Judenberater


The Judenberater or Judenreferenten, variously translated as Jewish advisers or Jewish experts, were Nazi SS officials who supervised anti-Jewish legislation and the deportations of Jews in the countries under their responsibility. Key architects of the Holocaust, most of them were under the direct command of Adolf Eichmann.

Role

The Judenreferent was not an "adviser" in the literal sense of the term, as he was deployed exclusively in allied or defeated states to promote anti-Jewish measures and their deportations, and was a direct participant in anti-Jewish activities before and during World War II.
In France and several other countries defeated by Germany, the Jewish advisers were subject to the disciplinary command of the Sicherheitspolizei. In allied countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, they were subordinate to the police attaché or the German ambassador. The "Jewish advisers" of the SS received their instructions exclusively from the Eichmannreferat, who kept himself up to date through "regular activity reports and briefings on their actions".
According to Claudia Steur, the Judenberater can be divided into two groups: those like Dannecker, Wisliceny, Brunner, Boßhammer and Abromeit were close confidants of Adolf Eichmann and served as role models for the other "Jewish advisors". The remaining ones were initiated relatively late in the Final Solution, and their "striving for power, prestige and social advancement" was an important motive for their later participation in the Holocaust.
German policy was to involve allied governments in the persecution of Jews in order to make them complicit in the Holocaust.

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