The Anatomy of the Holocaust by Raul Hilberg† & René Schlott

Author:Raul Hilberg† & René Schlott [Raul Hilberg, Walter H. Pehle & Schlott, René]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2019-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

The Ghetto as Self-Destructive Machinery

We have seen now that the Jewish ghetto was a provider of administrative services, a social and economic laboratory, and a state of mind. It was also a form of organized self-destruction.

It should be emphasized that the councils were not the willing accomplices of the Germans. Within the German superstructure, however, they were its indispensable operatives. Even when their activities were benign, as in the case of housing refugees or promoting sanitary conditions, they could contribute to the overall purposes and ultimate goals of their German supervisors. The very institution of an orderly ghetto was, after all, an essential link in the chain of destructive steps. In building this order and preserving it, the councils could not help serving their enemy.

We know, of course, that the Germans expected much more than general government of their Jewish deputies. It was German policy to transfer to Jewish middlemen a large part of the physical and psychological burdens of destroying millions of men, women, and children. One aspect of that assignment was financial, another entailed selections, and the third called for enforcement.

The destruction of Jewry generated administrative costs, and, throughout Europe, German agencies attempted to obtain some of the necessary resources from the Jews themselves. As far as possible, the destruction process was to be self-financing. In Poland, too, an effort was made to balance the books without drawing from the budget of the German Reich. Trunk cites the fact that the German administration of the Lodz ghetto (the Gettoverwaltung) covered expenses by taxing deliveries to the ghetto.51 In Warsaw, there was wall building. The Jewish engineer Marek Lichtenbojm and a large crew of Jewish laborers were engaged at the site, and financial responsibility for the wall was passed on to the Jewish community.52

Indirectly, the Warsaw Jews may have subsidized Treblinka. From a letter written to the Warsaw Ghetto Commissioner Auerswald by the first Treblinka commander, Dr. Eberl, it appears that the commissioner was to supply various materials to the camp where shortly afterward the ghetto inhabitants were to be gassed.53 This is not to say that the Jewish leadership was able to decipher the nature of Treblinka while it was under construction.54 There may also have been remote funding of death transports from Jewish sources. We know, for example, that the German railways in Lodz billed the Gestapo in the city for the one-way fares. The Gestapo passed the bill to the Lodz Gettoverwaltung for payment.55 We can only surmise how this debt was ultimately discharged.

First the Jewish councils handed over money; then they delivered human beings. Let us remember, though, that the process of selecting victims began with the social structuring of the ghetto population. We have seen that from the moment of their incarceration, the Jews were discernably divided according to their advantages and privileges in life. To be sure, few individuals had any inkling then that these stratifications would acquire a special meaning in the “Final Solution.” However, growing suspicions and forebodings had the effect of accentuating the differentiations.

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