Church of England & the Holocaust

This is the first book to consider the Anglican church's response to the Nazi persecution, and then the murder of Europe's Jews. Acting as a critique of the historiography of the 'bystanders' to the Holocaust, it reveals a community that struggled to understand the depravity of Nazi antisemitism. The author outlines Anglican attitudes to war, antisemitism and many related issues, demonstrating the extent and the limits of the Church's engagement with European politics, and shows how Christian interpretations of Nazi persecution contributed to much wider assumptions about Germany and German history in Britain during the war years. He then moves on to the post-war world, indicating the important role played by the Church of England in forging memories of the Nazi era, and especially the suffering of Europe's Jews. Overall, this book offers a challenging new interpretation of the Holocaust and its wider context, and of the history of the Church of England and its role in the intellectual life of the nation. Dr Tom Lawson teaches in the Department of History, at University of Winchester.