I don't see how this interpretation is compatible at all with Gandhi's suggestion to the British to lay down arms rather than fight the Nazis, or for the Jews

I don't see how this interpretation is compatible at all with Gandhi's suggestion to the British to lay down arms rather than fight the Nazis, or for the Jews to have let Hitler eradicate every single one of them because it would be "heroic." These suggestions seem straightforwardly nonviolent rather than strategic in some fashion, considering the motivations of German imperialism. Appealing to a concentration camp guard's civility and humanity probably wouldn't get you far.