Barry Zeve discusses the Holocaust extensively, drawing on his personal background as the child of Holocaust survivors and using it as a lens to examine religion, history, and human behavior.

Here’s a summary of what Barry Zeve says about the Holocaust:

Personal Connection: Zeve’s understanding of the Holocaust is deeply personal. He is the child of Holocaust survivors
His father, Solly Zeve, was a survivor of Dachau Concentration Camp, who was liberated by the U.S. Army. Zeve states his father gave him life seven years after being liberated, but his heart and soul had been burned out by the Nazis. His mother was a German Jew who survived the Holocaust by running as a fugitive from the “law” in her own country. He was born into a family of five Holocaust survivors, which made him privy to their secrets. His half-brother, half-sister, and first cousin were children during the war and were saved from the Nazi onslaught by being smuggled out of the ghetto and placed in Catholic orphanages in Lithuania. He mentions his upbringing was shaped by these five survivors who were constantly fighting

Cause and Responsibility: Zeve argues that the Holocaust was not a “Jewish problem” but a “CHRISTIAN problem”
He states it was the product of 19 centuries of mounting animosity by European Christians against their older, spiritual brothers (Jews). He contends that Hitler could have used any scapegoat to unite the warring Protestant and Catholic factions in Germany, but Jews were available due to 2,000 years of Christian animosity. Zeve explicitly states, “The Nazis didn’t need the Final Solution to solve their Jewish problem. Their problem was a CHRISTIAN problem.”. He mentions that the Nazis honestly [head] and sincerely [heart] believed that the Holocaust was a sacrifice that would Please Jesus. The Germans paid a high price for this belief

The Event and Suffering: Zeve refers to the Holocaust as the third Holocaust in Jewish history, following enslavements in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Rome.

He notes that most of those who lost their lives were Jewish. He describes his father walking through a “‘hellish’ fire spoken created by the CHRISTIANS” in the concentration camp. He mentions the Nazis gassing Jews and burning their remains in ovens, and also states that his half-sister and half-brother’s mother perished in a Nazi oven. He chillingly refers to the Nazis making lampshades out of Jewish skin. He notes that Jews put GOD on trial at Auschwitz. He mentions the term “musselmen” used by Jewish inmates in Nazi death camps to describe those who had given up hope. He connects Jesus’ question on the cross, “WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?” to the questions Jews asked themselves as they walked into the Nazi shower rooms. Survivors of the Holocaust were rejected from hell and forced back, becoming cynical and bitter

Consequences and Lessons:

Zeve calls the Holocaust an “Act of God” stating that European Jews did nothing to deserve it. However, he argues that perhaps nothing but the Holocaust would have produced the re-creation of Israel in 1948

He sees the Holocaust as a lesson for both Jews and Christians
For Christians, it was a lesson about moving forward with love rather than loathing. For Jews, it was a lesson about developing without Christian impediment and returning to Israel with more wisdom

He states that the Holocaust changed Jews from within and the world throughout
Those in denial of the Holocaust are in denial of this change

He contends that the Holocaust was “no victory for the Jews” even though the world agreed to give them back land. He believes the “biggest losers in the Holocaust were the European Christians”, as their descendants have been in psychological revolt against their religious traditions

Zeve notes that after the Holocaust, it became obvious that Jews needed a country because Christians couldn’t be trusted to honor them He claims that out of guilt, Christians agreed to help Jews get Israel back, stating that Israel was reborn out of guilt, not generosity of spirit

The cry of the generation after the Holocaust was “Never Again!”
Zeve states that Jews who survived the Second World War meant it when they said “Never again!”, and that over time, the whole world will cry out to GOD, “Never again”. The current cry of Jews today against losing Israel is also “Never Again”. He adds that this cry must never be against the Jews

He contrasts the Holocaust (the third Holocaust) with the idea that there won’t be a fourth Holocaust if Muslims become spiritually educated about history and the spiritual operating system

He mentions that the Christian lessons from the Holocaust are having a profound effect on Muslims in the Middle East today

Zeve argues that Muslims who deny the Holocaust are being perverse, noting that not even the Christians and Jews are that perverse

He connects the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust to the idea that descendants of the Holocaust like him will ensure the “fire Muslims have planned for Israel will be met with much greater force” because “We know we’ve got GOD on our side”

He questions the criteria GOD used to separate the Jews who were allowed to live from those who had to die in the Holocaust and what spiritual gifts were lost to the world due to the hatred of Jews

He finds it morally fascinating that the extremists in all three Abrahamic faiths (Jews, Christians, Muslims) agree in their abhorrence of gays and lesbians, noting that the Nazis killed gays, Jews, and the disabled
He connects this hatred to a literal interpretation of scripture and a desire to blame others

Zeve references a house of prayer being built in Berlin for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, noting it is planted in ground fertilized by the 6,000,000 who perished
He questions the price of God’s designs and the shame of paying with so much life

In essence, the Holocaust is a central historical trauma for Zeve, viewed not just as a singular event, but as a consequence of long-standing religious animosities, a turning point for Jews (leading to Israel’s rebirth and internal change), a missed lesson in love for Christians (though he claims they learned a lesson), and a warning for the present and future regarding religious extremism and intolerance, especially concerning the LGBT+ community.