Extension:Ex-4.1-5
Jewish Self-Help (German: Jüdische Soziale Selbsthilfe, Polish: Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna) was a Jewish-run social welfare organization authorized by German authorities to distribute food, clothing, and medical supplies received from Jewish organizations abroad among Jews in the Generalgouvernement. Established in May 1940 under the chairmanship of renowned Yiddish theatre director Michał Weichert, the Kraków-based organization operated through a network of some 400 local Jewish committees in all five Generalgouvernement districts. Some of the committees were affiliated with Judenräte; others operated autonomously.
In summer 1942 the Population and Social Services Division of the Generalgouvernement administration dissolved the organization but created a virtually-identical one in its stead, known as the Jewish Aid Office (Jüdische Unterstützungsstelle). However, the SS, having begun mass deportations to the killing centers several months earlier, saw no point in its existence and forced its closure in December 1942. Pressure from the International Red Cross led to the office’s reopening in March 1943. Until July 1944 it continued to extend significant assistance to Jews in labor camps, who by that time were virtually the only Jews living openly in the Generalgouvernement. It appears to have been especially important in sustaining the Jewish forced laborers in the Płaszów camp near Kraków, including the workers at Oskar Schindler’s German Enamelware Factory.