Father John Pawlikowski, a leader in the global Christian-Jewish dialogue and Director of the Catholic-Jewish studies program at the University of Chicago, addressed Creighton students and faculty this Tuesday in a lecture titled “The Holocaust: Its Contemporary Ethical Challenges.”

Pawlikowski’s lecture centered on the necessity for Christians to come to terms with their role in the holocaust, to not forget the lessons learned by the holocaust, and to strive toward preserving the dignity of all persons in society.

We must not forget, according to Pawlikowski, the absolute power over the human race that the Nazis believed they achieved. The Nazis, according to Pawlikowski, stretched the bounds of the freedom most prized by humans, maintaining a distorted doctrine which tried to “liberate humanity from its moral codes,” Pawlikowski said.

The challenge to maintain dignity in the midst of a highly complex society, Pawlikowski said, is a continuing challenge. “We have to challenge freedom, to strive for dignity rather than destruction,” Pawlikowski said.

Pawlikowski said that in the society in which the Nazis lived, their technology was the most advanced, and some of the most intelligent persons at the time belonged to the party. He noted that it took only 3 years for every segment of society to become involved in the goals of the party. Many members became desensitized to the destruction, and simply felt as if they were a cog in the machine–that they themselves were not directly killing Jews and others in concentration camps. It is this removal of self from the actions of the whole which Pawlikowski warned against.

“We must never abandon the thought ‘what must I never do?'” Pawlikowski said.

Pawlikowski ended the lecture bringing home the importance of being ever aware and educated on current human rights violations.

“When human rights of any part of society are rejected, everyone is rejected,” Pawlikowski said.