'Jewish Councils' in Nazi Europe, 1938-1945: A Pan European Perspective

Different perspectives on the controversially discussed »Jewish Councils« The Jewish representative organisations that were instituted by German authorities and their allies during the Second World War, commonly known as »Jewish Councils«, have been controversial since their establishment. These organisations' leaders have been criticised for their alleged cooperation with the Nazis and their role in the deportation of Jewish communities. As a result of the debates on this topic, some historians and public activists have obfuscated the question of responsibility for the Holocaust. This edited volume gives nuance to existing perspectives on »Jewish Councils« by offering a pan-European comparative framework. It provides a diversified understanding of these organisations and shows that local contexts and dynamics were decisive in shaping their form, function, and strategies. Includes: Laurien Vastenhout: Challenging the East/West Dichotomy: Parallels and Differences between »Jewish Council« in Western Europe and Beyond. Philipp Dinkenlaker: »A Section of the Gestapo«? The Role of Jewish Auxiliaries, the Reichsvereinigung, and the Hunt for »Illegal« Jews between 1943 and 1945 in Berlin. Andrea Löw: The German Jewish Councils and the Organization of Life in the German Ghettos of Riga and Minsk. Der Band erscheint vollständig in englischer Sprache.

Auteur
Jan Lánícek is an Associate Professor in Modern European and Jewish History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Most recently, he was the co-editor with Jan Lambertz of »More than Parcels: Wartime Aid for Jews in Nazi-Era Camps and Ghettos« (2022). Laurien Vastenhout is researcher and lecturer at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam. Her book Between Community and Collaboration: 'Jewish Councils' in Western Europe under Nazi Occupation (2022) received the Yad Vashem International Book Prize.