A Fatal Balancing Act

In 1939 all German Jews had to become members of a newly founded Reich Association. The Jewish functionaries of this organization were faced with circumstances and events that forced them to walk a fine line between responsible action and collaboration. They had hoped to support mass emigration, mitigate the consequences of the anti-Jewish measures, and take care of the remaining community. When the Nazis forbade emigration and started mass deportations in 1941, the functionaries decided to cooperate to prevent the "worst." In choosing to cooperate, they came into direct opposition with the interests of their members, who were then deported. In June 1943 all unprotected Jews were deported along with their representatives, and the so-called intermediaries supplied the rest of the community, which consisted of Jews living in mixed marriages. The study deals with the tasks of these men, the fate of the Jews in mixed marriages, and what happened to the survivors after the war.

Beate Meyer is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for the History of German Jews in Hamburg, Germany and is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Hamburg. She has been a Fellow at the International Institute of Holocaust Research in Yad Vashem/Jerusalem (2000/2001) and the USHMM (2010). Recent publications include Jews in Nazi Berlin: From Kristallnacht to Liberation (co-edited, University of Chicago Press 2009).

Abbreviations in the Text and Notes
List of Tables
Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: From "Forced Emigration" to Assisting with the Deportations Chapter 1. Created in Chaos

Chapter 2. "Forced Emigration"

Chapter 3. The "Territorial Solution": "Reservations for Jews" and Early Deportations

Chapter 4. Welfare

Part II: Walking on a Thin Line  - The Participation of the Reichsvereinigung and the Berlin Jewish Community in the Time of the Deportations Chapter 1. Decision on a Basic Principle: Avoid Hardship, Participate in "Partial Operations"

Chapter 2. "Every Day More Terrifying News"  - The Year 1942

Chapter 3. The Stepwise Liquidation of the Reichsvereinigung (1943)

Chapter 4.  Theresienstadt  as a New Field of Activity of the German-Jewish Functionaries

Part III: The "Psychological Environment" (Hilberg) in the Countryside. Latitude for Action by Jewish Functionaries in the District Branches Chapter 1. The District Branches

Chapter 2. A Troubled Relationship: The District Branches and the RV Central Office
  Chapter 3. The District Branches and the Deportations

Chapter 4. A Comparative Look at District Branches

 Chapter 5. Strategies for Dealing with the Authorities.   Chapter 6. The Fate of the District Branch Directors

 Part IV: The Residual Reichsvereinigung Chapter 1. The Last Compulsory Members: Jews in Mixed Marriages Chapter 2. Structure and Tasks of the Residual Reichsvereinigung

 Chapter 3. Vertrauensmänner, Gestapo and Jews in the Final Phase of the War  Chapter 4. The War is Over - Liberation and/or a Horrible End?

Part V:  A Look at Later Developments: The "Strategy of Cooperation" as an Incriminating Legacy for a New Start Chapter 1. Proceedings Before a Court of Honor and Employment Bans in Berlin Chapter 2. Under Suspicion: Former Jewish Functionaries in the Western Occupation Zones and the Fledgling Federal Republic Chapter 3. "Gestapo Collaborators": Former Jewish Functionaries in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR Chapter 4. Aftermath

Bibliography
Archival materials cited
Literature and printed sources
Index