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The Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden, the Reich
Representation of German Jews, was the central organization of
German Jewry under the Nazi regime. When the Nazis came to power,
German Jewry did not really have a comprehensive organization
of representational nature. Only in September 1933 was this inclusive,
federative representative agency established, composed and empowered
to cope with German Jewry’s grave existential problems under
the new totalitarian regime. The organization was headed by Rabbi
Leo Baeck, but the motive, spirit, and force were provided by
its director, Otto Hirsch. Alongside them was an administration
that represented the main political and religious organizations.
The Reichsvertretung aspired to embrace all aspects of
German Jewish internal affairs and to represent the community
as such vis-a-vis the German authorities and Jewish organizations
outside Germany. Its main fields of activity, arranged by the
Zentralausschuss der Deutschen Juden fuer Hilfe und Aufbau
(Central Committee of German Jews for Relief and Reconstruction)
were:
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Education, including the promotion and expansion of Jewish
schools, and extensive adult education activity.
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Vocational training and retraining for the growing number
of Jews who had lost their means of livelihood, and primarily
to prepare them for emigration.
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Welfare services for the rising population of the needy
and for nursing homes, hospitals, and related institutions. Jewish
welfare increasingly had to compensate for the rescinding of support
by local government welfare authorities.
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Economic assistance, including the establishment of labor
exchanges and loan funds.
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Emigration, handled by the Hilfsverein der Deutschen
Juden (German Jews’ Aid Society) and, with respect to
emigration to Palestine, by the Palestine Office.
Extensive cultural activity was promoted by the Kulturbund
Deutscher Juden (Cultural Society of German Jews), which remained
autonomous until late 1941. The Reichsvertretung’s
intensive operations, which enabled German Jews to cope with the
grim effects of state discrimination and persecution, relied heavily
on Jewish welfare associations around the world but, foremost,
on the volunteering spirit and mutual assistance of German Jews
themselves.
In its contacts with the authorities, the Reichsvertretung
sought to safeguard the physical and moral existence of German
Jewry, and considered itself competent to respond to major anti-Jewish
events such as the Nuremberg Laws and the spate of terrorism in
the summer of 1938. Although it was not recognized under law,
the authorities recognized the Reichsvertretung de facto
as the sole representative of the Jews in Germany vis-a-vis the
Reich government. After the legal status of the kehillah
(Jewish community organization) was nullified, the Reichsvertretung
reconstituted itself as a national kehillah of sorts by
forming "a national association of Jews in Germany",
The Reichsvereinigung. In July 1939, the regime officially
recognized this organization, which was placed under Gestapo supervision,
thus empowering it to be active in emigration, education, and
welfare. From then until 1943, the Reichsvereinigung, was
the only organization in Germany that dealt with Jewish survival.
The last of its leaders, including Rabbi Leo Baeck, were deported
to Theresienstadt in the first half of that year, and it was officially
abolished in July.
Some scholars regard the organization’s work as an expression
of the will to preserve and foster the authentic character and
basic values of German Jewry even under the totalitarian and racist
regime. As such, they consider its activities "spiritual
resistance." For others, however, precisely these aims were
illusions and, indeed, a tragic error, which may perhaps have
prevented sufficient emphasis from being placed on emigration
efforts that could have saved lives..
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