Judenrat

A Judenrat (German: [ˈjuːdn̩ˌʁaːt], lit. 'Jewish council'; Yiddish: יודענראט) was an administrative body, established in any zone of German-occupied Europe during World War II, purporting to represent the Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities. The Germans required Jews to form Judenräte within occupied territories at local and sometimes national levels.

Judenräte were particularly common in Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe, where in some cases, such as Łódź and Theresienstadt ghettos, they were known as the "Jewish Council of Elders" (Jüdischer Ältestenrat or Ältestenrat der Juden). Jewish communities themselves had established councils for self-government as early as the Middle Ages. The Jewish community used the Hebrew terms qahal (Hebrew: קהל) or qehilla (קהילה) but Nazi authorities used the German-language term Judenräte.

Nazi considerations of Jewish legal status

The structure and missions of the Judenräte under the Nazi regime varied widely, often depending upon whether meant for a single ghetto, a city or a whole region. Jurisdiction over a whole country, as in Nazi Germany, was maintained by Reich Association of Jews in Germany (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland) established on 4 July 1939.

In the beginning of April 1933, shortly after the National Socialist government took power, a report by a German governmental commission on fighting the Jews was presented. This report recommended the creation of a recognized 'Association of Jews in Germany' (Verband der Juden in Deutschland), to which all Jews in Germany would be forced to associate. Appointed by the Reichskanzler, a German People's Ward was then to assume responsibility of this group.