Extension:Ex-4.1-1
Judenrat (German, pl. Judenräte) was the most common name given to Jewish administrative bodies responsible for transmitting and enforcing orders imposed by a German occupation regime. The literal meaning of the name is “Council of Jews.” An alternative name was Ältestenrat [Council of Elders]. Both terms were first used in an order issued by Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the German Security Police, on 21 September 1939 concerning Jews in occupied Polish territory. On 28 November 1939 an order from Hans Frank, head of the Generalgouvernement, mandated a procedure for appointing Judenräte in all Jewish communities under his jurisdiction. In practice, however, local German military or civilian officials had already called such bodies into being, whereas in other places the officials in charge delayed doing so until well into 1940. Despite Frank’s apparent desire to standardize the institution, Judenräte actually varied widely in composition, size, method of appointment, and relations with both the local German authorities and the Jews in their charge.
In Distrikt Krakau (west Galicia) the first Judenräte were established in Nowy Sącz and Rzesów; by mid-1940 they operated in more than 100 locations. In Kraków the Judenrat, constituted in December 1939, was initially made up of members of the prewar Jewish community board. In nearby Wieliczka, as well as in Przemyśl, the Judenräte consisted entirely of women, since most eligible men had fled eastward from the German invasion. The Tarnów Judenrat was initially led by prewar activists who endeavored to form a buffer between the community and the occupiers but were unable to do so. In April 1940 the German county head arrested the Jewish council’s co-chairmen and replaced them with more pliant, less respected figures. Similar developments transpired in many other localities.
In Distrikt Galizien (east Galicia) perhaps as many as 200 Judenräte were created during the weeks following the German invasion of 22 June 1941, according to patterns like those in other parts of the Generalgouvernement. They lasted until their communities were liquidated. Of the four Judenrat chairmen in Lviv between July 1941 and January 1943, three were executed: one for inadequate compliance with German orders, one for crimes allegedly committed by Jews on his watch, and one once a decision to liquidate the community had been made. The history of the Stanyslaviv Judenrat was similar.
Larger Judenräte maintained multiple departments for maintaining the health and welfare of their communities, but increasingly harsh conditions made the efforts of all Judenräte in that vein unsustainable. Virtually all Judenräte were required to deliver Jews to be murdered, whether by shooting squads or in killing centers. Their was considerable variation in their responses: some complied, some refused, some tried to temporize or to sabotage. Ultimately, whatever their behavior, the outcome of German rule was nearly total annihilation of the Jewish population.