Judenrats

You are free to make your own choices. You will select a chairman who will call upon members of the group in dealing with the questions presented, and a secretary to record decisions and why each was made. Your choices are among those given to Jews in Nazi-occupied territories during the Holocaust. You should consider all options, however, before making "choices." Only if all answer yes to a given "choice" can the group go on to the next choice.

1. The armed forces of the country in which you live have been defeated by the German armies. You do not know what we know now. As Nazi armies occupy the country there is indiscriminate terrorism in Jewish communities, particularly by the SS. In your city, anti-Semitic citizens encouraged by the profits that can be obtained by looting also attack and humiliate Jews; Hews are taken off the streets and impressed into labor gangs. The government in which your group had its representatives is gone.

You are called to SS headquarters and asked to serve as members of a Jewish Council which will govern the Jewish community, the reason given is that Jews are different from Aryans and must be governed differently. You are told that you will be in charge of distributing ration booklets to Jews (since it is war time) and provide required labor in any way that you want. Of course, it is made clear that under the "Fuehrerprincip," all orders will come from the top, and the Judenrat will have to work under the control of German authorities. You are told that only by cooperation can you and your families, and your people survive.

a. Would you accept the positions which you are told to accept?

b. If yes, explain why? If not, explain why?

c. If you have accepted this position, please go on to Choice # 2

2. The area in which you live has a majority of people who are not Russians, but who were governed by them till the Nazi invasion. When the Nazis cam in, these people were led to believe that they would be given national independence under German rule. At first, this gains many supporters for the Nazis who form them into units to serve with the Wehrmacht and SS. The Germans also tell them that they have a common enemy, the Jews, who are still loyal to the old government. Out of a Jewish population of 85,000 people in your area, 6,000 are murdered and tortured to death by the nationalists who have been stirred up. As members of the Judenrat, you are called before the SS and told that is obvious that you cannot live among Aryans and that for your own sake, it has been decreed that a ghetto be created. You are told to order all Jews to move into the old quarter of the city. Jews in your area have already been made to surrender their businesses to a special office, and they already wear the yellow star. You are told that if you don't comply, the SS will find it impossible to control the civilian population and SS units who do not wish to "be infected by plague-carrying Jews." You are also told that if you do not comply, immediate action will be taken against all members of the Judenrat and their families. Upon leaving, the SS major tells you that you are fortunate because you will be able to spend the war in you peaceful "Medieval type" ghetto.

a. Will you issue the decree that Jews move into a ghetto?

b. If yes, explain why? If not, explain why?

c. If you decide to announce the decree, go on to Choice #3

3. The Jewish community is now pressed into that poor section of town which has become the ghetto. The Judenrat is given the responsibility of taxing the incomes of those who work in factories that have been moved into the Ghetto by German industrialists. These industrialist have assured you that "rescue comes through work." With rumors that the Russian army is only 125 miles away the ethic became clear, "work will save blood."

One day, as members of the Judenrat, you are called in by the SS and told that contrary to the decree that there are to be no new cases of childbirth in the ghetto, it has been reported that there are a number of pregnant women. You are told that there is hardly enough food in the Reich to feed good Germans, and that there is no food to feed Jewish "brats." You are reminded of an example in a neighboring village where a whole family was shot because of the violation of the decree. You are told to go home immediately and set your "house in order" or the SS doctor will take care of the women. It is also clearly inferred that reprisals will be taken against all in the ghetto.

You return to the Judenrat offices and a debate rages. You know that one of the twenty women reported pregnant has long tried to conceive without success. The choice facing you is whether to press these women to undergo "abortions." Your choice is between taking the life of the "unborn" in the hope of saving the living, or refusing to carry out the order and face SS reprisals.

a. Will you press these women to undergo "abortions"

b. If yes, explain why? If not, explain fully why not.

Remember your choices.

c. If you have, after all consideration, answered yes, please go on to Choice #4.

4. A leader of the underground in the ghetto was arrested by the SS. As they sought to remove him from the ghetto, his men jumped the SS men and freed him. The Gestapo has sent you a message that unless the underground leader is turned over in six hours, the ghetto will be destroyed. The choice facing you is whether to ask the general population to surrender the underground leader or not.

a. Will you do it?

b. If yes, explain why? If not, explain why?

c. If you have answered you, go to Choice #5

5. You are aware that the Germans are losing the war. It is rumored that the Russians, closing in from the east are less than 100 miles away. You are called to SS headquarters and told that because typhus and cholera are raging in the ghetto, it has been ordered that a limited number of ghetto residents be relocated. Since productive person must remain behind, children and old people are asked for. It is stated that if orders are not complied with and 5,000 or the 45,000 remaining in the ghetto are not ordered to go to the railway depot, the entire ghetto will be liquidated. By this time, you know that "resettlement" means death. Your options are:

a. You can refuse, but in this case you know that the entire Judenrat could be hanged and replaced by more "manageable people"

b. You could attempt to provide aged people and hope " to salvage what can be salvaged"-hoping that the Russians will arrive to save the others;

c. You could attempt to organize a defense of the ghetto.

What would you do?

In a brief statement explain the inadvertent (unforeseen) role of Jews in the perpetuation of the Holocaust.