeper.

 

[MaryT777]

That any person could torture another person and hold them in such a state as the Holocaust victims makes me physically sick to my stomach. I imagine they were threatened with the harm of their families if they did not engage in these practices.
I DO also believe some people can become evil and sadistic by increasing evil actions and God allowed free will and this has been a fallen world after the sin of Adam and Eve.

Why were they made to suffer so much is a difficult question. I await some thoughts of others.

Mary.

 

[odhiambo]

If Hitler’s goal was the extermination of Jews and some Christians, why not put them into the gas chambers instantly? Much easier than starvation and having to guard them. It seems to be so sadistic to torture them, and it had to reduce the morale of those in charge.

My answer is that God allowed them to do their Purgatory here in this world and tested their Love for God and perhaps even tested their love for their enemies and for God.

.“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
–Deuteronomy 6:5

I feel sorry for those that rejected God and became Atheists.

I suspect there was widespread hatred of the Jews as well. They were blamed for just about anything ( so I read!) Where there is hatred, all manner of atrocities can occur.

 

[Petaro]

Evil men do evil things. It is natural. Why does God not come to the aid of His creation? Many believe this too hard a question and walk no more with Him. Others, inspired by the torture death and resurrection of our Christ, our Lord and God, are ready to put our disbelief and the problem of evil aside in our faith and love for our Creator. This does not take away the reasonable questions. I for one would side with Thomas in demanding to see the wounds of Christ. He was shown the truth. We are left to hope for it.
So our sufferings and the sufferings of the Jew, His chosen people remain as a trial of our faith, an offering joined in His Death and our hope in His resurrection.
I use humour a lot to find the irony of our creation and our lives of sad decline. However, it is often insufficient to hide the tragedy of our fallen world and all we can do is to try to express the love and charity that will define us as one of His in the small world of our own empowerment. I will, like so many rational men, rail against the silence of my God, but like the Apostles, where would I go, for He has the words of eternal life. But Lord, you don’t make it easy.

 

[Kaninchen]

If Hitler’s goal was the extermination of Jews and some Christians, why not put them into the gas chambers instantly? Much easier than starvation and having to guard them. It seems to be so sadistic to torture them, and it had to reduce the morale of those in charge.

The process developed over a period of time and methods changed with experience - particularly as the numbers of Jews falling into German hands accelerated with the invasion of the USSR (and, later, the client states like Slovakia and Hungary) and massed shootings proved inefficient.

Had the war gone Germany’s way then, with the Jewish and Gypsy questions solved, the process of destroying the Slavs would have been ‘efficient’ from the start.

 

[Vic_Taltrees_UK]

If Hitler’s goal was the extermination of Jews and some Christians, why not put them into the gas chambers instantly? Much easier than starvation and having to guard them. It seems to be so sadistic to torture them, and it had to reduce the morale of those in charge.

…

Look Robert the answer to your title is because some people wanted to.

Then the answer to the next bit is I don’t know how many of my family members were there. And a lot were taken there instantly.

And the next thing is because they wanted to reduce others’ morale.

Please study dynamics.

Hoping you have a better picture now.

 

[LethalMouse]

Simple as with most genocide, there is a strange lack of just straight killing directly. You have to think a lot of people involved were just following orders…walking down the slippery slope. There needs to be mental grooming to allow the majority of soldiers who are somehow involved to process the situation in a way that seems legit. SO if they straight kill all the jews it would more easily seem bad to the non hardcore evil followers. You have to slowly implement controls and breed fear, resentment, hate, etc in order to get the avg person either on board or silent an inaction.

 

[Kaninchen]

Simple as with most genocide, there is a strange lack of just straight killing directly. You have to think a lot of people involved were just following orders…walking down the slippery slope. There needs to be mental grooming to allow the majority of soldiers who are somehow involved to process the situation in a way that seems legit. SO if they straight kill all the jews it would more easily seem bad to the non hardcore evil followers. You have to slowly implement controls and breed fear, resentment, hate, etc in order to get the avg person either on board or silent an inaction.

Interestingly, a major role in the ‘Einsatzgruppen’ actions (the massed shootings etc) was played by reserve Police Battalions. The supposed upholders of law and order had found a new vocation.

 

[Irishmom2]

I believe they were made to suffer because even evil people have free will. With their free will, they chose to follow a movement that was selfish, racist, and brutal. Once in the movement, they came to believe the lies and the evil reigned even more. They lost all sense of what it means to be human and to treat others with dignity, respect and Love. Those they made suffer so much were victims of evil people. I don’t believe they were “just following orders.” That is just an excuse.

 

[mikekle]

I suspect there was widespread hatred of the Jews as well. They were blamed for just about anything ( so I read!) Where there is hatred, all manner of atrocities can occur.

Yes, when there is widespread hatred for someone or a group of people, instant death would be ‘too easy’ and not as pleasurable as watching them suffer for a time.

That same sentiment is alive and well today too.

But I also think the Nazis had a use for these people too, after all, they had a large group of free slave labor to do anything they wanted, and Hitler was a very ambitious builder/ designer…concentration camp inmates were used in building much of the Nazis buildings and structures.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

The Nazi’s killed the Jews as fast as they could.

But first the Nazi’s wanted to extract as much as they could. So some were set aside to work as slave laborers.

So there was a sorting process.

Others were directly routed to the gas chambers.

There were reports from the Soviet Union, that when they killed Polish Catholic prisoners, that doing the killing with guns was very hard work … their guns overheated and the executioners burned their hands from the guns overheating.

The Nazi’s knew that using guns was inefficient, so they invented concentration camps to put all the Jews into places where they could be efficiently murdered.

The Nazi’s murdered many many very smart people. Probably if Hitler had put those smart people to work instead of killing them, he would have won World War Two. Certainly, he would have had the atomic bomb before the United States.

Certainly, Hitler would have successfully destroyed Russia. He came very close to capturing Moscow as it was.

When General Dwight Eisenhower found the concentration camps and the gas chambers and the cremation furnaces, he ordered photographers to record everything and he insisted that all the local people be taken to the camps to witness everything. He said that someday some people would attempt to deny what had taken place and he was determined to make sure that the facts would be recorded.

 

[Sarcelle]

The Nazi’s killed the Jews as fast as they could.

But first the Nazi’s wanted to extract as much as they could. So some were set aside to work as slave laborers.

So there was a sorting process.

Others were directly routed to the gas chambers.

There were reports from the Soviet Union, that when they killed Polish Catholic prisoners, that doing the killing with guns was very hard work … their guns overheated and the executioners burned their hands from the guns overheating.

The Nazi’s knew that using guns was inefficient, so they invented concentration camps to put all the Jews into places where they could be efficiently murdered.

The Nazi’s murdered many many very smart people. Probably if Hitler had put those smart people to work instead of killing them, he would have won World War Two. Certainly, he would have had the atomic bomb before the United States.

Certainly, Hitler would have successfully destroyed Russia. He came very close to capturing Moscow as it was.

When General Dwight Eisenhower found the concentration camps and the gas chambers and the cremation furnaces, he ordered photographers to record everything and he insisted that all the local people be taken to the camps to witness everything. He said that someday some people would attempt to deny what had taken place and he was determined to make sure that the facts would be recorded.

Turns out Eisenhower was right. There are still people who deny that the Holocaust took place.

 

[GEddie]

To gather human beings of all ages and lead them naked to execution already implies a hardened sort of conscience. Once that has taken hold, the torture and the rest of it, sadly, come naturally.

We execrate Hitler and his henchmen who were hanged in Nuremberg, but the only difference between them and common murderers is that they got the resources of a whole country behind them. The base evil can be found in everybody’s psyche.

ICXC NIKA

 

[WJeffrey]

When men (and women) follow leaders who fire them up with patriotism and the promises of greatness to their people, feeding them a diet of racism and untruths, it ends in the destructions of others. Jesus told us " Put not your trust in princess (leaders) or in any son of man" but we still do. When we fail to LISTEN and FOLLOW the words of Jesus, putting his words first before our social prejudices, then the slippery slope to genocide is made that much steeper.

It happened because the Nazis were pure evil and had largely rejected Christianity It had nothing to do with God. When you make the choice to sin, it is not the fault of God. It is your fault.

 

[Robert_Sock]

It happened because the Nazis were pure evil and had largely rejected Christianity It had nothing to do with God. When you make the choice to sin, it is not the fault of God. It is your fault.

We as Christians believe that God allowed it to happen. The question is why He would allow it? It’s a troubling thought for me, as is why God allows extreme poverty. Yes, God allows free will, but ultimately, God is able to intervene.

 

[Vic_Taltrees_UK]

The dynamics in fact were very commonplace in almost all continents in almost all periods of history. The details sometimes vary.

The purpose of the Church of England was an instrument to violate consciences. It’s a most strange thing that its latter day version has a spark in it.

In the 1630s to 1640s Magdeburg was destroyed twice over. Now it is not very big. It was well on the way to being Germany’s centre of gravity and heart. In the vacuum the Brandenburg-“Prussian” mentality mushroomed.

Then you had the version of Lutheranism that Nietzsche reacted against and Kaiser Bill.

I treasure Mendelssohn & his music, also Brahms, the Bachs, Handel, Haydn, Mozart. I call Mendelssohn “the man that made music music”.

My friend’s grandmother got interned in the same war that is the reason I’m a Catholic. She didn’t believe she was a German but a Wurttemburger.

 

[Vic_Taltrees_UK]

The majority of the history of Assyria is blood curdling.

After they listened to Jonah’s preaching, Esarhaddon reigned and while he had to pursue foreign wars, his domestic policy was somewhat toned down for a generation.

 

[jeffrey_erwin]

If Hitler’s goal was the extermination of Jews and some Christians, why not put them into the gas chambers instantly? Much easier than starvation and having to guard them. It seems to be so sadistic to torture them, and it had to reduce the morale of those in charge.

My answer is that God allowed them to do their Purgatory here in this world and tested their Love for God and perhaps even tested their love for their enemies and for God.

**The gas chambers had to be constructed and were not immediately available. So the first act was to gather the Jews in ghettos for holding.
When the killing centers were ready, they had a limited daily capacity, so transports had to be made in a controlled manner.
Limited resources meant that food was withheld from those selected to be killed.
So the starvation was not a deliberate act of torture but just a consequence of the process of mass murder.

As to why YHWH inflicted this catastrophe on His chosen people is something that theologians have debated and still do. I tend to agree with your answer here.
It is the beginning of the Great Day of the Lord, and these are the first of the harvest.
And if YHWH treated His chosen this way, we had better prepare ourselves for the same or worse.**

Instead of scent, a stink;
instead of belt, a rope;
instead of hair elaborately done, a shaven scalp,
and instead of gorgeous dress, a sack;
and brand marks instead of beauty. Isaiah 3:24

 

[Kaninchen]

The dynamics in fact were very commonplace in almost all continents in almost all periods of history. The details sometimes vary.

The purpose of the Church of England was an instrument to violate consciences. It’s a most strange thing that its latter day version has a spark in it.

In the 1630s to 1640s Magdeburg was destroyed twice over. Now it is not very big. It was well on the way to being Germany’s centre of gravity and heart. In the vacuum the Brandenburg-“Prussian” mentality mushroomed.

Then you had the version of Lutheranism that Nietzsche reacted against and Kaiser Bill.

I treasure Mendelssohn & his music, also Brahms, the Bachs, Handel, Haydn, Mozart. I call Mendelssohn “the man that made music music”.

My friend’s grandmother got interned in the same war that is the reason I’m a Catholic. She didn’t believe she was a German but a Wurttemburger.

It’s not a German thing, I’m a half-German/half-Italian Jew and Kaninchen is German for ‘rabbit’, which is what my ‘German’ grandfather called me when I was little.

The message of the Shoah isn’t just about Jews, it isn’t really now about Germans.

It’s about how the most civilised country in the world went mad and how its efficiency, it’s organisational powers, were harnessed to mayhem.

It’s about efficient, organised inhumanity. It’s how nice, middle class, civilised people, just like us and everybody else stood back and let evil happen.

That’s what made the Shoah unforgettable. It wasn’t barbarians ‘over there’, it was ‘us’.