Why Did the Holocaust Happen?

Contrary to common belief, the murder of Jews in Nazi concentration camps was not initiated only by the Germans. Unfortunately, one of the first Jews murdered inside a concentration camp was a Jewish baby, just born, and murdered by Jewish hands.

My parents Z"L who lived in Poland, were among the first Jews taken by the Germans into forced-labor concentration camps in Germany. My mother was pregnant at the time. My brother, whom I never knew, was born in the camp and was immediately taken away from my mother by other Jewish women who shared living quarters with her. These women decided that to save themselves from the German guards, they needed to get rid of the baby. So they did - and murdered the baby. Some babies born in concentration camps, and their mothers, did survive the holocaust, but, my older brother did not. He was sent to heaven by very Frum, yet ill educated, Jewish women.

And God, who heard my mother crying, watched from above and made six million copies of their verdict...

Where were all the other women who were there, what did they do to save the baby? Where were all the Rabbis of the generation who were responsible for education, what did they do to prevent the murder of the baby? Those very Frum women were great experts in the mechanical details of Jewish religious life. But, they had no respect for somebody else's life.

All Rabbis are well educated and ordained in the laws between man and God. How many Rabbis do we know who were tested, when ordained, on the laws of education or the laws between man and fellow man? How much time do our children spend in Yeshiva learning how to treat others with respect, compared to all the other subjects?

My uncle and his little son, who were in the men's section of the same camp, heard what happened, and brought my mother blankets and extra food. My mother, my uncle, and my young cousin merited to survive the holocaust and tell the family what happened. My father, who was in a different camp did not know what happened until after the war. He also merited to survive. But, my older brother did not. He was sent to heaven by very Frum, yet ill educated, Jewish hands.

My parents were among the very few couples who were married before the holocaust, went separately through this hell-on-earth, and later found each other and reunited. They survived to tell their story and to leave a message to the educators of future generations.

My parents heard many holocaust survivors ask "Why??????   How could God do it to us??????"

Others did not have an answer, but my parents did:
"It was not God who did it to us. We did it to ourselves, with our own hands."
Just like what the Prophet Malachi said (ch.1, v.9) about the troubles that befall the Jews: "It was caused by your own hands".