Jüdische Selbstverwaltung unter dem NS-Regime
der Existenzkampf der Reichsvertretung und Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland
Description:... Traces the organizational development of the Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden, founded in September 1933, and the Reichsvereinigung, which succeeded it in 1939. Examines their relations with various agencies of the Nazi regime, particularly the RSHA, and its branches - the SS and Gestapo. The Jewish organizations worked to meet needs arising from the exclusion of Jews from the German economic, social welfare, and educational systems, and offered assistance in emigration. In 1938 both the Reichsvertretung and German authorities recognized the need for a centralized organization to take charge of all Jewish community concerns. The law regulating the new organization was passed in July 1939. The Reichsvereinigung was controlled by the RSHA and had to carry out its orders in matters such as allocation of Jews to labor service, transfer of Jews to "Jewish houses", and distribution of the yellow star; but it could exercise discretion in individual cases. Documents do not show participation of the Reichsvereinigung in preparing lists for deportation; its local branches, however, were made to cooperate. In June 1942 the deportations were speeded up; in June 1943 the Reichsvereinigung was closed, after much of its leadership had already been deported. A rump body continued to function in the Jewish Hospital in Berlin until liberation.
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