The Kaunas and Vilnius Jewish Ghetto police (1941-1944)
ENIn the ever-expanding historiography of the Holocaust in Lithuania, there is a dearth of academic research on the Jewish Ghetto Police (German: Jüdische Ghetto-Polizei). One might say that this topic has been studied very little in the global historiography of the Holocaust as well. Why this issue is so unpopular can be partly explained by both psychological and political reasons. Jewish Holocaust survivors and their relatives find it difficult to remember, comprehend and talk about the activities of the Jewish Ghetto Police during the Nazi occupation. This topic contradicts the established image and concept of the Holocaust. Historians trying to study this problem must write not only about the sufferings and tragedies experienced by the Jewish people; they also face the unusual problems of preserving the humanity of the suffering, humiliated victims and collaboration with the Nazis. Researchers interested in the history of the ghettos note that the Jewish community imprisoned there was not homogeneous – there were differences in terms of people’s position in the internal administration of the ghetto, as well as their jobs, professions, age, and so on. All these factors had a great impact on the situation of the ghetto prisoners and their families, their standard of living, and their opportunities to delay their death or even to save themselves from it.In the ghettos, the Jewish policemen held a privileged position – they had authority over the other ghetto residents and a chance of avoiding the killing campaigns until the final liquidation of the ghettos. They also had more options to ensure better material conditions (flats, food) for their families. It is very difficult to evaluate the activities of the Jewish Ghetto Police. Historians are forced to address the pressing issue of the Jewish Ghetto Police’s collaboration with the occupation authorities. The activities of the Jewish Ghetto Police were multifaceted – they included many instances not only of collaboration, but also of resistance to the occupants, as well as providing assistance to their fellow Jews who were suffering. The contradictions are so intertwined that it is usually impossible to present generalized and unequivocal assessments. The author of the article adheres to the position that the activities of the Jewish Ghetto Police and its individual officers must be assessed as specifically, individually and objectively as possible. [p. 209].
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