ŚLĄSKIE STUDIA HISTORYCZNO-TEOLOGICZNE

THE QUESTION OF THE HOLOCAUST IN THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES’ DOCUMENTS
Abstract
The World Council of Churches (WCC), the largest ecumenical organization, gathering the Churches of Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old-Catholic traditions, has so far published two documents dealing with the Holocaust. The first one, “The Christian Approach to the Jews" was issued by the General Assembly of the WCC in Amsterdam, in 1948. Remembering the Holocaust and inviting Christians to mission to Jews, it condemned anti-Jewish attitudes and it stated that the Churches in the past had helped to foster an image of the Jewish people as the sole enemy of Christ, which had contributed to the modern anti-Semitism in the secular world. The second document, “The Ecumenical Considerations on Jewish-Christian Dialogue", announced by the Central Committee of the WCC in 1982, confirmed that Christian teachings of contempt for Jews and their religion in certain Churches’ traditions proved a breeding ground for the evil of the Nazi Holocaust. “The Considerations" contended that the Holocaust had deep-rooted socio-economic and political aspects. After the extermination of the Jewish people the Churches must learn so to preach and teach the Gospel as to make sure that it shall not be used to saw the seeds of contempt for Judaism and for the Jews. A further response to the Holocaust by Christians is a resolve that it will never happen again to the Jews or to any other people.