Nazi Slave Labor
Question
From what I’ve understood about the Holocaust, there were some Jews whose lives were spared, at least temporarily, in exchange for them working to manufacture various items for the Nazis. What they were manufacturing in some cases were items the Nazis needed in order to murder other Jews. Many Jews ultimately survived the Holocaust this way. Was this work that these Jews did forbidden by Jewish law on the basis that they were contributing to the murder of their fellow Jews?
Answers
Actually, I think that your question can be applied to all forced work done by Jews for the Nazis during the Holocaust as it was all for the Nazi war effort in one way or another.
Even though the question is Halachically involved, the answer is that it was permitted. Involvement in producing and/or manufacturing parts that can be – or even, definitely, will be – used to murder others is not one of the three cardinal sins that a Jew must give up their life rather than transgress. The Jews were not involved in the killings and the murders that took place afterwards which means that their involvement is only indirect. The repercussions of this according to Jewish Law is that all Jews involved in such work had an obligation to try to keep themselves alive.
Please allow me to point out that your statement, “Many Jews survived the war this way” is not an accurate representation of what took place in the Holocaust. First off, many Jews did not survive, period. Secondly, almost all those who worked in such factories in the Ghettos and the Concentration Camps were eventually murdered anyway.
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Some of my ancestors were forced to do labor for the Nazis. Since they were kept alive to do this labor, this bought them time until liberation.
Baruch Hashem that they survived! They are not accountable for the things that they were forced to do whilst in slave labor.
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