Holocaust: Hitler's Final Solution

Some would venture to state Adolf Hitler was just a mad man with a chip on his shoulder for the Jews, but he had the inspiration for the deed well before "The Final Solution." The first of these inspirations was the Jewish legends that were told throughout Europe. They covered many different stories, but the overwhelming theme was the carelessness and vile of the Jewish people towards Christians. Most of the tales concerned Christians that sold their children to the Jews in exchange for money, and the Jews sacrificing the child they had just bought like devils, but the most prominent legend is that of the "Wandering Jew." It was also said to be told throughout Germany. The story tells of am aimless Jew who roams the countryside. He says, "I must travel forever throughout the world." He eats no bread but asks, and he paces back and forth wherever he stays for shelter. This story coincides with the legend about the fate of Jesus' betrayer, Judas Iscariot. According to legend, Judas was given a severer sentence than the most painful torments in hell. God commanded him to walk around the world without being able to rise higher or fall lower, and everyday he sees his body hanging from where he committed suicide. These two stories match too awful well. If Judas Iscariot is the "wandering Jew" then he is the evilest person in the world. For it is obvious Jesus Christ was the greatest human being to ever set foot on Earth, and if you would destroy him you would in due form be the most devilish. So now Christians who hear and tell this legend apply the worst person in the world to the Jewish race. Blaming not only Judas for the betrayal of God's only begotten son, but the whole Jewish race.

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...ople prayed in Auschwitz. Of course, he says that it is not that the Christians are not sympathetic towards the victims, but it is how can a relationship grow if it has been severed for such a long time? He says that only if we have a dialogue between Christians and the Jewish victims can we truly understand each other. However, he states that Christians may need to change their theology entirely to have a full and lasting relationship with the victims and the Jewish people in general. He states that Christians should remember they too were persecuted under Roman authority, and that they are not so "above" the Jews as they tend to believe. Finally, Metz summarizes that Christian theology can never be the same after Auschwitz, and to make a successful change in the religion all must aim towards a concrete and fundamental revision of their consciousness.