Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

viciously antisemitic movie in 1940. It was directed by Veit Harlan (1899–1964) and
starred Werner Krauss (1884–1959) in the title role. The plot was twisted to make
Oppenheimer a real Jew portrayed according to Nazi stereotypes: greasy hair, hooked nose,
unscrupulous, bearded, cowardly, and a rapist. At his arrest and execution, he is seen as
screaming and unmanly; by contrast, his executioners appear to be upright, solid citizens.
After Oppenheimer’s execution, the rest of the Jews of the city are driven into exile. As
a piece of propaganda cinema, the movie had a powerful effect on its audiences, helping
to prepare the German public for further atrocities against Jews. Many viewed it as though
it were a documentary and were driven to acts of violence against Jews in the street after
having seen it.
Tellingly, Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945), the head of the SS, ordered all members of
the various official bodies under his command to see the movie; this extended to local
police and concentration camp guards. Its effectiveness as a propaganda tool was thus not
limited to the general public, as it was used to achieve specific dehumanizing goals regarding
the perceived racial enemy and to whip up violence against that enemy.
Veit Harlan was later tried for crimes against humanity by the Allies at Nuremberg, but
his case was dismissed due to a lack of direct evidence implicating him in the destruction
of the Jews.
Judenfrei (German, literally, “free of Jews”). A term used by Nazi leaders responsible
for Germany’s anti-Jewish measures during World War II, employed for the purpose of
indicating that a successful liquidation of a Jewish area had taken place. The term was
often employed alongside of (or synonymously with) the word Judenrein (clean of Jews) by
SS (Schutzstaffel, or “Security Police”) leaders such as Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945),
among many others.
Judenrat (German, “Jewish council”). Among the more controversial issues surrounding
the fate of the Jewish victims of the Second World War/Holocaust remains the
role of the Judenrat, the “Jewish self-governing councils” that existed in many of the
larger and a number of the smaller Jewish ghettos under the Nazis. Though the tradition
of Jewish self-governance is historically well-grounded, and many of those who served on
the Judenrat found themselves in the horrendously ambivalent position of serving their
Nazi masters at the same time as trying to act as a buffer between their overlords and their
fellow Jews, doing what little they could to attempt to save a dying people, many have
argued strongly that the Judenrat complicitly aided in their own demise. That argument
becomes problematic in that their options were limited, their own activities tended to be
more cautiously conservative and secretive, and some among their collective leadership
were prone to corruption and self-serving ends, all, ultimately, in an effort to prolong life.
The first of these councils was already established in Poland in the fall of 1939, within
a few short weeks of the start of World War II (September 1, 1939) under the following
mandate: “Jewish population centers 10,000 persons and under led by twelve-person
councils; over 10,000 persons twenty-four person councils.” While the elections of the
twelve-person council were to be an internal matter, the Nazi leadership had to approve
such persons. Once established and overseen, their focused activities were directed
primarily to organizational-administrative matters (data and census collection), economic
and production matters (factory and workshop production and labor quotas), and social
service delivery systems (healthcare, welfare agencies, food allocations, residence
permits). From their (Jewish) perspective, many of these leaders truly believed that by
JUDENRAT
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