Judenrat

'Jewish council') was an administrative body established in German-occupied Europe during World War II which purported to represent a Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities.

[citation needed] 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.

[3] 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.

[citation needed] The Israeli historian Dan Michman found it likely that the commission, which considered the legal status and interactions of Jews and non-Jews before their emancipation, reached back to the Medieval Era for the term Judenräte.

This illuminates the apparent intent to make the Jewish emancipation and assimilation invalid, and so return Jews to the status they held during the Medieval Era.

[1] The Judenräte were to serve as a means to enforce the occupation force's anti-Jewish regulations and laws in the western and central areas of Poland, and had no authority of their own.

[citation needed] The Nazis systematically sought to weaken the resistance potential and opportunities of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe.

Once under Nazi control and checked for weapons, large numbers of Jews could ultimately be easily murdered or enslaved.

The generally difficult situations presented often led to perceived unfair actions, such as personality preferences, sycophancy, and protectionism of a few over the rest of the community.

[citation needed] Tadeusz Piotrowski cites Jewish survivor Baruch Milch stating "Judenrat became an instrument in the hand of the Gestapo for extermination of the Jews...

Often, a Judenrat had a group for internal security and control, a Jewish Ghetto Police (German: Jüdische Ghetto-Polizei or Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst).