Free Will in the Ghetto: How the Judenrate Cooperated, Collaborated and Resisted German Rule
Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name
Jacek Lubecki
Proposal Track
Student
Session Format
Paper Presentation
Abstract
This paper is not a ground breaking piece that I managed to produce after years of research on my topic. It is only a small paper that will focus on the pre-existing controversy of the role of the Judenräte within the ghetto. This paper will discuss whether Judenräte members collaborated, cooperated, or resisted German rule it will also take into consideration the moral attributes of specific Judenräte members. This paper will also point out the different conditions and circumstances within each ghetto and how it affected the decisions of the Judenräte but did not take away their free will. As an undergraduate student I have limited knowledge on the subject but I will pull from the texts I have researched in order to present my own opinion on the matter. Most importantly, I will examine, based on original sources, three paradigmatic case studies of the Judenräte in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe, and try to reach my own conclusion based on these case-studies. I will proceed by breaking down the paper into four chapters with various sub chapters. They shall appear in the following way: The first chapter will focus on the definition of the Judenräte, their origins, why they were established and what their role in the ghetto was. Chapter two will give a definition of what collaboration, corporation, and resistance are and discuss the flexibilities of these definitions. It will also incorporate and define three moral attributes, egocentric, pragmatic and altruistic. These definitions are necessary because the paper labels Judenräte members on a two fold standard. These classifications, like the definitions, will be flexible: indeed the case studies will help me refine the conceptual definition and serve as a heuristic device in this respect. I will use preexisting literature to help give definitions and rely on memoirs and other primary sources when discussing specific members of the Judenräte. These definitions will also vary for each individual based on specific circumstances both within and outside the ghetto. In chapter three I will focus on three ghettos, Minsk, Lodz and Warsaw, and the Judenräte members who served these ghettos. In the fourth chapter I will use the information presented throughout the text to label the Judenräte members based on the definitions presented in the paper, the information collected through the case studies and the circumstances within the ghetto while also taking into account the free will that each Judenrat member had.
Keywords
Judenrate, Holocaust, Ghettos
Award Consideration
1
Location
Room 2904
Presentation Year
2014
Start Date
11-15-2014 11:05 AM
End Date
11-15-2014 12:05 PM
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Williams, Kyle L., "Free Will in the Ghetto: How the Judenrate Cooperated, Collaborated and Resisted German Rule" (2014). Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (2014-2015). 68.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gurc/2014/2014/68
Free Will in the Ghetto: How the Judenrate Cooperated, Collaborated and Resisted German Rule
Room 2904
This paper is not a ground breaking piece that I managed to produce after years of research on my topic. It is only a small paper that will focus on the pre-existing controversy of the role of the Judenräte within the ghetto. This paper will discuss whether Judenräte members collaborated, cooperated, or resisted German rule it will also take into consideration the moral attributes of specific Judenräte members. This paper will also point out the different conditions and circumstances within each ghetto and how it affected the decisions of the Judenräte but did not take away their free will. As an undergraduate student I have limited knowledge on the subject but I will pull from the texts I have researched in order to present my own opinion on the matter. Most importantly, I will examine, based on original sources, three paradigmatic case studies of the Judenräte in Nazi occupied Eastern Europe, and try to reach my own conclusion based on these case-studies. I will proceed by breaking down the paper into four chapters with various sub chapters. They shall appear in the following way: The first chapter will focus on the definition of the Judenräte, their origins, why they were established and what their role in the ghetto was. Chapter two will give a definition of what collaboration, corporation, and resistance are and discuss the flexibilities of these definitions. It will also incorporate and define three moral attributes, egocentric, pragmatic and altruistic. These definitions are necessary because the paper labels Judenräte members on a two fold standard. These classifications, like the definitions, will be flexible: indeed the case studies will help me refine the conceptual definition and serve as a heuristic device in this respect. I will use preexisting literature to help give definitions and rely on memoirs and other primary sources when discussing specific members of the Judenräte. These definitions will also vary for each individual based on specific circumstances both within and outside the ghetto. In chapter three I will focus on three ghettos, Minsk, Lodz and Warsaw, and the Judenräte members who served these ghettos. In the fourth chapter I will use the information presented throughout the text to label the Judenräte members based on the definitions presented in the paper, the information collected through the case studies and the circumstances within the ghetto while also taking into account the free will that each Judenrat member had.