There is no one correct answer to this question and reasonable minds can differ. TeachWithMovies.org offers the following suggested response:
Indifference is a great sin because it allows evil to triumph but the indifferent person does not realize he is perpetrating evil and therefore has no motivation to change his attitude.
Elie Wiesel the author of the Holocaust memoir 'Night' said that "indifference" is the greatest sin and punishment of the Holocaust.
It relates to the concept of the scene in the film, Schindler's List (directed by Steven Spielberg), when Oskar Schindler arranges for the train cars to be hosed down. Schindler was not indifferent to the plight of the people in the box cars but the German officers were.
The SS officers viewed the Jews as being of lower class. When Schindler hosed down the train cars carrying Jews away, Goeth and the SS Officers laughed at him, because they didn’t see the Jews as humans.
On April 12, 1999, Wiesel gave an impassioned speech (The Perils of Indifeerence) in the East Room of the White House as part of the Millennium Lecture series.
An excerpt from his speech says:
What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.
What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?
Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.
The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers. It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust.
Discover more facts about the Holocaust, featured on About.com.