Judenberater
The Judenberater or Judenreferenten (singular: Judenberater and Judenreferent), variously translated as Jewish advisers or Jewish experts, were Nazi SS officials who supervised anti-Jewish legislation and the deportations of Jews in the countries under their responsibility. Key architects of the Holocaust, most of them were under the direct command of Adolf Eichmann.[1][2]
Role
The Judenreferent was not an "adviser" in the literal sense of the term, as he was deployed exclusively in allied or defeated states to promote anti-Jewish measures and their deportations, and was a direct participant in anti-Jewish activities before and during World War II.[1][3]
In France and several other countries defeated by Germany, the Jewish advisers were subject to the disciplinary command of the Sicherheitspolizei. In allied countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, they were subordinate to the police attaché (Polizeiattaché) or the German ambassador.[4] The "Jewish advisers" of the SS received their instructions exclusively from the Eichmannreferat, who kept himself up to date through "regular activity reports and briefings on their actions".[3]
According to Claudia Steur, the Judenberater can be divided into two groups: those like Dannecker, Wisliceny, Brunner, Boßhammer and Abromeit were close confidants of Adolf Eichmann and served as role models for the other "Jewish advisors". The remaining ones were initiated relatively late in the Final Solution, and their "striving for power, prestige and social advancement" was an important motive for their later participation in the Holocaust.[5]
German policy was to involve allied governments in the persecution of Jews in order to make them complicit in the Holocaust.[6]
List
- Belgium: Victor Humpert (1941), Kurt Asche (Spring 1941–1942), Fritz Erdmann (1942-1943), Felix Weidmann (1943-1944), Werner Borchardt (1944)[7]
- Bulgaria: Theodor Dannecker (December 1942 – August 1943)
- Croatia: Franz Abromeit (August 1942 – 1944)
- France: Carltheo Zeitschel (Paris, 1940-1942),[8] Theodor Dannecker (September 1940–August 1942), Heinz Röthke (since July 1942), Alois Brunner (June 1943 – July 1944)
- Germany: Leopold von Mildenstein (1934-1936) was one of the first who held the title of Judenreferent in Nazi Germany, under the overall command of Reinhard Heydrich.[9]
- Greece: Dieter Wisliceny (February 1943–June 1943), Alois Brunner (February 1943 – June 1943), Anton Burger (March 1944 – end of 1944)
- Hungary: Adolf Eichmann, Dieter Wisliceny, Theodor Dannecker, Franz Abromeit, Hermann Krumey, Otto Hunsche (March 1944 – 1945)
- Italy: Theodor Dannecker (September 1943–January 1944), Friedrich Boßhammer (January 1944 – 1945)
- Netherlands: Wilhelm Zoepf (June 1941 – 1943)
- Romania: Gustav Richter (March 1941 – 1944)
- Slovakia: Dieter Wisliceny (August 1940 – 1944), Alois Brunner (September 1944 – 1945)
- Tunisia: Carltheo Zeitschel (1942), Walter Rauff (1942–1943)
References
- Herbert F. Ziegler, A review to the book by Theodor Dannecker: Ein Funktionär der 'Endlösung' , Central European History, Vol. 32, No. 4, 1999. JSTOR 4546920
- Claudia Steur, Eichmanns Emissäre. Die ‚Judenberater‘ in Hitlers Europa, In: Gerhard Paul, Klaus-Michael Mallmann (eds.), Die Gestapo im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Darmstadt, 2000, pp. 403-436
- Die Gestapo im Zweiten Weltkrieg: "Heimatfront" und besetztes Europa (in German). Wiss. Buchges. 2000. p. 404. ISBN 9783534144778.
- Steur, Claudia (1997). Theodor Dannecker.: Ein Funktionär der 'Endlösung' (in German). Klartext Verlagsges. Mbh. p. 43. ISBN 9783884745458.
- Die Gestapo im Zweiten Weltkrieg: "Heimatfront" und besetztes Europa (in German). Wiss. Buchges. 2000. pp. 432–34. ISBN 9783534144778.
- Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-19-280436-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Lieven Saerens: Rachel, Jacob, Paul et les autres : une histoire des Juifs à bruxelles. Trad. du néerlandais par Serge Govaert. Brüssel : Mardaga, 2014 ISBN 978-2-8047-0210-6
- Roland Ray, Annäherung an Frankreich im Dienste Hitlers?: Otto Abetz und die deutsche Frankreichpolitik 1930–1942, 2000, ISBN 3486596098, Chapter 10, Section 4: "Motor der 'Endlosung' in FrankReich: Judenreferent Carltheo Zeitschel"
- Max Williams, Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography: Volume 1 (2001), p 61.