This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. All war is horrible, but WWII brought a level of death and destruction never seen before or since: military equipment became more technologically sophisticated and deadly; civilians were swept up in the consequences of the war on a level never before seen; and property and infrastructure destruction had a negative impact for decades after the conclusion of the war.

A new horror introduced by the Nazi’s in WWII was the concentration camp. Originally set up as POW camps, in short order they became a way for the Nazi Socialist Party to collect groups of peoples they wanted to keep an eye on. Initially these were those politically opposed to the Nazi’s, but it quickly grew to include ethnic groups like Jews, Gypsies, religious groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and even homosexuals or those with mental or physical defects. As the war dragged on, internal discussions in the German government saw these camps not only as holding areas for these “undesirables” but also as a means to “cleanse” them from the society. These camps were unknown outside of the German Reich until shortly before the end of the war.

One of the more infamous of these death camps was Auschwitz. It has been estimated that in the last four years of the existence of this camp, more than 1.3 million people were killed there. Auschwitz in located about 30 miles (50 km) west of Warsaw, Poland. The camp still held more than 200,000 prisoners when they were liberated by Soviet forces. It has been further estimated that in total there were more than 7 million people killed in the concentration and death camps of the Third Reich.

The sad reality is that wars, killing and “ethnic cleansing” has continued unabated in the decades since WWII. Mankind has made amazing advances in science and technology since then – why, then, does such evil continue to exist? Actually, mankind’s inhumanity to mankind has existed since the Garden of Eden. We read in Jeremiah 17:9 that man’s heart is deceitful and wicked – meaning that left to itself these are its characteristics. Where then, does this evil nature come from? And why does such suffering happen time and again in human history?

For answers to these questions and a greater discussion on why there is suffering in the world and when it will finally end, please read Why Does God Allow Suffering?