Znaczenie Auschwitz dla Jana Pawła II i Benedykta XVI

Abstract

Although the term „Auschwitz” does not very often appear in the statements of John Paul II on the Jews and Judaism, the problem of the extermination of the Jewish people during the II World War occupies an important place in his teaching and sermons. That issue had been present from the beginning to the end of the pontificate. To describe the Holocaust John Paul II uses other words, e.g.: „hecatomb of the victims”, „horror”, „crime of genocide”, „demented ideology”, „mass murder of Jews”, „barbarity”, „Final Solution”, „shame for the humanity”, „hatred of God”. For him the source of the genocide is the contempt for God. Benedict XVI refers to the Holocaust too, for which he most often uses the Hebrew term „Shoah” During his visit in Auschwitz (May 28, 2006) he did not hesitate to ask serious religious questions, such as: „Where was God those days”, „Why was He silent?”, „How could He permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?” Benedict XVT answers are similar to those of the prophets of the Old Testament. He alerts the humankind of the danger of the rejection of God and His commandments. To Benedict XVI the modern Jewish people was the victim of the Holocaust as the biblical Israel because the rulers of the Third Reich wanted to kill the God who had called Abraham, who had spoken on Sinai and they aimed at tearing up the tap root of the Christian faith.