Someone recently asked me this question. Let’s just put all the cards on the table: this is one of the hardest questions someone can ask, and there is no “good enough” answer. No verse we can open up to like a spiritual band-aid.

The Holocaust wasn’t just a tragedy. It was one of the most horrific, gut-wrenching atrocities in human history – a calculated, industrial-scale extermination of six million Jews, along with millions of others, under the brutal machinery of Nazi evil. It shocks the soul. So the question naturally, and painfully, rises:

Where was God? Why didn’t He stop it?

Theologians and everyday believers alike have wrestled with this for decades. You’re reading this post because you’re curious. Or maybe this is part of a bigger question you’re asking, like, “Why do terrible, evil things happen to innocent people?“

With the understanding that no answer is good enough or will make these things even the slightest bit palatable, here are a few thoughts.

God gave us freedom, and freedom includes the capacity for evil.

From the garden of Eden to Auschwitz, one truth has remained consistent: God created human beings with free will. Real love and real obedience can only exist where there’s real choice. So He gave humanity the ability to choose – to obey or to rebel, to love or to hate. But that choice comes with risk: Humans can choose unspeakable evil.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. … Oh, that you would choose life.”
—Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT)

In the Holocaust, human beings chose death. God did not force them to hate or murder. That was the consequence of unchecked evil, fear, and sin.

We want God to stop evil, but only the evil we wouldn’t choose ourselves. The uncomfortable truth is, if God were to stop all evil, He would have to override all freedom. And that includes our own.

God didn’t cause the Holocaust – people did.

The Holocaust was not God’s punishment, nor was it His will. It wasn’t an act of divine judgment. It wasn’t ordained or approved by God. It was the result of demonic ideology, power-hungry nationalism, deep-rooted antisemitism, and apathy from the global community. Human pride, racism, idolatry of power, and a refusal to see others as made in God’s image

God was not the perpetrator. Humans were.

Evil runs rampant when people reject God and elevate themselves. And when others remain silent in the face of injustice, evil grows louder.

To say “God allowed it” doesn’t mean He wanted it or endorsed it. It means He didn’t forcibly override the will of men. And that’s a distinction that matters.

God suffers with us.

We may never fully understand why God doesn’t intervene to stop every atrocity. But what we do know, because of Jesus, is that God does not ignore suffering. He steps into it. He weeps with us. He carries our pain.

“He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. … Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.”
—Isaiah 53:3–4 (NLT)

Jesus was betrayed, beaten, humiliated, and brutally executed by a corrupt regime. He knows what injustice and agony feel like. He entered into suffering so that no human being would ever suffer alone. In concentration camps and gas chambers, in moments of unimaginable horror, He was not indifferent. God was present with those who were suffering.

God will one day bring justice.

The Holocaust screams out for justice. And while some of that came in the aftermath, ultimate justice will come from God.

Not every wrong will be righted in this life, but none will go unanswered forever. Every tear will be wiped away. Every wrong will be made right. Those who suffered will be vindicated. Evil will not have the last word.

“Yes, the Lord is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.”
—Psalm 98:9 (NLT)

God will hold every evildoer accountable. The horrors of history will not be ignored. God sees, God remembers, and God will act.

Faith survives the flames.

One of the most staggering realities is that both during and after the Holocaust, Jewish and Christian faith didn’t collapse. Many survivors clung to God even when the world around them fell apart. It made no sense. Why did they cling to faith? Because deep down, they knew what we know – this world is broken, and we long for hope beyond what we see.

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”
—Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

The existence of suffering doesn’t mean God isn’t real. If anything, it reminds us how much we need Him. So faith in God isn’t naive; it’s necessary. Not because we understand everything, but because we trust in a God who’s bigger than our understanding.

THE Bottom-Line, HARD TRUTH

Questions such as this one will never have a fully satisfying answer on this side of eternity. The Holocaust forces us to sit in the tension of evil and wrestle with the mystery of a sovereign God and why He doesn’t prevent these kinds of things from happening. But Scripture reminds us: evil doesn’t get the final word. God does.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
—Revelation 21:4 (NLT)

But here’s what we do know: God does not ignore our suffering. He entered into it. He will redeem it. And even when we don’t understand the why, we can still cling to the Who.

Still wrestling?

Good. Faith that never wrestles is faith that never grows. Keep asking tough questions. God’s tough enough to handle them.

—

Three Minute Theology is a series of blog posts, each designed to offer a quick but meaningful look at a subject related to God and faith – something you can read in just a few minutes but reflect on for much longer. Think of this as a starting point, not the full journey. My hope is that these snapshots will spark your curiosity and challenge you to dig deeper, open your Bible, ask questions, and explore how these truths about faith in Jesus shape your everyday life. Got a question you want answered? Drop it in the comments.