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JUDENRAT.   Term Paper ID:28635 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines complex issue of Jewish complicity in carrying out Nazi policies in Eastern Europe. Administration of Jewish life in ghettos & role of Jewish Councils (the Judenrat) in carrying out anti-Jewish policy. Lodz ghetto & Rumkowski.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines complex issue of Jewish complicity in carrying out Nazi policies in Eastern Europe. Administration of Jewish life in ghettos & role of Jewish Councils (the Judenrat) in carrying out anti-Jewish policy. Lodz ghetto & Rumkowski. Paper Introduction: THE QUESTION OF JEWISH COMPLICITY: THE JUDENRAT INTRODUCTION On October 23, 1941, S.S. head Heinrich Himmler issued an order down the Nazi chain of command which heralded a major change in Nazi policy with respect to the "Jewish problem." Until then, the Nazis worked vigorously to encourage Jews to emigrate. The Madagascar Plan was one example of strategies which were formulated to remove Jews from Germany and its occupied lands. As is described in more detail later, many countries refused to accept Jewish refugees (Landau, 145-47). This shift in policy resulted in the deportation of Jews to camps and ghettos in the East. The policy to "resettle" Jews to these ghettos and camps was a significant step in what was to become the decision which heralded a major change in Nazi policy Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Even the employees of the Jewish Council were picked upwhile they were on their way to work (Soumerai; Schulz, 11 ). The ghetto also served as the holding areafor eventual transport to the death camps for those who were able tosurvive. The Jews in the Lodz Ghetto were in a desperate trap. But to offer a thread of hope, the Nazisdecided, would allow the whole process to occur with less panic anddisorder. Nor was it in aposition to carry out any serious action. On subsequent deportations, trainloads of clothing insacks began arriving every day exactly 1 hours after the trains wouldleave. The decisionwas made to not resist and Rumkowski personally made it known thatresistance would be punished. One person,who had survived by hiding among the sacks and had made the round-trip,told how the transports were taking the people to a slaughterhouse atChelmno, but hardly anyone could accept that it was the truth (Trunk, 394). The water supply was contaminatedin many ghettos. Thepolicy to "resettle" Jews to these ghettos and camps was a significant stepin what was to become the decision which heralded a major change in Nazipolicy and would lead to The Holocaust, the extermination of the Jews ofEurope (Soumerai; Schulz, 38).THE GHETTOIZATION OF EASTERN JEWRY Although the Nazis were successful in isolating Jews socially andeconomically, the actual physical isolation of the Eastern Europeanpopulation did not begin until December 1939 (Landau, 138-39).Ghettoization marked a turning-point in the life of the Jews, a point noless radical than the beginning of the war and the occupation. The Nazis hoped that the wretched ghetto conditionswould deplete the Jewish population quickly and naturally throughstarvation, disease and cold. At some point and time, Rumkowski must have realized the truth aboutthe "deportations" from the ghetto even though the Germans were diligent atkeeping it a secret. The concept was based upon centuries-old practices which wereinstituted in Germany during the Middle Ages. To ease the blow, rumors were spread that thechildren were alive and being employed as helpers in gardens, though mostfigured the worst. Thissituation robbed the Jews of all opportunity of carrying on any kind ofactivity; no business, no office run by Jews could operate, because neitherthe owner nor the employees could be sure that they would get to theirplace of work. Some have claimed he was killed by his own people in the rail carenroute to Auschwitz. Factories were built alongside or within ghetto walls sothat industries could take advantage of this free labor (Soumerai; Schulz,89-95).THE JUDENRAT The administration of Jewish life was the responsibility of theJewish Councils, the Judenr"te. Ghetto currency - "Rumkies" - and papers were found by those sortingout the clothing for re-distribution. Throughout the Holocaust in the major ghettos, after nearly everyaction, the Germans would assure the Jews that it was the last one.Rumkowksi believed that satisfying "the authorities" was in the bestinterest of survival - to do anything in order to hopefully save a few! The ghettoscreated by the Nazis during World War II were not comparable to theirmedieval namesakes. It was not the dutyof this council to manage the affairs of the Community but B as was set outin the document appointing the members B to carry out Gestapo orders. There is some argument on how Rumkowski himselfdied. TheJudenrat raised funds to create hospitals, homes for orphans, disinfectionstations, and provided food and clothing to thosewithout (Trunk, 36-38). The answer lies in the track-record of all major ghettos during the Holocaust: Ghettos were simplycollection points for Jews to be transported to killing centers. The Jewish leadership had to compile lists of those to be deported.It was also responsible for allocating work, distributing food, providinghousing, and overseeing sanitation and health services, the care of the oldand the young, cultural activities, and the maintenance of public order.(Trunk, 62) Conditions varied slightly from location to location. Dee Co.; 1994.Levin, Nora: The Holocaust; New York: Thomas Y. Others saw these councils as a necessaryevil, which would permit Jewish leadership a forum to negotiate for bettertreatment. Jewish leaders were ambivalent about participating in theseJudenr"te. The decisionwas: Resist and be killed now? Within theghetto, textile mills and even armaments plants operated. This idea has never been proven and is still beingdebated to this day. It is estimated thatthere were only 1 , survivors of the 2 , Jews who lived in the LodzGhetto (Trunk, 532).CONCLUSIONS By these examples it can be seen that even the Jewish leaders wereultimately powerless to stop the extermination process. In the summer of 1944, realizing thewar would be lost, Himmler ordered that the ghetto be liquidated. The Nazis enforcedthese orders on the Judenrat with threats of terror, which were givencredence by beatings and executions. Rumkowski was appointed "Eldest of the Jews" ofthe Litzmannstadt Ghetto when it was established in February 194 . As is described in more detail later, many countriesrefused to accept Jewish refugees (Landau, 145-47). InTheresienstadt ghetto, although schooling was prohibited, regular classeswere held, clandestinely. There was nomedicine. Hisgoal it was said, was to save 1 , people. German uniformswere manufactured. While, with the benefit of 2 /2 hindsight, we today would allchoose to be heroes of the resistance, the truth is that no one alive todaycan say with certainty what they would have done, faced with the enormityof the Holocaust. Duringhis tenure, he was viewed with reverence by some and with disdain by others(Trunk, 389-9 ). This bureaucratic structure helpedmaintain his control and by default, the control of the German authorities.Rumkowksi continually bombarded the people with a "you work - you live"ideology - the very mirror of the German deceit of "Arbeit Macht Frei"(Work Will Free You) which prevailed in the concentration camps and killingcenters (Trunk, 463). Rumkowski's efforts tomobilize the ghetto into a production facility were indeed recognized asvaluable by the Germans especially in light of the lack of skilled labor inthe Reich and the General Government which ruled Poland. Works CitedLandau, Ronnie S.: The Nazi Holocaust; Chicago: Ivan R. Epidemics of tuberculosis, typhoid, and lice were common.Bodies of new victims piled up in the streets faster than they could becarted away. Would it have been better? It could be argued that hedid not initially realize the ultimate mission of the ghetto was a stagingarea for transports to the annihilation camps. The blame for the deaths of the Jews of theLodz Ghetto however, shall forever be upon the perpetrators. The Jewish schools had beenclosed, and there were no means available to the Council to provide socialwelfare for the Jewish population (Trunk, 85-88). The Polish city of Lodz held the second-largest concentration of Jewsin Europe up to that time. Work did not save the ghetto. The food ration allowed was a quarter of that available for theGermans, barely enough to allow survival. There are those who see Rumkowski as a tragic hero who did only whatanyone else would do in the same circumstances. On the one hand, many viewed these councils as a form ofcollaboration with the enemy. Itwas thus not a body representing the Jews, but one carrying out Gestapoorders with regard to Jews. Thesepayments supplemented the taxes which the Judenrat levied to finance theservices provided in the ghettos (Trunk, 26 ).THE WARSAW GHETTO On October 4, 1939, the Gestapo disbanded the Jewish CommunityCouncil and appointed in its place a Council of Elders. Only one horrifying conclusion could be reached. The very first killingcenter, Chelmno, was established to liquidate the inhabitants of Lodz.There, gas chambers were not used, but rather, gas vans. Rumkowski zealously organized the ghetto to satisfy the demands ofthe Germans for order as well as quotas for deportations. Had Rumkowskinot been chosen as Eldest of the Jews in Lodz, someone else would have;this sets up the question: What would have happened had there been noRumkowski? Thereforeall ghetto inhabitants were marked for extermination. As the German army sweptthrough Poland and the Soviet Union, it carried out an order of S.S. The conditions in the ghetto were so terrible that soon the griefover the children simply absorbed itself into the everyday horror of whatwas happening: slow and utter starvation. This was composedof 24 members presided over by the Engineer Czerniakow. The Jewish Police were givenextra rations for themselves and their families for their participation inthe round-ups. Boots, belts and rain gearwere made by slave labor and contributed to the German war effort.Rumkowski held to his belief that the Jews in the Lodz Ghetto would not bedestroyed because they were too valuable (Trunk, 472-75). When asked to carry out Nazi orders to deport a large portion of theWarsaw Ghetto to be annihilated in July 1942, Czerniakow committed suicideby ingesting cyanide (Trunk, 113).MORDECHAI CHAIM RUMKOWSKI AND THE LODZ GHETTO As head of the Judenrat of the Lodz Ghetto, or "LitzmannstadtGhetto," Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski remains a controversial figure. Thanks to the large number of artists, writers,and scholars in the ghetto, there was an intensive program of culturalactivities. In the Warsaw ghetto, more than 7 , died of exposure,disease, and starvation during the first two winters (Soumerai; Schulz, 96-98).WAS THIS COMPLICITY IN THE HOLOCAUST? Another claim isthat he was beaten to death by fellow deportees from Lodz while in the"dressing room" awaiting to be gassed at Auschwitz. Worse? Life in the ghetto was abominable, and thousands died. The Madagascar Plan was one example ofstrategies which were formulated to remove Jews from Germany and itsoccupied lands. Revolt within aghetto did occur, i.e., the famous Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.Unfortunately it was too little, too late (Trunk, 468-7 ). Rumkowski engaged much energy to appease the Germans andsubsequently retain his power. Rumkowski did say he wanted to save 1 , Jews, whichis the number who survived the Lodz Ghetto; who can truly say it would havebeen different had another held his position? As ghetto life settled into a"routine," the Judenrat took on the functions of local government,providing police and fire protection, postal services, sanitation,transportation, food and fuel distribution, and housing, for example. The truth was that Rumkowski's power existed only by the blessing ofthe Germans. His ghetto became a grotesquemodel of society, complete with "classes" of the "haves and have-nots" -where being "connected" could keep one from being deported or could allowone to obtain extra food or secure an administrative job - not unlike the"organizing" that was required for survival in concentration camps (Trunk,453). When the Nazis required a quota of Jews to participate in forcedlabor, the Judenrat had the responsibility to meet this demand. As far back as 1933, Nazi policy-makers haddiscussed establishing Jewish-led institutions to carry out anti-Jewishpolicies. Jews had known the ghetto since the Middle Ages,although Jews were then permitted to leave the ghetto during the day andparticipate in the business of the general community. Thousands of German uniform insignias were hand-embroidered by young girls in the sewing shops. Prior tothe war, Rumkowski was a diligent pioneer in the welfare, education andcare for orphans just like his counterpart and friend who operated anorphanage in Warsaw, Dr. Januz Korczak. This Supreme Council did not represent thecommunity and could not supply the needs of the Jews. One of the most troubling economic measures was this: the picking upof people in the streets, or in their homes, for forced labor. SometimesJews could avoid forced labor by making a payment to the Judenrat. Crowell; 1968.Soumerai, E.N.; Schulz, C.D.: Daily Life During The Holocaust;Westport: Greenwood Press; 1998.Trunk, Isaiah: Judenrat; New York: The MacMillan Co., 1972.----------------------- 12 THE QUESTION OF JEWISH COMPLICITY: THE JUDENRATINTRODUCTION On October 23, 1941, S.S. head Heinrich Himmler issued an order downthe Nazi chain of command which heralded a major change in Nazi policy withrespect to the "Jewish problem." Until then, the Nazis worked vigorously toencourage Jews to emigrate. In the many cases where Jewish leaders refused to volunteer toserve on the Judenrat, the Germans appointed Jews to serve on a randombasis. Rumkowski spent much energy appeasing German demands and in theprocess, he set up a near-dictatorship within his "ghetto kingdom," whichbecame practically a starving slave colony. Religious observance had to contend with difficult conditions,but it was not officially banned (Trunk, 187-88). By thistime, the famous killing center Auschwitz was in operation and the entireghetto - along with Rumkowski himself on one of the last transports - wastransported there by rail. Others say he was immediately separated upon arrivalat the center, then taken away and executed by the SS. Many who served inthe Judenrat were arrested, taken to labor camps, or hanged(Trunk, 41). He thought thathe could insure survival of himself and some part of the ghetto populationby producing war-goods for the German Army. Ghetto inhabitants in many areas were forced to become slaves forGerman industry. or: Cooperate and try to survive even in theface of inhuman treatment, brutality, starvation and murder? The purpose of theNazi ghetto, however, was to create a total confinement for the Jewishpopulation, turning entire neighborhoods into a prison unlike the ghettosof centuries past. Those with "connections" used all means possible to havethemselves or their loved ones exempted. Such ideologies caused those who desired resistance to be seen as"less Jewish" and ideas like resistance were condemned by most elder Jews(Trunk, 461-62). Some Jews who had no prior history of leadership agreed to serve,hoping that it would improve their chances of survival. The fact was theNazis wanted all Jews to die. The people were in such terriblecondition that the loss of the children simply became another price paid tothe Germans for survival. This shift in policyresulted in the deportation of Jews to camps and ghettos in the East. Korczak's story, however, is thatof an absolute martyr who will be forever remembered when he chose to diewith his orphans in the gas chambers of Treblinka (Trunk, 389). On September 24, Rumkowskiweepingly solicited the ghetto's populace to feed the lion with the firstbatch of children, old and sick so that those able to work might be spared.This speech is a compelling example of the horrifying situation the Jews ofEurope, and particularly within the Lodz Ghetto, found themselves.Children under the age of 1 and the aged were the first given up, but theyonly numbered 13, . In September, 1942, Rumkowski received a chilling demand from the SS:deliver 24, people to the train station for deportation within the next8 days; these would be the first to be sent to the killing center atChelmno, now ready and open for business. An important factor must be also considered:most devout Jews believed that suffering at the hands of Gentiles - whichhad been already going on for centuries - was the defacto state of Jewryand accepted suffering at the hands of anti- Semites as manifestations ofGod's punishments, which all proved that they were indeed the chosenpeople. The remaining 9, were made up of those in theghetto who were sick, starting with the terminally ill (Trunk, 393). This smacks of collaboration.He set up a complex internal "government" complete with his own infamous"Jewish Police" and deportation department, i.e., Office for ResettledPersons. Paper money called "Rumkies" was even printed as well as workcertificates, food coupons, etc. leaderHeydrich to require the local Jewish populace to form Jewish Councils as aliaison between the Jews and the Nazis (Trunk, 15). These councils of Jewish elders, (Judenrat; plural: Judenr"te), wereresponsible for organizing the orderlydeportation to the death camps, for detailing the number and occupations ofthe Jews in the ghettos, for distributing food and medical supplies, andfor communicating the orders of the ghetto Nazi masters. How could this be, the people in theghetto asked? These hermeticallysealed vans carried the victims to mass graves while the exhaust from thevan's motor was piped into the van's cargo area (Landau, 165). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.