Judernräte Jewish Councils Term Paper

Chartock, Roselle, Jack Spencer. The Holocaust Years: Society on Trial. New York: Bantam Books, 1978.

The events which have become to be known as The Holocaust have caused much debate and dispute among historians. Central to this varied dispute is the intentions and motives of the perpetrators, with a wide range of theories as to why such horrific events took place. The publication of Jonah Goldhagen’s controversial but bestselling book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” in many ways saw the reigniting of the debate and a flurry of scholarly and public interest. Central to Goldhagen’s disputed argument is the presentation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust as ordinary Germans who largely, willingly took part in the atrocities because of deeply held and violently strong anti-Semitic beliefs. This in many

Peter Longerich's Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews is a recent contribution to the contemporary scholarly literature on the subject. The book was originally published in 1998 in German, under the title Politik der Vernichtung, Politics of Destruction. This 2010 English-language release is, as the author claims, shorter in some areas and longer in others. The primary additions include a chapter on anti-Semitism in the Weimar Republic, which adds considerable meat to the contextual evidence that Longerich includes in his history of the Holocaust. Moreover, the author draws on the release of new primary source data from the archives in Warsaw and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, which have only recently been revealed, archived, and cataloged.

“Was German ‘Eliminationist Anti-Semitism” Responsible for the Holocaust?” is a fascinating and somewhat discouraging debate that explores the question of whether German anti-Semitism, instilled within citizens outside of the Nazi Party, played a vast role in the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust . Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of “The Paradigm Challenged,” believes that it did; and argues quite convincingly that ordinary German citizens were duplicitous either by their actions or inactions due to the deep-seeded nature of anti-Semitic sentiment in the country. On the other hand, Christopher R. Browning, who has extensively researched the Holocaust, argues that the arguments of Goldhagen leaves out significant dynamics which were prevalent throughout most of Western and Eastern Europe during this period of history.

Studies of the Holocaust have provoked passionate debates. Increasingly, they have become a central topic of concern for historians particularly since the early 1970s, as the Holocaust studies were generally limited. However, one of the most intense debates surrounding the role played by Hitler in the ’Final Solution’. That is, whether and when Hitler took a decision to initiate the extermination process. Of course, this issue has caused incredible controversy and naturally such a contentious topic of debate has radically produced large amounts of new data and literature. Conflicting, an interpretation has caused further disparities between historians over Hitler’s role in the Holocaust. For this

In The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, Ian Kershaw provides an illustration of the interpretations of the Holocaust that place Hitler as the driving force behind the elimination of the Hebrew population in Germany. Kershaw describes how the term ‘the Holocaust’ was initially adopted by Jewish writers in preference of the generic descriptive term ‘genocide’. By ostensibly stating that, “without Hitler's fanatical will to destroy Jewry, which crystallized only by 1941 in tools realizable aims to exterminate physically the Jews of Europe, the Holocaust would almost certainly not have come about,” Kershaw embodies the interpretations that place Hitler as the ultimate cause for the planned annihilation of the Hebrew population in Europe.

One major, controversial event that occurred during the WWII was the Holocaust. There has been much debate about the causes of the Holocaust, as many factors have been discussed. Therefore, this investigation will assess to what extent was Hitler the cause of the Holocaust. The four factors that will be assessed will be the widespread anti-Semitism, the role of Hitler himself, the demonizing of Jews made by the state churches and the Treaty of Versailles.

Starting in September of 1939, the Nazis established the Judenrat, Jewish councils meant to operate within the Jewish communities of Nazi-occupied Europe. The Judenrat have been a controversial topic among historians since the end of the Holocaust. Some historians label its members as traitors to the Jewish community for going along with Nazi orders, but others are more sympathetic towards its members, considering the difficult situation they were put in by the Nazis. The fact is that most of the Jews who were under the control of the Judenrat did not survive the Holocaust, and many attribute the Judenrat’s failure to save their communities to the its incompetence in performing basic tasks. While the Judenrat’s general incompetence can be partially

Rather than seeking sympathy, Herzl prefaced his work with these anti-Semitic acts in history as a categorical reason for an autonomous Der Judenstaat, which is literally “State of the Jews” in German, and began the movement now known as Zionism. It is interesting to note, however, that anti-Semitism, which may be defined as “the prejudice, discrimination and hatred of Jews as a national, ethnic, religious or racial group,” (Anti-Semitism) permeated history for millennia before Zionism emerged; yet, many scholars regard it as the predominant impetus for the rise of the Zionist movement. Anti-Semitism has been an ever-pervasive aspect of history since before the birth of Christianity,

The United States’ response to the Holocaust is a much-discussed and very sensitive subject for a variety of groups close to or related to the situation. The opinions on the subject are diverse and far-reaching, and the analyzations and comparison of some of these can lead to a greater understanding of not only the happenings of the Holocaust itself but also the social reactions to the event by the many groups involved. Four sources I intend to compare include Martin Gilbert’s Auschwitz and the Allies, David Wyman’s The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945, W.D. Rubinstein’s The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved the Jews from the Nazis, and Peter Novick’s The Holocaust in American Life, because I believe that these four sources make up a diverse and widespread selection from which nearly all opinions, or the most conflicting ones, can be observed and interpreted. The first work uses an investigatory style that proposes pieces of evidence from the period shortly before the Holocaust that could have allowed the allies further and more prudent action. Similarly, the second work argues that there is substantial evidence that the United States and the rest of the allies could certainly have saved thousands of lives with earlier and more aggressive action, but argues from a more opinion and theoretical style that focuses less on

In this reflection paper I will be reflecting on the Jewish Americans making America their home and Americans response to the Holocaust. I will first address how the Jewish Americans emigrated from other nations into the United States. Once they got here what they had to do to become Americans but also keeping their Jewish identity visible. I will then talk about the Americans Response to the Holocaust and supply information about Jews in the Holocaust also including my thoughts on the Holocaust by ending in my conclusion. The reason for immigrating to America is the endless opportunities and immense freedom.

Examining any issue pertaining to the Holocaust is accompanied with complexity and the possibility of controversy. This is especially true in dealing with the topic of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. Historians are often divided on this complex issue, debating issues such as how “resistance” is defined and, in accordance with that definition, how much resistance occurred. According to Michael Marrus, “the very term Jewish resistance suggests a point of view.” Many factors, both internal such as differences in opinion on when or what resistance was appropriate, as well as external, such as the lack of arms with which to revolt, contributed to making resistance, particularly armed resistance, extremely difficult. When considering acts

Since the end of World War II and the emergence of knowledge about the Holocaust, there have been questions regarding how the genocide of Jews could have occurred, what could have stopped it and what could be done in today’s world to stop current genocides in other nations. Scholars have researched these questions for years, but the debate is one that is never ending. Bureaucratic tendencies are what created the conditions necessary for the Holocaust. Many scholars, such as Zygmunt Bauman, believe that bureaucratic tendencies such as following procedure, impersonal nature and having a distinct hierarchy are what made the Holocaust possible.

What is Judaism? Who are Jews? Judaism is considered one of the oldest and most popular monotheistic religions today. Judaism’s followers are called Jews and they have been through many tough challenges and trials but are still able to proudly identify themselves as Jews. Jewish beliefs, customs, history, holidays, symbols, and the holocaust are just a few of the things that make Jews who they are.

The Holocaust saw the systematic murder of six million Jews through a Nazi attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population from the European continent. With a strong sense of something needing to be done to atone for the Holocaust and thus compensate the remnants of the European Jewish population, pressure mounted on the British and the Americans to grant them a sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East, hence conceding to an idea that had been set in motion long before the war. It is therefore through a consideration of the effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish communities, British and American policy towards the region, as well as the Palestinian Arabs, that its role in the establishment of Israel can become clear.