Les dirigeants juifs face à la mort

Résumé 0

The article analyzes the evolution of historiography on Jewish leadership during the Holocaust. It shows that the beginnings of research were anchored in the immediate post-war disputes in the Jewish community regarding the behaviour of the Jewish leaders, and that it was coloured by moral evaluations. Conceptually, it was shaped under the impact of the “intentionalist” perception of Nazi anti-Jewish policies and equated Jewish Councils with “Jewish leadership”. The article points to some new scholarship, which differentiates between “leadership” and “headship”, detects the origins of the Judenrat concept and its gradual crystallization, shows the different ways of its application, and also limits its importance regarding the Final Solution. Additionally, other forms of Jewish leadership under the Nazi regime – communal and philanthropic, religious, and youth movements – as well as leadership in the free word, are shortly analyzed.