Understanding the present to save the future

It is argued that the current (1980s) attitude towards the Holocaust is characterised by moral bankruptcy and a refusal to recognise it as a moral challenge. The Christian Church is seen as a major culprit ("Christianity has poisoned the very soul of man with Jew-hatred"), and should therefore seek forgiveness from Jews. Some Jews, too, tend to diminish the Holocaust's significance by contending Jews were not the only victims of Nazism. The Jewish response to the Holocaust should be twofold: it must be comprehended in the context of the centuries-long history of anti-Semitic persecution and lead the way to Jews'self-understanding in their relationship with God.