Legacy of an Impassioned Plea

Franklin H. Littell spent nearly ten years in post-war Germany as Chief Protestant Religious Adviser in the High Command working on deNazification. His experience of atrocities that had been committed during World War II, led him to dedicate his life to researching the Holocaust and bringing its tragic lessons in human rights to widespread public attention in public meetings, on campuses and in churches. Littell is regarded as a founder of the field of Holocaust studies, having established at several institutions, masters, and doctoral programs devoted to study of the Holocaust. He served on the Presidential Commission on the Holocaust under presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. After he went to Temple University in 1969, he founded the Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and Churches. 


This book gathers insights from three generations of scholars whose work has been influenced by Franklin Littell’s The Crucifixion of the Jews. It explores Littell’s important work to increase our understanding of Christian thought, modernity, antisemitism, and the challenges facing Christians and Jews in the post-Holocaust world. It addresses questions such as: What is the nature of the ongoing relationship between Christianity and Judaism, between Christianity and other faiths, or between Christianity and a secular world? How might Christians and Jews work together to respond to the rising antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the world? And what is humanity’s stake in all of this?