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A Just Punishment for the Nazis?

Just Punishment and the Holocaust (Topic 5, part 1)

In April 2020, to coincide with Yom HaShoah, the day in the Jewish calendar dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, and the 75th anniversary of the liberation, Rabbi Sacks launched a series of videos offering his perspective on some of the biggest questions asked about the Holocaust.

A just punishment would be, in my view, in most cases, life-imprisonment. After the Nuremberg trials, 10 of the leading Nazis were sentenced to execution. That was in international court.

In the history of Israel, there’s only ever been one civil death sentence inflicted, and that was against Adolf Eichmann who was a major planner of the Holocaust and of mass murder. Historically, Judaism has been sceptical of the value of capital punishment certainly since the days of the Mishnah, eighteen centuries ago.

So it really was an exception in the case of Adolf Eichmann, and I think life imprisonment makes sense.

This series, created in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Trust, has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Richard Harris.

View the full Holocaust series of curriculum resources with additional discussion questions and historical background included

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Faith After the Holocaust

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A Just Punishment for the Nazis?

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More Holocaust Curriculum Resources

Faith After the Holocaust

Where can you find hope in the history of the Holocaust?

How does the Holocaust impact interfaith relations today?

How do you connect the Holocaust with the establishment of the State of Israel?

Do you think it’s ever possible to forgive the perpetrators of the Holocaust?

What is the difference between vengeance and justice?

What about a statute of limitations?

Do you think the Holocaust represented a failure of humanity?

Does God care about individual lives, or merely the survival of the Jewish people as a nation?

Do you have faith in humanity after the Holocaust?

Where was God during the Holocaust?

What is theologically unique about the Holocaust?

Practically speaking, is there something unique about the Holocaust?

Should a Jewish theological response to the Holocaust include issues of justice?

Should the Holocaust be a key ingredient of our Jewish identity?

How has the Holocaust impacted your personal relationship with God?

What do you think the Jewish theological response to the Holocaust should be?

How can I have faith that God is within each of us if I mistrust humanity?

Can we trust people other than ourselves?