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10 - Killing God

from Part III - Holocaust

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2022

David Patterson
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Dallas
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Summary

Chapter 10 shows how what began with philosophy’s rendering God superfluous ended in a war against the God of Abraham. Here we have the singularity of the Holocaust, which lies in a singular assault on the Jewish people as the perennial witnesses to that God the God of Abraham. Drawing on the testimony of the Holocaust diaries, written within the whirlwind of the assault on God, this chapter demonstrates that this defining feature of the Holocaust can be seen, for example, in the Nazis’ use of the holy calendar in the execution of their actions, in the prohibitions against prayer and Sabbath observance, in the destruction of synagogues and Hebrew Bibles, and in the targeting of children, elders, and mothers. What the diaries reveal about the essence of Holocaust that the historians cannot, it is argued, is this: The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of not just of the bodies but of the souls of the Jews as a means of annihilating the God of the Jews. It is unprecedented and unparalleled.

Type
Chapter
Information
Judaism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust
Making the Connections
, pp. 205 - 228
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Killing God
  • David Patterson, University of Texas, Dallas
  • Book: Judaism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009103848.012
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  • Killing God
  • David Patterson, University of Texas, Dallas
  • Book: Judaism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009103848.012
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Killing God
  • David Patterson, University of Texas, Dallas
  • Book: Judaism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009103848.012
Available formats
×