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The Ghetto as a Form of Government

1980; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 450; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/000271628045000109

1552-3349

Raúl Hilberg,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Isaiah Trunk's classic study of the Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe under the Nazi regime points to four major conclusions. (1) The ghetto was a captive city-state, totally subordinate to German authority while remainng a Jewish entity with traditions and expectations rooted in Jewish experience. The Jewish councils that were placed in charge of the ghettos were facing a dilemma in that they could not follow German instructions without hurting Jews and could not help Jews without obeying the Germans. (2) As a socioeconomic unit, the ghetto was hovering between life and death. The Jewish population could not support itself in definitely by trading with the outside world; impoverish ment spelled out its doom. (3) For the incarcerated Jews, the ghetto was also a mirage. It instilled thoughts of normalcy and continuity in the Jewish community at a time when the Germans were preparing for deportations of the victims to death camps. (4) Finally, the ghetto councils and their police organs were a self-destructive mechanism insofar as they con fiscated assets or recruited labor and, in the end, rounded up the people for transport in trains waiting nearby.