Editing The Holocaust (section)

== The Rebbe's Attitude Towards Holocaust Martyrs ==
Since the Holocaust, the Rebbe treated the victims and survivors with respect. When other groups tried to present the Holocaust as punishment from Hashem for undesirable behavior, the Rebbe strongly rejected such approaches and said the Holocaust should not be seen as punishment or tikun, and its reason is indeed not understood. In winter 1991, the Rebbe cried out about this in particularly sharp sichos, in which he gave a deep perspective on the Holocaust martyrs.

The Rebbe also addressed claims that the victims should not be considered martyrs who sanctified Hashem's name, since the murderers also killed assimilated Jews and apostates. He noted that outside Germany, there were those who converted and were saved. Thus, anyone killed in the Holocaust sanctified Hashem's name through their death.

In a booklet about the Three Weeks that the Rebbe published during the Holocaust, the Rebbe directly connects the Jewish people's conduct to their suffering and expresses that "the Jewish people are now in the midst of their greatest suffering," and encourages the children reading the booklet to return to Hashem, in accordance with the Frierdiker Rebbe's call that these events are the birth pangs of Moshiach and echoing his call for immediate teshuvah, immediate redemption.