God and Evil: Can They Co-exist?

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Recommended: The effect of the holocaust

During the Holocaust, the Nazi’s murdered an estimated 6 million Jews, which was about two thirds of the entire European Jewish population. To put this in perspective, the amount of Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust is about the same size as the population of Denmark. The Holocaust is a part of Jewish history that can never be forgotten, and the Jews who fell subject to this inhuman act will never be forgotten either. The Holocaust has changed Jewish culture forever, and has become the 4th crisis of Judaism.
Elie Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, is an account of Elie’s terrifying experiences and memories of the Holocaust. This autobiography not only reveals many horrifying details and a first-hand account of the Holocaust, but also how Jews belief in God struggled to survive and remain present. The Holocaust made many Jewish and non-Jewish people question how God can exist with such evil and suffering present in the world. The living conditions of the Holocaust alone were enough evil to question if God existed, but the mass murder that also took place during the Holocaust makes God’s presence seem impossible.
Elie was just a teenage boy in 1944 when he and his family were taken from their home in Sighet, Transylvania and were sent off to Auschwitz, a concentration camp. Elie was separated from his mother and sisters when they arrived at Auschwitz and never saw them again. The cruelty and inhumanity that Elie and many others experienced is unfathomable. Elie doubted God’s existence during his horrific experiences of the Holocaust, but his belief in God was still minimally present when he asked questions wondering how God could allow such evil. The questioning and search for God permits Elie to continue to have some bel...

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...and ideology is crushed for Elie when he experiences the cruelty and evil of the Nazi’s during the Holocaust.
Elie’s life in the concentration camp is filled with fear and uncertainty. The sanctified life that Elie once lived began to fade away, along with his belief in God. Elie not only doubts God, but also feels anger towards God. On page 34 Elie writes, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” Elie’s blames his deep despair and sorrow on God because Elie believes God is the one responsible for the inhumane and evil acts of the Nazi’s. He blames God for hurting and ailing millions of people, but also for losing the sense of his once sanctified and blessed life.

Works Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.

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