Jewish response to the Holocaust (Shoah)

• • The word Holocaust means a burnt offering.
• • The Holocaust is often referred to as the Shoah (the catastrophe.)
• • Between 1933 and 1945, Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe suffered prolonged persecution and discrimination, led by Hitler.
• • The Nazi regime culminated in the ‘final solution’ – the extermination of Jews in purpose-built concentration and death camps.
• • Holocaust = murder of over six million Jews, 2/3 of Europe's Jewish population
• • MANY Jews were left as refugees in their homeland, with no homes family or livelihood to return to. 
• • Some Jews ceased to believe in God as their experiences were so terrible and impossible to understand
• • Many questioned how a loving, righteous and just God could allow such senseless tragedy, feeling abandoned by their protector and provider.
• • For others, continuing to practise their religion became the ultimate act of defiance against the Nazi regime. (Some risked their lives to continue observing holy days and fulfil the ritual of prayer while in the concentration camps and ghettos.)