Editing Judenrat (section)

==Missions and duties==
[[File:Applying for identification and work permits from Jewish Council in the Krakow ghetto.jpg|thumb|left|Applying for identification and work permits from [[Kraków Ghetto Jewish Council]]]]
The Nazis systematically sought to weaken the resistance potential and opportunities of the Jews of [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]. The early ''Judenräte'' were foremost to report numbers of their Jewish populations, clear residences and turn them over, present workers for forced labour, confiscate valuables, and collect tribute and turn these over. Failure to comply would incur the risk of collective punishments or other measures. Later tasks of the ''Judenräte'' included turning over community members for deportation. Ultimately, these policies and the cooperation of Jewish authorities led to massive Jewish deaths with few German casualties because of the minimal resistance.  Once under Nazi control and checked for weapons, large numbers of Jews could ultimately be easily murdered or enslaved. <ref>Gilbert, A History of the Holocaust, (2000)</ref>

Through these occupation measures, and the simultaneous prevention of government services, the Jewish communities suffered serious shortages. For this reason, early ''Judenräte'' attempted to establish replacement service institutions of their own. They tried to organize food distribution, aid stations, old age homes, orphanages and schools. At the same time, given their restricted circumstances and remaining options, they attempted to work against the occupier's forced measures and to win time. One way was to delay transfer and implementation of orders and to try playing conflicting demands of competing German interests against each other. They presented their efforts as indispensable for the Germans in managing the Jewish community, in order to improve the resources of the Jews and to move the Germans to repeal collective punishments.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

This had, however, very limited positive results. 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. Thus, the members of the community quickly became highly critical of, or even outright opposed their ''Judenrat''.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

[[Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)|Tadeusz Piotrowski]] cites Jewish survivor Baruch Milch stating "Judenrat became an instrument in the hand of the Gestapo for extermination of the Jews... I do not know of a single instance when the Judenrat would help some Jew in a disinterested manner," though Piotrowski cautions that "Milch's is a particular account of a particular place and time... the behavior of Judenrat members was not uniform."<ref>Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947
Tadeusz Piotrowski - 2007
''In any case, the Judenrat became an instrument in the hands of the Gestapo for the extermination of the Jews'' page 73-74</ref>

The question of whether participation in the Judenrat constituted [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaboration with the Germans]] remains a controversial issue to this day.<ref name="Trunk1996">{{cite book |author=Isaiah Trunk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D7bobfzrcCoC&pg=PA572 |title=Judenrat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-9428-X |page=572 |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154042/https://books.google.com/books?id=D7bobfzrcCoC&pg=PA572#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=The crime: Collaborating with the Nazis. The punishment: Excommunication from Judaism|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-crime-collaborating-with-nazis-the-punishment-excommunication-from-judaism-1.7732097|access-date=2020-06-28|newspaper=Haaretz|language=en|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629155134/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-crime-collaborating-with-nazis-the-punishment-excommunication-from-judaism-1.7732097|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Schwarz2015">{{cite book|author=Jan Schwarz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiG9CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|title=Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture after the Holocaust|date=15 May 2015|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-3906-0|page=119|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=24 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154141/https://books.google.com/books?id=eiG9CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA119#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gilliatt2000">{{cite book|author=Stephen Gilliatt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyeDAAAAMAAJ|title=An Exploration of the Dynamics of Collaboration and Non-resistance|publisher=E. Mellen Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7734-7770-4|page=95, 99|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=24 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154155/https://books.google.com/books?id=nyeDAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dawidowicz1981">{{cite book |author=Lucy S. Dawidowicz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8WEAAAAIAAJ |title=The Holocaust and the historians |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-674-40566-0 |page=135 |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154143/https://books.google.com/books?id=S8WEAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=GLASS |first=JAMES M. |date=1999-10-01 |title=Two Models of Political Organization: Collaboration Versus Resistance |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |language=en |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=278–300 |doi=10.1177/00027649921955263 |issn=0002-7642 |s2cid=145068118}}</ref> The view that Jewish councils collaborated in the Holocaust has been challenged by Holocaust historians including [[Isaiah Trunk]] in his 1972 book, ''Judenrat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation''. Summarizing Trunk's research, Holocaust scholar [[Michael Berenbaum]] writes: "In the final analysis, the Judenräte had no influence on the frightful outcome of the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]; the Nazi extermination machine was alone responsible for the tragedy, and the Jews in the occupied territories, most especially [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Poland]], were far too powerless to prevent it."<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10457.html| title = Judenrat| author = Berenbaum, Michael| access-date = 28 September 2013| publisher = jewishvirtuallibrary.org| archive-date = 2 October 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131002132840/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10457.html| url-status = live}}</ref> {{Better source needed|reason=Source used may be not reliable, itself cites Encyclopaedia Judaica, which would be a better source for the information presented here.|date=April 2024}} This remains a topic of considerable scholarly disagreement.