Edith Stein's murder at Auschwitz is a topic of intense controversy among members of the Jewish and Catholic faiths. Some observers, both Jews and Christians, insist that Stein was sent to the gas chambers because of her Jewish heritage and faith, and that it would be inappropriate to declare her a saint in the Christian religious tradition. Yet, others of both faiths find in Stein a healing symbol for our time of the atrocities committed against Jews in Christian nations during World War II. In this volume, members of the Jewish and Christian religious traditions speak to this deeply divided debate.

Murder Most Merciful is a collection of insightful essays that consider Sigi Ziering's play, The Judgment of Herbert Bierhoff. In the play, Ziering tells the story of a loving father and his decision during the Holocaust to take the life of his beloved daughter to avoid her deportation. Scholars who have thought long and hard about the ethical implications of the Holocaust continue to grapple with the poignant questions Ziering raised. Commentary from the book's diverse contributors, including Holocaust survivors, scholars, rabbis, philosophers, and historians, results in an insightful and provocative moral and theological exchange. Murder Most Merciful will stimulate further debate on the crucial issues of martyrdom, euthanasia, and the guilt of the innocent. Ultimately, the judgment of Herbert Bierhoff is for the reader to make. The book appears in the Studies in the Shoah series as volume 28.