Die Judenräte (Jewish Council)

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject History Europe - Germany - National Socialism, World War II, grade: B+, Juniata College, course: The Holocaust, language: English, abstract: The history of the Judenrat, or Jewish Council, is a part of the history of the Holocaust which shows the topic's complexity. The problem of the Judenrat was discussed the whole time after the war. Politicians and Historians disputed which role the Judenrat played or had to play in the National Socialists' extermination mechanism. This paper looks first at the ways the National Socialists established the Judenräte and what role they had to play in the National Socialists' mind. This section is needed to give information about the background and the environment the Judenräte had to work in and to deal with. The second section will find out what motivated the members of the Judenräte to participate in the Judenräte and how they tried to achieve their goals. Insomuch that their major goal was to save as many lives as possible, this section will show if the Judenräte accepted armed resistance as opportune way or if they tried to follow the 'rules.' In the third part, the reverse site of the Ghetto will be investigated. Did the ordinary people in the Ghetto understand what the Judenräte did to save as many lives as possible? It will also show if the Jews in the Ghetto would have liked to resist more against oppressive authority. Insomuch that this paper is just a short one, only the highest representatives of the Judenräte are investigated. Furthermore, it might not be representative of all Judenräte and all Jewish Ghettos, because the available sources require selection by the author. The paper does not look at the Jewish Ghettos and the Judenräte in Western European countries and investigates only the situation of a few Ghettos in Eastern Europe. ....