Remain or Resign?: Jewish Leaders’ Dilemmas in the Netherlands and Belgium under Nazi Occupation

Laurien Vastenhout

doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/hgs/dcac038

Remain or Resign? Jewish Leaders’ Dilemmas in the Netherlands and Belgium under Nazi Occupation

Laurien Vastenhout

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide studies

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Why did the chairman of the “Jewish Council” in Belgium decide to resign from his position in late 1942 while his counterparts in the Netherlands, operating in a seemingly similar context, decided to remain in place until the council was dissolved? The choices and motivations of Jewish leaders during Nazi rule have been a persistent subject of discussion in Holocaust historiography for decades. To this day, research has overwhelmingly been conducted in national contexts, which has obscured a thorough understanding of the distinctive circumstances in which Jewish leaders operated. By exploring the different socio-historical premises on which the Jewish organizations in the Netherlands and Belgium were built, this article argues that the level of (dis)continuation with prewar communal structures played a significant role in the posture and choices of Jewish functionaries under Nazi occupation in these two countries.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	413-427
Number of pages	14
Journal	Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Volume	36
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/hgs/dcac038
Publication status	Published - 01 Dec 2022

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title = "Remain or Resign?: Jewish Leaders{\textquoteright} Dilemmas in the Netherlands and Belgium under Nazi Occupation",

abstract = "Why did the chairman of the “Jewish Council” in Belgium decide to resign from his position in late 1942 while his counterparts in the Netherlands, operating in a seemingly similar context, decided to remain in place until the council was dissolved? The choices and motivations of Jewish leaders during Nazi rule have been a persistent subject of discussion in Holocaust historiography for decades. To this day, research has overwhelmingly been conducted in national contexts, which has obscured a thorough understanding of the distinctive circumstances in which Jewish leaders operated. By exploring the different socio-historical premises on which the Jewish organizations in the Netherlands and Belgium were built, this article argues that the level of (dis)continuation with prewar communal structures played a significant role in the posture and choices of Jewish functionaries under Nazi occupation in these two countries.",

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Remain or Resign? Jewish Leaders’ Dilemmas in the Netherlands and Belgium under Nazi Occupation

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