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

TY - JOUR

T1 - Remain or Resign?

T2 - Jewish Leaders’ Dilemmas in the Netherlands and Belgium under Nazi Occupation

AU - Vastenhout, Laurien

PY - 2022/12/1

Y1 - 2022/12/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.1093/hgs/dcac038

DO - 10.1093/hgs/dcac038

M3 - Article

SN - 8756-6583

VL - 36

SP - 413

EP - 427

JO - Holocaust and Genocide Studies

JF - Holocaust and Genocide Studies

IS - 2

ER -