The Judenrat of the Krakow Ghetto
A judenrat, also known as a Jewish Council, was a governing body set up in Jewish ghettoes by Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1942, consisting of 24 Jewish elders. These governing bodies were places to lodge complaints for the Jews in the crowded ghettoes, and the councils drew plans for work details, food rations, housing, and other necessary aspects of daily life. They were effectively collaborators with the Nazi Party, and they were responsible for the lives of the imprisoned Jews in the ghettoes; many attempted to stop Jews from leaving the ghettoes out of fear of reprisals, and many also refused to give credence to the thought of the impending Holocaust. In 1942-1943, the Judenrat councils were dissolved as the Germans liquidated the ghettoes and deported the Jews to concentration and extermination camps.